This was published 8 years ago
Logies 2016: Today hosts Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson back 'brave' rival Waleed Aly for Gold
By Michael Lallo
EXCLUSIVE
He's a rival network heavyweight – but Waleed Aly has Karl and Lisa's Gold Logie vote.
The stars of Channel Nine's top-rating Today, Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson, are endorsing Ten's high-profile host for TV's top award.
This is despite Nine's Scott Cam also vying for Gold – and their own program battling against Aly's The Project in a viewer-voted current affairs category.
On top of ratings ... Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson, hosts of Channel Nine's Today breakfast show.
"We're not actually backing ourselves; we've got a tenner on The Project," Wilkinson tells Fairfax Media. (Both shows are competing for Best News Panel or Current Affairs Program, against Sunrise, Q&A and 60 Minutes.)
"Waleed has made a significant contribution to Australian television this year," Stefanovic says.
"[He has done this by] talking about – and editorialising on – issues that are important to Australians. I would love to see him win."
"Hear, hear," Wilkinson agrees.
Ross Greenwood, Karl Stefanovic, Lisa Wilkinson and Richard Wilkinson on the road.
The pair have just come off air at Nine's Willoughby headquarters, known as Australia's "home of television". It's a mid-century warren of narrow corridors, tiny dressing rooms and surrounding "cottages", each housing a different program.
Sitting in the Brian Henderson Room – Hendo's to everyone at Nine – they're riding high after three consecutive monthly victories over Sunrise. It's their longest winning streak, ever.
In their tenth year as co-hosts, Stefanovic and Wilkinson have finally defeated Sunrise.
Still, they're in a generous mood. They believe Aly is one of TV's best talents, and he deserves a gong.
"That's the kind of brave stuff [Australian television] should be doing, and should be recognised for," Stefanovic continues.
The Today team broadcasting in front of the Silverton Hotel.
"I want to see more of that on free-to-air. More of that on prime-time.
"I hope he wins. And if he needs a place to party, I've got a great place at Crown Casino."
'I hope he wins': Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson are backing Channel Ten rival Waleed Aly for TV's top honour.Credit: Jamie Brown
In early April, the duo – and colleague Ben Fordham – were criticised for a Logies nomination segment. It included jokes about spray tans, and a gag about being "too white". The damning headlines were swift. Inevitably, it sparked a social media eruption.
"It was satire," Wilkinson says, exasperated.
"We were sending ourselves up."
Stefanovic: "If you take any three words, any bit of dialogue from our show and isolate [it] – then print it – it's not going to make sense. Yes, it's going to offend some people. If anyone was offended, we're the first people to put our hands up and say sorry.
Wilkinson: "Absolutely."
Stefanovic: "But I'm not going to go out there and apologise every time I make someone feel upset ... I'd just spend my whole day apologising. Channel Nine publicity would be on the phone constantly, asking me to apologise to people. I'm not going to do it. I'm taking a stand."
Wilkinson: "Karl started that segment celebrating the fact that Lee Lin had been nominated for a Gold Logie. We've taken part in her videos!
"What social media becomes very good at is taking a couple of words – taking a tiny little segment – and running it in isolation, with no context.
"My spray tan comment? I was sending up the fact that I hadn't been nominated.
"Like most women in this country, when you're [preparing] to have a photo shoot, you're going to have a spray tan, to make yourself look half-decent. I was sending up the fact I got a spray tan – ready for a photo shoot and a phone call that never came. You get into trouble for sending yourself up? Really? Are we taking ourselves that seriously now?
"Waleed and Lee Lin are fantastic, and we're thrilled for them. If anyone took offence, we're sorry. But you can guarantee that those who took offence saw a tiny part, out of context."
For the full context, watch the video at the top of this story.
As for why Aussies love bagging the Logies? Stefanovic gets it.
"It's a kooky name, it's kind of bogan-ish. 'The Logies', it sounds like something that comes out your nose.
"Jokes aside, people work really hard in this country to get great television to people. The industry itself is going through tough times, but it's exciting because with that comes innovation.
"Good television is good television, and it should be celebrated. I won't hear a bad word about the Logies."
On Sunday, he and Wilkinson will host Nine's Logies red carpet special, along with with Today's newsreader, Sylvia Jeffreys. Entertainment reporter Richard Wilkins will do introductions and interviews during the awards.
"It's not fantastic some people aren't going to the Logies out of protest," says Stefanovic, referring to rumours that some Seven identities intend to boycott the event.
A Seven spokeswoman said there was "no truth to any of these claims", but did not confirm if stars including Sunrise hosts Samantha Armytage and David Koch will attend.
"This is not a Nine red carpet show ... it will be inclusive," Wilkinson insists.
"We're really disappointed some people are not going to turn up."
Stefanovic: "Kochie, if you're not man enough to walk down the red carpet and say hello to me on air, then I'm surprised. No wonder Port Adelaide can't win."
