The Marriage Ref
Encyclopedia
The Marriage Ref is a TV reality show
and panel game
hosted by comedian Tom Papa
and produced by Jerry Seinfeld
, in which a rotating group of celebrities decides the winners of real-life marital disputes. The show premiered on NBC
on Sunday, February 28, 2010 on the final night of the Olympics
before moving to Thursdays. The show's second season debuted on June 25, 2011. It is unknown if there will be a third season.
In addition to the celebrity panel, season one featured a fact checker who could provide additional information to aid in the decision making. Today correspondents Natalie Morales
and Maria Menounos
and MSNBC
's Mika Brzezinski
filled this role.
Changes have been announced for season two. 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 the panel game
format popular in classic American television.
after he returned to The Tonight Show
in early 2010.
The executive producer
s of The Marriage Ref are Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen Rakieten, Nick Emerson, Jennifer O'Connell, and Al Berman. Seinfeld selected comedian Tom Papa
, his longtime warm-up act
, to serve as the show's host and referee. The program is produced by Seinfeld's company, Columbus 81 Productions. Endemol
provides services of international distribution of The Marriage Ref. Central Talent Booking
manages the composition of each show's celebrity panel.
based on 11 reviews. According to the news agency
, Reuters
, the television program received "scathing reviews". An analysis of reviews in The Guardian
noted that The Marriage Ref, "has been so thoroughly panned by critics its future looks in doubt even before it begins." A review of the program on National 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." The newspaper The Star Ledger described it as "heinous", and called it an "ugly, unfunny, patronizing mess". The New York Times
called the show "funny, despite a cheesy game show premise". A review by Entertainment 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." An analysis in Variety magazine characterized the program as "a breezy, inexpensive approach to comedy that brought to mind the panel shows of yesteryear". 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".
A commentary on the show in Time magazine commented that The Marriage Ref was "the most God-awful mishmash of a comedy-variety show". Time gave it an F, as did The 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." A reviewer for TV.com
commented, "The Marriage Ref may be the worst television I've seen in awhile [sic]." 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".
"Who knew Seinfeld could be this unfunny?", commented a review in The Baltimore Sun
; the review stated that the program was not worthy of its Thursday slot or daytime syndication. The Huffington Post
asked a similar question, "How could a man as funny as Seinfeld produce such a remarkably unfunny show?" The website Gawker mused as to whether "Jerry Seinfeld's new show almost cancels out Seinfeld", and IGN
wrote, "The Marriage Ref just felt utterly dead on arrival." New York Magazine characterized The Marriage Ref as "kinda terrible". An analysis of the show in The 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.'" 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"
even with the Olympics closing lead-in. The pre-empting and tape delay
of the remainder of the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony
after late local news in order to broadcast the premiere of The Marriage Ref was immediately criticized by viewers over social networking websites such as Twitter
. The week after its debut, The Marriage Ref dropped to number three in the ratings; losing to the CBS program The Mentalist
and the ABC Network
program Private Practice. The program had been in first place in its first week, but fell 21 percent in the ratings in its second week. The program has seen steady ratings decline with each episode since its debut. The first showing of The Marriage Ref had 14 million viewers, and by the fourth full episode the number of viewers had declined to 6.5 million. As of the fourth episode, the program had "posted its lowest rating to date", with a rating of 2.5/7. In the program's sixth broadcast, the April 8, 2010 edition of The Marriage Ref hit a season low with a rating of 2.1, 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 premier, at a 1.6.
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
and panel game
Panel game
A panel game or panel show is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Panelists may compete with each other, such as on The News Quiz; facilitate play by guest contestants, such as on Match Game/Blankety Blank; or do both, such as on Wait Wait.....
hosted by comedian Tom Papa
Tom Papa
Tom Papa is an American comedian, actor and TV host known for his many TV and film appearances.-Early life:Papa was born November 10, 1967 in Passaic, New Jersey, and grew up in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey...
and produced by Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld , which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons,...
