COMMENT

Funny how they only have a problem now.

According to the Daily Telegraph, "the TV industry" is furious with the Logies!

Not because every TV Week Gold Logie winner in history is white. Or because most are blokes. That's who the punters voted for, these executives shrug. You can't argue with merit. Sing along if you know the words.

But sometimes, one is forced to take a stand.

That's what happened this week, when the people of Australia nominated Waleed Aly and Lee Lin Chin for Gold.

Obviously, the people made a mistake.

So these brave TV insiders summoned their courage and spoke out. Anonymously.

"What has Waleed ever done?" one fumed. (But did he – and he's a middle-aged white guy, I guarantee you – ask the same question of, say, Bec Cartwright in 2005?)

"Because he does an editorial slapping someone down every now and then, does that qualify him for a Gold Logie?" he continued.

"And is The Project successful? No."

On Monday, The Project had 811,000 viewers nationally at 7pm. At its peak, there were 1.12 million watching. It is successful. Not to mention that Aly's co-host, Carrie Bickmore, won the Gold Logie last year without protest.

Another insider complained that Chin has a "huge cult following" on social media, but her SBS news bulletins do not. This is unfair, apparently. (And wrong, given the 335,000 who watched her highest-rating episode last year dwarf the 77,000 who follow her on Twitter. This person also overlooked her work on another SBS show, The Feed.)

Am I missing something here? The whole point of the Gold Logie is that it's a popularity contest. As are all the other publicly-voted "best" categories.

It's no accident that these insiders cracked it after Aly and Chin got shortlisted.

At least they're clever enough not say "political correctness gone mad". Or other things that reveal what they're really thinking: "The world is changing rapidly – and we don't like it."

But it is. And they don't.

In the old days, the three commercial networks were guaranteed a hefty audience for almost anything. Rumour has it that each ordered "the girls in publicity" to buy TV Week in bulk, so they could fill out the voting forms by the truckload. For decades, their biggest names practically took turns to collect Gold. Graham, Ray, Bert, Daryl, Lisa, Rove: no surnames needed.

What makes them mad is that Aly didn't play by their rules. He did not politely work his way up the rungs of commercial television (though he did work hard). Salam Cafe on SBS and Big Ideas on ABC? Pfft. Everyone knows that to score a decent gig, you must first host a woeful "light entertainment" series in which faded celebrities humiliate themselves, each other and our nation. When it bombs, you will have "paid your dues". Only then can you present a show you actually like.

Aly didn't follow the script. Instead, he barged into The Project and began spouting his opinions. Unapologetically.

The man does not even have a Twitter account. This makes rival TV executives' brains explode. Surely that's illegal.

To make matters worse, they notice the intense vitriol Aly cops for his editorials on The Project, and his columns in Fairfax Media publications.

They become confused. Isn't this what they tried to avoid? They coached their stars to walk a fine line between taking a stand – but not being too provocative. Between using social media – but to make banal platitudes of the "why can't we all just get along?' variety.

How is it that Aly can attract so much hatred, yet get enough votes for a Gold Logie nomination?

Then these executives discover Chin doesn't even write her own tweets. She wears crazy garb on the red carpet – and on television! Again, is this even legal? Her SBS bulletins are heavy on world affairs but light on wacky animal stories. Yet the public nominated her for Gold – and not one Home and Away actor.

Aly and Chin are not your typical bland, safe network stars.

Each has lots of haters (as will be proven in the comments section of this article). But that's okay. If you're on TV in 2016, and trying to appeal to everyone, you will be boring.

The Daily Mail claimed Manu Feildel and Pete Evans were "shaded" from the Gold category despite hosting Australia's top-rating show, My Kitchen Rules.

But here's the thing. Reaching a huge audience is no guarantee they will vote for you. Aly and Chin were nominated despite the fact they're not everyone's cup of tea. The flipside is that their supporters love them enough to nominate them.

I'm glad the wonderful Essie Davis also got a nod, not least because some Americans are mad at Miss Fisher for being a slut.

Bickmore is up for her second Gold. The Block's Scott Cam and Family Feud's Grant Denyer are the other two nominees. This year, straight white guys are the minority.

It's who the public voted for. It's a good thing.

Of course, now the excuses will roll in.

Some will claim internet voting can be manipulated. There is some truth to this, though controls are in place. Still, if Chin's supposedly tiny audience can sway the results, why can't MKR's massive fanbase out-vote them?

Others will argue that Chin's (relatively) low-rating bulletin shouldn't even be considered for Gold. Where were these people when Bert Newton got a Gold nomination for Good Morning Australia, or Chrissie Swan for The Circle? Morning television has small audiences, too.

Let's not forget the "Logies is a crock of shit" crowd. Those who go off over all those gongs for Home and Away. You do realise you can vote for the Redfern Now telemovie yourself? And encourage your friends to do the same? But why support the art you love when you can just slag off the whole event from the sidelines?

For decades, only TV Week readers voted in the "most popular" categories. It was incredibly dull. But the networks understood the system. They worked hard to influence it. It was the good old days, and they loved them.

Those days are over, as Aly's and Chin's nominations show. Our tastes have evolved. It might make a few TV executives cross. But their tantrums won't change anything. Things are different now.