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| The Marriage Ref | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Reality, Panel game |
| Created by | Jerry Seinfeld |
| Presented by | Tom Papa |
| Narrated by | Marv Albert |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 22 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Jerry Seinfeld |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production companies | Columbus 81 Productions Ellen Rakieten Entertainment Shed Media Universal Media Studios |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | February 28, 2010 (2010-02-28) – August 28, 2011 (2011-08-28) |
The Marriage Ref is an Americanreality television series andpanel game hosted by comedianTom Papa and produced byJerry Seinfeld, in which a rotating group of celebrities decides the winners of real-life marital disputes. The show premiered onNBC on Sunday, February 28, 2010[1] on the final night of theOlympics before moving to Thursdays.[2] The show's second season debuted on June 26, 2011.[3]
On May 13, 2012, NBC cancelled the series after two seasons.[4]
The premise of the show involves real-life couples who have been having an ongoing argument. In season one, a video clip was shown to a three-member celebrity panel depicting both sides of a dispute. The celebrities made humorous observations, deliberated the merits and voted on who should win the debate. Though the Marriage Ref (Papa) took their votes into consideration, he was free to make his own decision about who was right.
In addition to the celebrity panel, season one featured a fact checker who could provide additional information to aid in the decision making.Today correspondentsNatalie Morales andMaria Menounos andMSNBC'sMika Brzezinski filled this role.
Changes have been announced for season two.[5][6] In these episodes, couples will appear live in studio, and at the end of each show, the studio audience will vote on which of the night's three winners is "The Rightest." The winner will receive $25,000 and a billboard in their hometown declaring that they are right.
Reviewers have described the show as a renewal of thepanel game format popular in classic American television.[7][8]
The Marriage Ref was originally scheduled to premiere Sunday, March 14 at 8 pm, as the lead-in toThe Celebrity Apprentice.[9] NBC greenlighted the show "within minutes" of Seinfeld pitching the concept.[10] However, as a result ofThe Jay Leno Show being cancelled, the premiere was moved up to Thursday, March 4 at 10 pm, as one of its replacement shows.[2]
Theexecutive producers ofThe Marriage Ref are Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen Rakieten, Nick Emerson, Jennifer O'Connell, and Al Berman.[11] Seinfeld selected comedianTom Papa, his longtimewarm-up act, to serve as the show's host and referee.[11] The program is produced by Seinfeld's company, Columbus 81 Productions.[11]Endemol provides services of international distribution ofThe Marriage Ref.[11]Central Talent Booking manages the composition of each show's celebrity panel.[12]
 |
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Preview" | Beth McCarthy-Miller | Jeff Cesario, Chuck Martin, andTom Papa | February 28, 2010 (2010-02-28) | |
Celebrity Panel:Alec Baldwin,Kelly Ripa, Jerry Seinfeld | |||||
| 2 | "Episode Two" | Beth McCarthy-Miller | Jeff Cesario, Chuck Martin, and Tom Papa | March 4, 2010 (2010-03-04) | |
Celebrity Panel:Tina Fey, Jerry Seinfeld,Eva Longoria | |||||
| 3 | "Episode Three" | Unknown | Unknown | March 11, 2010 (2010-03-11) | |
| 4 | "Episode Four" | Unknown | Unknown | March 18, 2010 (2010-03-18) | |
| 5 | "Episode Five" | Unknown | Unknown | March 25, 2010 (2010-03-25) | |
Celebrity Panel:Alec Baldwin,Kelly Ripa, Jerry Seinfeld | |||||
| 6 | "Episode Six" | Unknown | Unknown | April 1, 2010 (2010-04-01) | |
| 7 | "Episode Seven" | Unknown | Unknown | April 8, 2010 (2010-04-08) | |
| 8 | "Episode Eight" | Unknown | Unknown | April 22, 2010 (2010-04-22) | |
| 9 | "Episode Nine" | Unknown | Unknown | April 29, 2010 (2010-04-29) | |
| 10 | "Episode Ten" | Unknown | Unknown | May 6, 2010 (2010-05-06) | |
Celebrity Panel: Jerry Seinfeld,Gwyneth Paltrow,Greg Giraldo | |||||
| 11 | "Episode Eleven" | Unknown | Unknown | May 13, 2010 (2010-05-13) | |
| 12 | "Episode Twelve" | Unknown | Unknown | May 20, 2010 (2010-05-20) | |
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | "Episode 13" | Unknown | Unknown | June 26, 2011 (2011-06-26) | |
| 14 | "Episode 14" | Unknown | Unknown | July 3, 2011 (2011-07-03) | |
| 15 | "Episode 15" | Unknown | Unknown | July 10, 2011 (2011-07-10) | |
| 16 | "Episode 16" | Unknown | Unknown | July 17, 2011 (2011-07-17) | |
| 17 | "Episode 17" | Unknown | Unknown | July 24, 2011 (2011-07-24) | |
| 18 | "Episode 18" | Unknown | Unknown | July 31, 2011 (2011-07-31) | |
| 19 | "Episode 19" | Unknown | Unknown | August 7, 2011 (2011-08-07) | |
| 20 | "Episode 20" | Unknown | Unknown | August 14, 2011 (2011-08-14) | |
| 21 | "Episode 21" | Unknown | Unknown | August 21, 2011 (2011-08-21) | |
| 22 | "Episode 22" | Unknown | Unknown | August 28, 2011 (2011-08-28) | |