Soon, Jeffreys and Wilkins join us. Jeffreys begins talking about how she and Wilkinson support each other. Stefanovic cuts in with a gag: "That's when you're getting on, you two!" Wilkins glares at him. He doesn't want to give this "feud" nonsense any oxygen.
What infuriates Wilkinson and Jeffreys most is the formulaic sexism. Women at each other's throats. Climbing a rung by pushing a sister down. You know the stereotypes.
"The whole Mean Girls angle is clickbait," Jeffreys scoffs.
"It's an obvious angle, it's predictable, and it's frankly offensive. Especially in our case. We don't need to sit here and convince ourselves, or anyone who matters. It's just completely false and it's hurtful.
"Why can't people just let two women get along, and let that be the story? I understand that's boring for people who write articles, but..."
"It's not boring!" Wilkinson interrupts.
"That's the message that should be out there. That's my overwhelming experience, in more than 30 years in the media. I've never had anything but great relationships with the women I've worked with.
"If I didn't put a stop to it, that was going to come up in every interview that Sylvia and I do, forever more. Because there's a presumption: 'Ah well, where there's smoke, there's fire'."
When Jeffreys replaced Georgie Gardner as Today's newsreader, almost two years ago, she'd covered everything from floods to cyclones. Her ability to handle breaking news under pressure got her the job. Then there were things journalism school didn't prepare her for. Things that Wilkinson helped her with.
"[Lisa] is my mentor on everything," Jeffreys says.
"There is so much that goes with this job, that you can't learn in an [ordinary] newsroom.
"I was not ready for the fishbowl, the pressure cooker. The scrutiny – on everything from how you say a particular word to how you wear your hair. [My colleagues] have just wrapped their arms around me, physically and and figuratively."
Jeffreys believes her relationship with her mother, Janine, is a more interesting story. Janine, a social worker, raised three children herself in Brisbane.
"Every day, I am more grateful for my mum, and the upbringing she gave me," she says, crying.
"Sorry, this is what sleep deprivation does."
"No," Wilkinson counters.
"This is what your mum does."
When Wilkinson joined Stefanovic as Today's co-host, in May of 2007, the show trailed Sunrise by a whopping monthly average of 160,000 city viewers.
In February, Today finished 5000 viewers ahead. In March, it won by 28,000, and in April, by 9000.
It's a myth that breakfast television attracts few viewers. Yes, their average audiences are relatively small. But ratings are calculated by dividing the total number of viewers by the length of a program. And no-one watches Today or Sunrise from 5.30am to 9am. They catch five minutes here, 15 minutes there.
In an typical week, more than 2.71 million people catch at least five minutes of Today, including regional residents. This year, almost 7 million Australians have seen at least 10 minutes. This is called the cumulative audience, or "cume" to those in the industry.
"It does frustrate me when [journalists] say we only have 350,000 viewers," Wilkins says.
"Should I do my cumes rant?"
Wilkins, who will celebrate his 30th year at Nine in 2017, is known for his prodigious ratings recall. "Don't get Dickie started on cume," Stefanovic warns as he spies him approaching.
"One of the reasons this show works is because of mutual respect," Wilkins says.
"We're at the top of our game. I've worked on programs where there are rivalries and jealousies and insecurities. This is not one of those shows."
Seven will be quick to point out that, once regional ratings are added, Sunrise remains No. 1.
Seven will also take comfort from this graph, which shows the network had its best start to the year since OzTam ratings began. (Nine, equally, is praying its strong start to The Voice – and a slow debut for Seven's House Rules – makes the blue line go up and the red line go down.)
Wilkinson says Today was a slow-burn success. And with commercial TV's tendency to meddle with – or axe – programs at the first whiff of trouble, she thinks lessons can be learned.
"The real turnaround happened when the Today show stopped looking over its shoulder," she says.
Stefanovic: "But the moment you say our shit doesn't stink any more is the moment you've lost it."
Wilkinson: "We go on set every day presuming our shit stinks. It keeps us humble."
When asked if his late-night panel show The Verdict will return this year, Stefanovic replies: "There is running dialogue about that. I haven't been told anything, but I presume it is. The panel may change, it may evolve.
"I'm really happy with what I'm doing at the network but I'd love to see it come back."
If it does, you won't see Mark Latham on it. Fairfax Media understands the former Labor leader has been signed to Sunrise and Weekend Sunrise, where he is wheeled out on Fridays and Sundays to debate such "issues" as men being second-class citizens. Latham also appears on Sky News, and writes for News Corp newspapers.
"If [the Today team] didn't like presenting with each other, we wouldn't be doing it," Stefanovic says.
"We've had options. We could have gone and done something else. There's a million things we could be doing. But we really love, passionately, the show that we're on. We love working with each other."
Jeffreys: "When people are slinging fake mud, and making stuff up, we're doing something right. We take it as a compliment."
Channel Nine's Logies coverage starts 7pm Sunday, May 8.Today airs 5.30am weekdays on Nine.
Michael Lallo travelled to Sydney courtesy of Channel Nine.