, in which a rotating group of celebrities decides the winners of real-life marital disputes. The show premiered on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
on Sunday, February 28, 2010 on the final night of the Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
before moving to Thursdays. The show's second season debuted on June 25, 2011. It is unknown if there will be a third season.
Premise
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 correspondents Natalie Morales
Natalie Morales
Natalie Leticia Morales is the news anchor for NBC's Today.-Career:Morales was an anchor and correspondent for MSNBC from 2002 to 2006...
and Maria Menounos
Maria Menounos
Maria Menounos is a Greek-American actress, journalist, and television presenter known in America for her appearances as a correspondent for Today, Access Hollywood, Extra, and abroad for co-hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, Greece.-Early life and beauty pageants:Menounos, a...
and MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
's Mika Brzezinski
Mika Brzezinski
Mika Emilie Leonia Brzezinski is an American television news journalist at MSNBC. Brzezinski is co-host of MSNBC's weekday morning program Morning Joe, where she provides regular commentary and reads the news headlines for the program...
filled this role.
Changes have been announced for season two. 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 the panel game
Panel game
A panel game or panel show is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Panelists may compete with each other, such as on The News Quiz; facilitate play by guest contestants, such as on Match Game/Blankety Blank; or do both, such as on Wait Wait.....
format popular in classic American television.
Production
The Marriage Ref was originally scheduled to air Sundays at 8 pm in NBC's 2009–2010 season. NBC greenlighted the show "within minutes" of Seinfeld pitching the concept. Its premiere was delayed, however, until the show was used to help fill the 10 pm time slot vacated by Jay LenoJay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
after he returned to The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that initially aired from May 25, 1992 to May 29, 2009, and resumed production on March 1, 2010. The fourth incarnation of the Tonight Show franchise made its debut on May 25, 1992, three days following Johnny...
in early 2010.
The executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
s of The Marriage Ref are Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen Rakieten, Nick Emerson, Jennifer O'Connell, and Al Berman. Seinfeld selected comedian Tom Papa
Tom Papa
Tom Papa is an American comedian, actor and TV host known for his many TV and film appearances.-Early life:Papa was born November 10, 1967 in Passaic, New Jersey, and grew up in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey...
, his longtime warm-up act
Opening act
An opening act or warm-up act is an entertainer or entertainment act that performs at a concert before the featured entertainer...
, to serve as the show's host and referee. The program is produced by Seinfeld's company, Columbus 81 Productions. Endemol
Endemol
Endemol is an international television production and distribution company based in the Netherlands, with subsidiaries and joint ventures in 23 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Poland,...
provides services of international distribution of The Marriage Ref. Central Talent Booking
Central Talent Booking
Central Talent Booking is a New York-based booking agency with offices in Los Angeles. Since its founding in 1999, CTB has built its business primarily by finding celebrity and human interest talent for television programs, particularly talk shows, though the company has regularly worked with...
manages the composition of each show's celebrity panel.
Reviews
The Marriage Ref received an overwhelmingly negative reception from television critics. It currently receives a 41 out of 100 on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
based on 11 reviews. According to the news agency
News agency
A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.-History:The oldest news agency is Agence...
, Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
, the television program received "scathing reviews". An analysis of reviews in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
noted that The Marriage Ref, "has been so thoroughly panned by critics its future looks in doubt even before it begins." A review of the program on National 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." The newspaper The Star Ledger described it as "heinous", and called it an "ugly, unfunny, patronizing mess". The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called the show "funny, despite a cheesy game show premise". A review by Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
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." An analysis in Variety magazine characterized the program as "a breezy, inexpensive approach to comedy that brought to mind the panel shows of yesteryear". The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the 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".
A commentary on the show in Time magazine commented that The Marriage Ref was "the most God-awful mishmash of a comedy-variety show". Time gave it an F, as did The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
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." A reviewer for TV.com
TV.com
TV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
commented, "The Marriage Ref may be the worst television I've seen in awhile [sic]." 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".
