Opinion Post from Guest Contributor, Scott Thompson
I think it’s time we address an issue that bugs me every time the Logies nominees are announced. An elephant in the room. A million dollar question perhaps? Why has Eddie McGuire never been nominated for a Gold Logie?
It’s no secret that our friend Ed divides opinion across the country, you either love him or you don’t but there’s no denying he’s been a staple on our TV screens since 1994. His hosting credentials could be said to be unrivalled. Host of the AFL Footy Show for over a decade, the Millionare series (original and Hot Seat since 1999) and he’s even hosted the Logies three times. Yet a simple nomination for the biggest award that can be won in Australian television has eluded him.
Let’s have a look at the nominees for 2016. Scott Cam, a previous winner, deserves his spot in the group of six for being the go-to guy for Nine in recent years and as a stable host of the flagship program The Block. Now it’s everyone else in the group that has me a little frustrated. I think those personalities who can hook in the youth viewership with five minute rants on current affairs are being chosen before TV personalities that have developed their loyal followings and can be depended on by their networks to head up big shows because of their years of service. A newcomer who’s gone viral on YouTube getting a Gold Logie nomination concerns me a little and that’s why Waleed Aly’s nomination is nothing short of puzzling. I still include Carrie Bickmore in the same vein as Waleed despite her win last year.
To be fair, I watch a fair bit of television and have not heard a great deal of Essie Davis so I will refrain from commenting too much on her nomination. Grant Denyer doesn’t concern me too much, he’s been on our screens for quite a while now and has built up a resumè worthy of a nomination. He’s now a safe bet for Ten given his success at making Family Feud a top 20 regular on the ratings scale every night.
Now for Lee Lin Chin. I’m not going to lie, I was shocked to wake up to her nomination on Monday. And I still am. This is great for SBS as a network as its their first nomination for the award. Her growing popularity can be credited to her work on The Feed and her tweets garner some fierce retweeting. However she doesn’t write those on her own and I just don’t think she’s done enough in television to warrant her nomination. But I may need to watch some more SBS before making any final judgements.
But back to the Eddie topic, I’d like to see him nominated before he quits TV. His service to Nine and to television as a whole can’t be questioned. Not all his forays into TV programs have been overwhelming successes but he wouldn’t be on our screens for over two decades if he wasn’t good at what he does. Whether it’s football, quiz shows, the Olympics or anything at all, I think it’s time we all caught the Eddie McGuire Virus again.
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