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Time to revamp Logie Hall of Fame?

As Australian TV matures and draws closer to 60 years is it time to induct 1 man, 1 woman, 1 show?

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If Home and Away is inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame, it will become only the fourth TV show to receive the honour, joining Play School, Neighbours and Four Corners.

Now in its 27th year on air, it certainly deserves a place on the roll call. TV Week won’t confirm the rumour, preferring to announce the inductee at the event in May.

As has been noted on this site the Hall of Fame list is dominated by males, with only 1 woman to receive the honour:

1984 Hector Crawford
1985 Ken G. Hall
1986 Neil Davis
1987 Paul Hogan
1988 Bert Newton
1989 Bryan Brown
1990 Johnny Young
1991 James Davern
1992 Four Corners
1993 Reg Grundy
1994 Bud Tingwell
1995 Jack Thompson
1996 Maurie Fields
1997 Garry McDonald
1998 Graham Kennedy
1999 Mike Walsh
2000 Bruce Gyngell
2001 Ruth Cracknell
2002 Mike Willesee
2003 Don Lane
2004 Sam Chisholm
2005 Neighbours
2006 Play School
2007 Steve Irwin
2008 John Clarke
2009 Bill Collins
2010 Brian Naylor
2011 Laurie Oakes
2012 Molly Meldrum
2013 Brian Henderson
2014 Peter Harvey

TV networks put forward their suggestions for the annual award, which is then selected by a panel. TV week supplied the following guidelines:

The Hall of Fame Award honours people and programs that have helped shape the most important and influential medium of our time, aiming to recognise an outstanding contribution to Australian television.

While this is a life achievement award, recipients may yet have further work of significance to be accomplished.

The list of previous Hall of Fame recipients highlights the calibre of talent required to entertain, inform, inspire and enrich an audience.

Free-to-air and subscription TV networks are invited to nominate individuals or programs for the Hall of Fame Award. Entrants are required to ensure all candidates are aware of and accept the submission before sending the completed Hall of Fame submission form to TV WEEK for consideration.

Points to consider in the submission for Hall of Fame are:
· A demonstrated commitment to excellence in Australian television
· Contribution to the enrichment of Australian television culture
· Key achievements, including past awards
· Current projects
· Training and background
· Any additional information

Entrants are required to complete a Most Outstanding Awards – Hall of Fame submission form for each eligible candidate.

Where a recipient is recognised posthumously (eg. Steve Irwin, Brian Naylor, Peter Harvey) they must be inducted in the ceremony following their death, or not at all. But as Australian Television approaches 60 years, more iconic names will be contenders for posthumous recognition. In the last 12 months we’ve lost Ian Ross, Bill Kerr, Wendy Hughes, Coralie Condon, Norman Yemm, Terry Gill, Stuart Wagstaff. Sure, not all are worthy of Hall of Fame, but they do suggest an ageing industry.

So is it time to induct 1 man, 1 woman, 1 show?

In the US the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences inducts up to 6 individuals every year, in a separate ceremony. Last year they included Jay Leno, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and even Rupert Murdoch.

While nobody wants to see the Logie ceremony drag on all night, we still have a lengthy list of worthy contenders that will be waiting a long time for induction.

18 Responses

  4. Steve Irwin’s induction was a joke, and Don Lane’s induction was a bit of a stretch.

    Anyway, maybe the Logies needs to have a special second ceremony one year, to induct a bunch of glaring omissions, then resume one inductee per year. Some suggestions that come to mind for inductees would be…

    Men: Geoff Harvey, John Wood, Reg Watson, John Deeks, John O’Grady, Ray Meagher, Steve Vizard (for production output more than on-camera work), Andrew Denton

    Women: Denise Drysdale, Benita Collings, Collette Mann, Paula Duncan, Noni Hazlehurst, Lorraine Bayly, Adriana Xenides, Anne Haddy (the last two would be on the assumption that the rules about posthumous inductions could be rested)

    Programs: Mother and Son, Frontline, Behind the News, Media Watch, Fast Forward, At the Movies (specifying the ABC incarnation simply because David and Margaret deserve the recognition much more…

  5. I don’t have a problem with the Logies.Which still plays a very important part in the industry.Instead of the industry deciding on the Hall Of Fame maybe just let the people decide what show or person it should be.Otherwise just leave the concept alone

  6. Daryl Somers is not in the Hall of Fame? Hmmmm, I’m not his biggest fan, but surely his contributions across multiple networks and across three decades warrant an induction???

      1. Daryl is a polarising figure but does deserve the award. But I do dread his acceptance speech. The other notable exception is Tony Barber. He hosted game shows for years and got massive ratings.

  7. a revamp for the Logies (and Hall of Fame) is certainly needed.

    I’m not sure if up to 6 inductees are needed for the Logies (like in the US), but certainly a male and female Hall of Fames would be ideal each year. The Logies could have a separate awards for the Hall of Fame and air some of the smaller awards there (like sports and childrens programs for example). The AACTA Awards have the Luncheon Awards and then the “primetime/Main” Awards

  8. David: Absolutely agree a aging industry needs to be taken into account. The eligibility rule concerning posthumous inductions needs to also be consigned to history, if the number of inductions per year increases: as some of our TV industry’s greats that have passed on, (including those who passed away pre-HOF creation in 1984) would make great inductees, but have been restricted by that “one year after” rule.

  10. Looking at the list of previous inductees, some I’ve never heard of, but most are very deserving. However, I think that inducting Steve Irwin posthumously was not necessary. I think they should definitely induct one male and one female each year going forward..

    1. Yeah, that’s about the only one that stands out as odd – I don’t really understand how he met the criteria.

      While I mostly think it should remain a singular category, it’s hard to go past the fact that there’s easily 3 or 4 in David’s list who are more deserving than some previous inductees.

      Maybe taking a leaf from the main circus – a gold HoF for the most deserving show/person/whatever, and 2 or 3 (or more) silver HoF’s for poshumous inductees from the previous year – would be a better idea?

  11. Last thing we need is more awards on awards night extending the show past midnight. I think it might be time to drop some awards like “Most Popular Sports Program” which has all the same candidates every year and is just won by The Footy Show every year.

    1. I agree with you, drop the Most Popular Sports as thesame people get the same thing every year, but i think 1 male 1 female and 1 show would be OK if they dropped some of the other things.

  12. Thank you – my thoughts on the HoF exactly. It annoys me when a TV show is inducted and not a person in particular. People aren’t getting any younger.

  13. I’ve been half-expecting to hear that Stuart Wagstaff would be this year’s inductee. Of course, he is not undeserving of the nod, but it would be yet another symptom of the recent trend towards sentimental knee-jerk inductees (the posthumous awards, Molly Meldrum after his injury, etc). Of course, this would be all the more cynical due to the fact that Stuart never attended the Logies in his life.

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