The Marriage Ref received an overwhelmingly negative reception from television critics.[13][14][15][16] It currently receives a 41 out of 100 onMetacritic based on 11 reviews.[14] According to thenews agency,Reuters, the television program received "scathing reviews".[15] An analysis of reviews inThe Guardian noted thatThe Marriage Ref, "has been so thoroughly panned by critics its future looks in doubt even before it begins."[16] A review of the program onNational Public Radio called the television show "painfully bad"; the reviewer commented, "I was optimistic that I'd be writing something of the 'Don't assume this show is terrible' variety. But it's ... terrible."[17] The newspaperThe Star Ledger described it as "heinous", and called it an "ugly, unfunny, patronizing mess".[15][18]The New York Times called the show "funny, despite a cheesy game show premise".[19] A review byEntertainment Weekly called the program "silly fun", and commented, "The Marriage Ref exists to permit the celebrity judges to comment amusingly on the cases to be adjudicated."[20] An analysis inVariety magazine characterized the program as "a breezy, inexpensive approach to comedy that brought to mind the panel shows of yesteryear".[21]The Wall Street Journal characterized the show as a "panel" form of game show, commenting, "The concept is essentially a re-jiggering of a genre staple of television's halcyon days: the 'panel' game show".[22]
A commentary on the show inTime magazine commented thatThe Marriage Ref was "the most God-awful mishmash of a comedy-variety show".[15][23]Time gave it an F, as didThe A.V. Club who noted how confused the premise of the show is claiming that the pilot "safely toe[s] the line between all of [its] options and never commit[s] to one of them."[24] A reviewer forTV.com commented, "The Marriage Ref may be the worst television I've seen in awhile [sic]."[25] The review concluded that the program was an "atrocity" and, "a pathetic half-hour that's edited to hell, results in meaningless resolutions, features the worst animated intro of all-time, and is just plain uncomfortable to watch".[25]
"Who knew Seinfeld could be this unfunny?", commented a review inThe Baltimore Sun; the review stated that the program was not worthy of its Thursday slot or daytime syndication.[16]The Huffington Post asked a similar question, "How could a man as funny as Seinfeld produce such a remarkably unfunny show?"[26] The websiteGawker mused as to whether "Jerry Seinfeld's new show almost cancels out Seinfeld",[16][27] andIGN wrote, "The Marriage Ref just felt utterly dead on arrival."[28]New York Magazine characterizedThe Marriage Ref as "kinda terrible".[29] An analysis of the show inThe Hartford Courant wrote, "What do you do if you've managed to pull your network up from fourth place after two weeks of highly-rated Olympic Winter games? If you're NBC, you squander it immediately on an unfunny little thing called 'The Marriage Ref.'"[30] The review concluded that "absolutely nothing funny happened", and called the show "about as wrongheaded an offering to prime time as, well, anything on NBC these days"[30]
In the ratings, the program's debut performed worse than theCBS Network television reality showUndercover Boss even with the Olympics closing lead-in.[31] The pre-empting andtape delay of the remainder of the2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony after late local news in order to broadcast the premiere ofThe Marriage Ref was immediately criticized by viewers over social networking websites such asTwitter.[32][33] The week after its debut,The Marriage Ref dropped to number three in the ratings;[34] losing to the CBS programThe Mentalist and theABC Network programPrivate Practice.[35][36] The program had been in first place in its first week, but fell 21 percent in the ratings in its second week.[34][35][37] The program saw steady ratings decline with each episode since its debut.[38] The first showing ofThe Marriage Ref had 14 million viewers,[39] and by the fourth full episode the number of viewers had declined to 6.5 million.[40] As of the fourth episode, the program had "posted its lowest rating to date", with a rating of 2.5/7.[41] In the program's sixth broadcast, the April 8, 2010 edition ofThe Marriage Ref hit a season low with a rating of 2.1,[42][43] just three days after it had been renewed for a second season.
The show's second season premiere had ratings 20% lower than the first season premiere, at a 1.6.[44]
| Country | Title | Host | Network | Date aired |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Arab World[45] | قاضي الغـرام Qadi El Gharam | Moustafa Shaban | Abu Dhabi TV | September 20 – December 13, 2010 |
 Argentina[46] | El referí del matrimonio | Gabriel Corrado | Telefe | December 13, 2010 – March 2011 |
 Russia[47] | Семейный приговор Semyeinyi prigovor | Gennady Khazanov | TV3 | February 2011 |
 Serbia[48] | Bračni sudija | Sanja Marinković | Pink | September 21, 2011 |
 United Kingdom[49] | The Marriage Ref | Dermot O'Leary | ITV | June 18, 2011 |
episode three of new reality series The Marriage Ref (2.7/8) posted its lowest rating to date, dropping -21% from its time period premiere last Thursday (3.4/10) and showing steady losses with every episode on the air
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