"Who knew Seinfeld could be this unfunny?", commented a review in The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
; the review stated that the program was not worthy of its Thursday slot or daytime syndication. The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
asked a similar question, "How could a man as funny as Seinfeld produce such a remarkably unfunny show?" The website Gawker mused as to whether "Jerry Seinfeld's new show almost cancels out Seinfeld", and IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
wrote, "The Marriage Ref just felt utterly dead on arrival." New York Magazine characterized The Marriage Ref as "kinda terrible". An analysis of the show in The Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is a morning newspaper for most of the state north of New Haven and east of Waterbury...
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.'" 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"
Ratings
In the ratings, the program's debut performed worse than the CBS Network television reality show Undercover BossUndercover Boss
Undercover Boss is a television franchise series that has been released in multiple countries, originating in 2009 on the British Channel 4...
even with the Olympics closing lead-in. The pre-empting and tape delay
Broadcast delay
In radio and television, broadcast delay refers to the practice of intentionally delaying broadcast of live material. A short delay is often used to prevent profanity, bloopers, violence, or other undesirable material from making it to air, including more mundane problems such as technical...
of the remainder of the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony
2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony
The Closing Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics took place on February 28, 2010, beginning at 5:30 pm PST at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada...
after late local news in order to broadcast the premiere of The Marriage Ref was immediately criticized by viewers over social networking websites such as Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
. The week after its debut, The Marriage Ref dropped to number three in the ratings; losing to the CBS program The Mentalist
The Mentalist
The Mentalist is an American police procedural television series which debuted on September 23, 2008, on CBS. The show was created by Bruno Heller, who is also the show's executive producer...
and the ABC Network
ABC Network
ABC Network may refer to any of the following:*American Broadcasting Company, a private television network in the United States.*Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, regional radio and television broadcaster in Japan....
program Private Practice. The program had been in first place in its first week, but fell 21 percent in the ratings in its second week. The program has seen steady ratings decline with each episode since its debut. The first showing of The Marriage Ref had 14 million viewers, and by the fourth full episode the number of viewers had declined to 6.5 million. As of the fourth episode, the program had "posted its lowest rating to date", with a rating of 2.5/7. In the program's sixth broadcast, the April 8, 2010 edition of The Marriage Ref hit a season low with a rating of 2.1, 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 premier, at a 1.6.
International versions
| Country | Name | Host | Network | Date premiered |
 Arab League Arab WorldArab world The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the... |
قاضي الغـرام Qadi El Gharam |
Moustafa Shaban | Abu Dhabi TV Abu Dhabi TV Abu Dhabi Al Oula is an Arabic television station that originally launched in 1969 but was re-launched in 2000 and again in 2008. It broadcasts from Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates and is owned by Abu Dhabi Media Company... |
September 20, 2010-December 13, 2010 |
 Argentina |
El referí del matrimonio | Gabriel Corrado | Telefe Telefe Televisión Federal S.A., best known as Telefe and later as TLF, is an Argentine television network. Formerly known as Canal Once , a state-run network, it was privatised and established as Telefe in 1989, when and News Corporation took over the channel... |
December 13, 2010-March 2011 |
 Russia |
Семейный приговор Semyeinyi prigovor |
Gennady Khazanov | TV3 | February 2011 |
 Serbia |
Bračni sudija | Sanja Marinković | Pink RTV Pink RTV Pink or Radio-Television Pink is a popular, privately-owned, national TV network in Serbia. Pink is the leading commercial station in the Serbian television broadcast market. TV Pink has gained a strong reputation for its entertainment programming... |
September 21, 2011 |
 United Kingdom |
The Marriage Ref | Dermot O'Leary Dermot O'Leary Dermot O'Leary is an English television and radio presenter. He established himself as a presenter of Big Brother's Little Brother on Channel 4 before moving on to The X Factor on ITV. O'Leary has also presented on the BBC and has his own radio show on BBC Radio 2... |
ITV ITV ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK... |
June 18, 2011 |