Logies nominations: one week to go.

The TV Week Logie Awards will announce the nominees in the public vote categories on Monday April 2.

They will be announced in a morning ceremony at Sydney's Luna Park.

Hamish and Andy have already been announced in a backstage hosting role, similiar to that given by Adam Hills.

Hills is likely to be one of several presenters in a shared-hosting role.

This year the Logies will focus on a younger generation, so don't expect to see Bert or many TV legends getting much of a look in.

I suppose, given last year showcased the older generation as part of its 50th year, that it's reasonable to give everyone a go. But, what does this mean? Jules Lund and Grant Denyer? I think the Logies is about celebrating success whether its achieved at any age. Just because someone is on TV under the age of 30 isn't criteria enough.

Lord knows we don't want to hear another repeat of that line John Wood gave us, "who ARE these people?"
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Seven's Gold Quill

The Melbourne Press Club handed out its 2006 Quill Awards for Journalism last night and Seven News scored the top award, the Gold Quill.

Reporter Drendan Donahoe won the Gold for his report, 'Salvation Army’s SecretSshame.’ The story on years of abuse in the Salvation Army, with millions in secret payments, led to a public apology.

Other TV awards were given to Australian Story, Stateline and Seven News.

The Tattersall's Gold Quill
Seven News

RACV Transport Quill
Brigid Donovan, Mara Blazic, Ron Ekkel and Elena Christie
Australian Story, ABC TV

Best TV Camerawork in News and Current Affairs
Phil Loschiavo
Seven News

Best TV News Report
Brendan Donohoe
Seven News

Best TV Current Affairs Report
Josephine Cafagna
Stateline, ABC TV Read more...

First Review: Pope John Paul II

There are some big names in this 2 part biopic on the famous pontiff: Jon Voight, Cary Elwes and Christopher Lee, to name a few.

They tend to be a distraction and make this dramatisation less believable as a result.

Playing the younger Karol Wojtyla is Elwes, yes the same actor from such films as Princess Bride and Saw. He's not a bad actor by any means, but he plays the young priest very straight, delivering Apostle-like speeches and pearls of wisdom ad nauseum.

But that's also the tone of this CBS production. It seems the man was without any human foibles or fears (aside from the survival of the Polish people from the Nazis). The depiction is therefore preachy, pardon the pun, and overly-virtuous.

This drama doesn't humanize Wojtyla, it practically canonizes him. Did we really need that?

Elwes plays the role until the moment of pontification. So the character is thus fairly senior by the time it switches actors to Jon Voight, a belated concept.

Voight adds a little more zest to the character than Elwes. He, of course was mighty in Midnight Cowboy, where he got up to all sorts of antics that the Pope would frown upon.

Also in the cast is Christopher Lee, a cinematic Dracula, and James Cromwell.

I suppose I shouldn't be harking back to their other career roles, but collectively, this casting is all rather humourous given the subject matter.

The production is elegantly shot, on location in Krakow and Rome.

If you can stomach the sanctifying script and direction by Writer / Director John Ken Harrison you might find this more satisfying viewing then I did.

SBS will screen this in two parts in a timeslot that is likely to aggrieve an older audience.

Part 1 airs 10:30pm Sunday April 1 on SBS. Part 2 a week later.
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Amazing Race 11 coming

Seven is set to screen The Amazing Race All Stars from 9:30pm Thursday April 12.

The eleventh series sees teams from previous races back to compete once more.

The cast includes both winners and losers from across the series.

This means Seven is skipping TAR 10, at least for now. But as the All-Stars includes 2 teams from TAR 10 it effectively means there will be spoilers, as the narration invariably tells us how they fared in previous races.

Teams are as follows:

Kevin and Drew, Season 1.
Oswald and Danny, Season 2.
John and Jill, Season 3.
Uchenna and Joyce, Season 7.
David and Mary, Season 10.
Charla and Mirna, Season 5.
Rob and Amber, Season 7.
Teri and Ian, Season 3.
Eric and Danielle, Season 9.
Joe and Bill, Season 1.
Dustin and Kandice, Season 10.

The series started mid February in the US.

More advance info spoiler free here.

Please credit this website when posting in other messageboards, thanks.
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