Our thoughts on the 2023 Logies
Ugh.
Oh, alright… The 2023 Logies was exactly what we’ve come to expect from the Logies: the occasional funny moment and deserved winner, but mostly a lot of awards going to shows and people who barely deserve a shrug.
Some early funny moments came from Sam Pang with a cold opening featuring former Logies hosts giving him advice, in which Wendy Harmer revealed she’s hidden in a cupboard ever since her much-derided hosting stint in 2002. This was followed by a strong opening monologue from Pang, peppered with gags about the various stars who turned down the hosting gig. Pang seemed to go down well with people on social media, thus saving him from joining Wendy Harmer in the cupboard.
The first award, for Most Outstanding Comedy Program, went to Colin from Accounts, beating Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell, Fisk, Summer Love and Taskmaster. Given this very strong list of nominees, it’s astounding that Colin from Accounts won. Sure, there is a market out there for romantic comedies but it’s hard to work out what exactly the appeal of this show is. The leads are not only boring and annoying but also unfunny. Naturally, the show’s creators and stars, Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall, later picked up Silver Logies for Most Outstanding Actress and Most Outstanding Actor.
Later, Shaun Micallef presented the Bert Newton Award for Most Popular Presenter, an award he was also nominated for. His introduction, deconstructing the art of television presenting, drew big laughs from the audience, but sadly he didn’t win. Still, at least the Mad As Hell crew seemed to be having a fun time.
Losers are grinners 💜 pic.twitter.com/tVX4vinoHA
— Christie Whelan (@Christie_Whelan) July 30, 2023
There was better news for comedy later in the evening when Working Dog won two awards, first for Most Popular Comedy Program for Have You Been Paying Attention?, then Most Outstanding Entertainment Programme for The Cheap Seats. This resulted in some amusing acceptance speeches from the stars of both shows, including Ed Kavalee reading out a speech Sam Pang had planned to deliver had Front Bar beaten Have You Been Paying Attention?
Most Popular Entertainment Program went to Googlebox Australia, beating Gruen Nation and Hard Quiz, amongst others. While the In Memoriam segment included Karl Stefanovic paying tribute to Barry Humphries and Kate Miller-Heidke singing “Xanadu” in memory of Olivia Newton-John. There was also Pang’s amusing tribute to the shows we lost in 2022, including Rush, Blow Up and The Real Love Boat.
The Silver Logie for Most Popular Actress went to Fisk creator and star Kitty Flanagan, who beat fellow Fisk star Julia Zemiro and Wellmania’s Celeste Barber. Flanagan wasn’t at the Logies, as she was gigging in Adelaide, so Zemiro accepted the award on her behalf. Later, Flanagan celebrated her win in a local bar:
As the evening drew to a close, Sam Neill beat Colin from Account’s Patrick Brammell for the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor, and then Daryl Somers turned up to present the Gold Logie, so all hopes of Shaun Micallef winning rapidly faded.
They say you get the government you deserve because you vote for it, and the same is true of the Logies. And Australia, it seems, doesn’t want to award TV’s top honour to a comedian who’s entertained us for more than 25 years. No, it wants to reward a woman who a tribunal found:
made “vilifying” remarks about links between the Muslim community and terrorism that may encourage hatred towards Australian Muslims
As the justified outrage about Kruger’s win gathered pace on social media, Kruger herself got up on stage and delivered a rambling and at times odd acceptance speech. She referenced her agent, she made a bad joke about something her agent had said about Hamish Blake, which Blake took surprisingly well, and then she mentioned a sign she’d seen backstage, which read:
Hosting is not about what you do, it’s about how you make other people feel.
Wow. She really has no idea how she’s made people feel at all. Worried for our Muslim brothers and sisters, who you got away with vilifying. Desperately sad that we missed out on what no doubt would have been a hilarious and memorable ending to the Logies had Shaun Micallef won the Gold. Tired because the Logies has run over and we’ve got working in the morning. That’ll do for a start.
Reckon the Foxtel publicity department have run out of fake email addresses after all their “talent” won in really, really odd categories
Ed kavellees comment on Channel 7 being the home to O’keefe, McLaughlin and Robert-Smith was possibly the best moment of tv this year
No Tony Martin voiceover this time, which was a shame. No wins for Shaun or Mad As Hell, which was a greater shame.