Last updated: July 11, 2014



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The Logies show goes on, and on, and on ...

TELEVISION'S "night of nights" is now officially the Slogies.

And not just because Sunday's Logies telecast dragged on so long that by the time it finally spluttered over the finish line - on Monday morning - it was threatening to bleed into the start of Today.

The most baffling thing on the night wasn't how 34-year-old full-time American resident Joel Madden was voted the Best Newcomer on Australian TV. Although that was a definite chin-scratcher and credibility-sinker.

No, the curious thing is why, in 2013, the Logies still aren't screened live. Not even close.

The show is pre-recorded "as live" from around 6.45pm, then starts airing on TV at 8.30pm.

That's an almighty delay, even by the very loose definition of time in TV land, where nothing ever starts or finishes on time - except the news.

The "live" Logies begin to catch up with the pre-recorded version as the night wears on - and on.

But Asher Keddie was in the bar juggling her Gold Logie for at least an hour before viewers who'd sacrificed sleep saw her accept it on TV after midnight.

Sunday's Logies started later than usual because of the premiere of The Voice running overtime. A premiere that was filmed months ago.

Most awards shows are pre-recorded for safety reasons in order to stop anything embarrassing or controversial going to air.

However, viewers saw Molly Meldrum channelling Graham Kennedy's salty crow call - producers had plenty of time to dismantle the F-bomb on the cutting room floor. Meldrum was rightly told his accidental bomb drop was "gold" - especially considering most other speeches were beige in hue.

Another problem with not being live - guests in the room had already live-tweeted Molly's potty mouth as it happened. As well as anything else of note that had, or hadn't, happened. Which is then copiously retweeted into the electronic ether.

While someone's tweeting about Adam Hills getting political, in TV world, those not inside the Logies were still watching Manu eating or Seal bleating.

Twitter is seized upon by TV networks to plug their shows: how many times do programs brag about contestants from The Voice or The X Factor trending worldwide? Mainly as much of the world is asleep while it's our TV prime time.

However, you can't have it both ways.

Twitter isn't just here for the good times.

Twitter is the new "water cooler" conversation - except this time you don't have to wait until the next day at work for a post-mortem, you can get an instant barometer of how a show is, or isn't, going.

The nasty tweets obviously never end up on screen, but they can't be ignored. Or, in many cases, unseen.

This year the Logies powers that be even tried to implement a social media ban on the red carpet - one that failed miserably considering the red carpet started at 4.30pm and didn't air until 8pm.

And unless you make everyone who enters the Logies hand over their phones like they're about to see the new Batman movie, tweeters are gonna tweet. The naughty school kid approach just embarrasses everyone.

Sometimes live tweeting works in your favour. Last year's ARIA Awards, which screened off Broadway on digital channel GO, encouraged people in the audience to tweet the bejesus out of the event, which was filmed about an hour before it went to air. (You can blame the delay on Axel Whitehead and his genital peek-a-boo game). Given the ratings, if someone saw an ARIAs mention on Twitter and tuned in, that's one very welcome extra viewer.

Commercial radio works on the seven-second-delay policy. Or the "Kyle Strikes Again" button. If - sorry, when - Kyle Sandilands says something offensive, someone with a trigger-finger can stop it stinking up the airwaves.

Seven learnt the hard way about delaying AFL games for the sake of programming - between live radio and footy fans on Twitter, Melbourne became spoiler city while home viewers had to sit through cake recipes waiting for some non-live Friday night football.

TV networks love promoting fast-tracking, because it means someone won't have to bother illegally downloading a TV program.

TV networks should embrace the fact there's still TV shows people are so passionate about they simply cannot wait for the whim of programmers to watch them.

Why not aim for that with the Logies?

Start it earlier. Put it on directly after the news and make it live.

Make it edgier. Get Adam Hills to host the whole thing.

Embrace live tweets as part of the live broadcast. Make it exciting and vital, like the best live TV can be.

And then, when someone wins Gold, give them a proper moment in the sun to talk about it, like they do at the Brownlows.

And not just a few seconds before they have to make a beeline for the toilet/after-party and patient but patronised viewers aren't nodding off on the couch.



Cameron Adams is a Herald Sun music writer