TV
Bluey wins at Rose D’or Awards
Bluey has been awarded at the Rose D’or Awards ceremony in London, taking out the Children and Youth category over entries from Italy, Netherlands, Norway and UK, TV Tonight’s David Knox reports.
This marks the first win by Ludo Studios at the prestigious global TV awards.
ABC Chief Content Officer Chris Oliver-Taylor told TV Tonight, “Bluey is the little show that just keeps on winning! The ABC is thrilled that Bluey has been recognised globally at the Rose Do’r and incredibly proud of the Australian creativity that brings to life Bluey, Bingo and the heeler family. Putting Australia and Brisbane in homes all over the world.
“Congratulations to our friends at Ludo and the creator and inspiration behind Bluey, Joe Brumm.”
Myf Warhurst & Joel Creasey farewelled as Eurovision commentators
The Eurovision Song Contest will look, and sound, very different on SBS in 2025 with longtime hosts Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey departing as commentators, TV Tonight’s David Knox reports.
Both joined the SBS broadcast in 2017, succeeding Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang, but an SBS statement says both “are now ready to step out of the commentary booth and pass on their glittery microphones in 2025.”
Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey said: “It’s been a huge honour to host the Eurovision Song Contest for SBS, but the time has come to hang up our glitter microphones. We have absolutely adored watching our Australian artists compete on the world stage and it’s been a privilege to bring that experience to our dedicated Australian Eurovision fans.
“We are very grateful to SBS and Blink TV and both acknowledge that one of the best things to come out of all of this is our beautiful friendship. We certainly aim to work together in some capacity again soon.
Business of media
Greens to call News Corp execs to greenwashing inquiry over gas ads
The Greens will call News Corp Australia executives to appear before a Senate inquiry into greenwashing over a series of front pages promoting gas without clearly disclosing a commercial relationship with gas companies, The SMH’s Callum Jaspan reports.
The “special reports” ran across News Corp’s metro tabloids the Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The Advertiser and The Courier Mail on Monday morning, encouraging Australia to “step on the gas”, despite the series being sponsored by a group of gas companies.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who is chairing the inquiry, told this masthead News Corp’s attempt to disguise paid “propaganda” as actual news risked bringing the profession of journalism into disrepute.
They’re ‘looking to create trouble’: Hazlewood’s manager slams broadcaster over rift claims
Fox Cricket has come under fire from the manager of paceman Josh Hazlewood over a segment where the fast bowler’s comments were used to suggest there is a rift inside the Australian dressing room, reports SMH’s Andrew Wu.
Prominent player manager Neil Maxwell – who also manages Test captain Pat Cummins – has taken aim at the host broadcaster, saying it had taken Hazlewood’s remarks at a press conference out of context in a “desperation to create controversy”.
Maxwell was highly critical of the cricket media’s reaction to Australia’s heavy loss in the first Test, but saved his most savage comments for Cricket Australia’s pay TV partner for “misconstruing” what Hazlewood had said.
Hazlewood’s comments were replayed the following day to launch a discussion chaired by Adam Gilchrist and featuring panellists David Warner, Michael Vaughan and Ravi Shastri on whether or not there was a rift in the team.
Newsbrands
Josh Adsett appointed as new Executive Editor of 10 News First QLD
Network 10 has appointed veteran journalist Josh Adsett as executive editor for 10 News First Queensland, stepping into the role left vacant after Erin Edwards’ dramatic defection to Channel 7 in October, The Courier Mail’s Georgia Clelland reports.
Adsett, who spent five years as chief of staff at Seven’s Gold Coast bureau, is set to take the reins amid renewed competition in the Queensland news market.
He will helm 10 News First Queensland’s 5pm bulletin, overseeing the network’s team of journalists and production crew.
His appointment comes months after he was let go during Channel 7’s controversial June redundancies, a brutal shake-up that also claimed the jobs of weatherman Paul Burt, cameraman Geoff Bowden, and Brisbane news anchor Sharyn Ghidella.
Streaming
With Kevin Costner’s early departure, has Yellowstone lost its way?
With only two episodes to come in the fifth season, Paramount is about to bid farewell to the powerful modern-day western that has spawned them all. Bizarrely, as is the way with the tall poppy syndrome, some pundits began to feast on the carcass even before viewing the final batch of episodes, proclaiming that it had lost its way. But has it? SMH’s Tom Ryan writes.
Right now, three questions remain, and they’re connected. Has Yellowstone been able to sustain its early promise as a state-of-the-nation drama? How’s it going to end? And has Kevin Costner’s premature departure undermined its momentum? He apparently withdrew to give his full attention to the ambitious four-film project, Horizon: An American Saga, for which he’s the co-producer, director, co-writer and lead actor (Chapter One, which is better than its notices so far might suggest, is on Stan; Chapter Two arrives in 2025).
Gia Carides’ Christmas movie is an unexpected Ballroom reunion
When Gia Carides was growing up in Sydney – with an English mother and a Greek father – the Christmas table was always crowded. “Our dining table was always open, it was an open door to our friends, and you had three daughters bringing home friends, boyfriends, best friends, whatever, and our table was always fun,” Carides told SMH’s Michael Idato.
In many respects, it was too harmonious to serve as a deep vein to mine for her upcoming role in Nugget Is Dead: A Christmas Story. But if the film’s fictional frictions – estranged kids, unhappy parents and clashes of personality and social class – were not relatable, the fact that beneath it all there was a strong seam of familial love certainly was.
“It’s obviously a kind of Christmas movie trope that the family is the nightmare to go back to, and I think we grow up in our family and everybody’s got their safe landing places that are in their family,” Carides says.
Publishing
GQ Man of the Year Sam Worthington is happiest just being Dad all day
Sam Worthington doesn’t like having his photo taken. Even when it’s for the cover of GQ Australia’s Men of the Year issue. And even when it’s being taken by his wife of almost a decade, the supermodel and beauty entrepreneur Lara Worthington, The Australian’s Hannah-Rose Yee reports.
“Look, my wife is extremely creative and I love how inspiring she is,” Worthington told GQ’s editor-in-chief Jake Millar for the cover story. “But I have an involuntary, visceral reaction to getting my photo taken. She tried her best and I probably wasn’t the most willing subject.”
The resulting portfolio features on the cover of GQ’s special edition, on sale inside The Australian on 13 December, and is an intimate look inside the Worthington family bubble that offers a portrait of Sam the man, as well as the movie star.