Beyond the Gold: The highs, lows and whoas of the 2025 Logies

Sydney Morning Herald

15 hours ago

Did you go to bed at a normal time last night instead of bingeing an epic four-and-a-half hours of the 65th TV Week Logie Awards? Honestly, great call. Luckily, deputy TV editor Meg Watson and culture reporter Nell Geraets were up until the wee hours watching and live blogging for you. Here's what you missed:
THE HIGHS
Some brutal honesty from Sam Pang and the presenters
In his third consecutive turn as host, Sam Pang again proved why he's the right guy for the job: daring enough to roast the industry and good-natured enough to get away with it. The jokes weren't quite as pointy as last year, often opting for easy targets such as MAFS being trashy and Ray Martin being old, but there were some good one-liners and decent swings at his own network, too.
'Channel 10, of course, replaced The Project with 10News+, which is like the Titanic being replaced with the OceanGate submarine,' he said, as the hosts of the struggling new show laughed awkwardly in the crowd.
Kitty Flanagan and Anne Edmonds also gave a special shoutout to Netflix, as the only streaming platform that seems to work. And things really went up a notch, when beloved Logies troll Tom Gleeson took the stage, presenting with Gold Logie nominee Poh Ling Yeow.
'You are not going to win, just so you know. Because you're not on Channel Seven,' the Hard Quiz host said to a few gasps from the crowd. 'Channel Seven [the host network] are giving out awards for themselves … It's like Channel Seven invited us to their house so we can watch them have a wank.' MW
Lynne McGranger being laid to rest inside a Logie
Loading
As wonderful as it was simply witnessing Lynne McGranger, who has portrayed Irene Roberts on Home and Away for 33 years, win the accolades she deserves, it was her speech that had me slow-clapping into the night. Sure, last year's Gold Logie winner Larry Emdur promised he'd get the initials of his fellow nominees tattooed on his butt on national TV if he won, but McGranger went a step further, explaining how she was going to use the coveted trophy beyond the grave.
'In a few years time, when I die, I might chop the head off, scoop it out, put my ashes in there, screw the top back on and give it to Clancy, my beautiful daughter, who is here tonight, and she can put it on the mantelpiece,' the 72-year-old said while admiring her prize. Living through eternity in a golden trophy – you can't get much more iconic than that. NG
A perfect moment for Magda
Magda Szubanski was this year's inductee into the Logies Hall of Fame, joining the likes of Graham Kennedy, Noni Hazlehurst and Bert Newton. She was celebrated with a great package highlighting her work from The D-Generation to Fast Forward to Kath & Kim, and kind words from screen legends including Melissa McCarthy, George Miller, Matt Lucas, Rebel Wilson, Richard E. Grant, Gina Riley and Jane Turner.
Loading
Szubanski, who revealed earlier this year she's been diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma, was unable to attend the ceremony but sent a moving message that had the crowd up on their feet. 'I want to say first of all ... I'm not being awarded this honour because I've got cancer,' she said. 'I'm getting this because of 40 years of hard work. I don't feel like an imposter. I feel like I've earned it.'
She also spoke about how difficult the past few months have been for her and her family, offering thanks to the fans: 'The love and support that I have felt, like a tsunami from the Australian public, has been overwhelming. And I have to tell you, it really helps.' MW
THE LOWS
Pretty much all the music
The musical interludes are often my favourite part of award shows – refreshing palate cleansers that get you rearing to go for the next categories. The performances at this year's Logies, however, did not have me rearing to go.
First up was Jimmy Barnes, who sang Working Class Man in honour of its 40th anniversary. It was honestly a bit awkward, as Sam Pang noted in his monologue, considering he was singing it to a room filled with people who are the opposite of working class. Barnesy was then followed by Guy Sebastian, who used the awards as one big plug for his upcoming album 100 Times Around the Sun. While they backed his track Get It Done with all kinds of lights, lasers and gizmos, it just wasn't all that memorable.
Then there was Richard Marx. Oh Marx – what were you doing at the Logies? Yes, I know, he recently became a coach on The Voice Australia. And yes, he's talented.
But his rendition of Should've Known Better ended in an extremely awkward exchange with the audience, where he threw it over to them to sing the rest of the chorus, and no one knew the lyrics. It was painful to watch. NG
The length, oh my god, the length
It's joked about every year, but the length of this ceremony is absolutely out of control. The telecast ran for four and a half hours, making it a full feature-length movie longer than high-profile international counterparts such as the Emmys. What are we doing here? Do we really need extended crowd work from the likes of M AFS 'experts' Alessandra Rampolla and John Aiken? Could host network Channel 7 start playing the Home and Away theme song when speeches run too long? There's just no way that any normal human being stayed up until midnight on a school night to see McGranger take Gold. MW
THE WOAH
RIP streaming?
Two of the most-nominated shows of the night – Apple Cider Vinegar (eight nods) and Territory (seven) – left with either little or absolutely nothing. The former won just one trophy, for best miniseries or telemovie, and the latter won zero prizes, despite being a favourite to win in multiple categories. Netflix, the streamer behind both shows, took home just one award. Not quite the result most were expecting, especially given the relative dominance of streaming in this year's nomination pool. NG