Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
03-01-10 | 11:38 AM
#26
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
I'm a big Seinfeld fan, but this show was pretty terrible. It felt VERY forced the entire time. There's no way this will last.
03-01-10 | 11:41 AM
#27
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
There are countless reasons to criticize the show, but this turns out to be one of the only invalid criticisms I've read. Alec Baldwin was just about the only good thing on the episode.
03-01-10 | 11:56 AM
#28
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From: Cleveland, OH
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
We watched, thinking that NBC would air it's funniest episode after the Olympics, to hook the viewers. If that was even close to how funny this show will be on average, then NBC has a train wreck on it's hands!
I like many of the celebrities they've lined up, and I wanted to like this show. Seemed like something ideal to have on in the background. I guess I won't be tuning in again, except maybe for Ricky Gervais.
Did that first wife remind anyone else of Stephanie from Survivor?
I like many of the celebrities they've lined up, and I wanted to like this show. Seemed like something ideal to have on in the background. I guess I won't be tuning in again, except maybe for Ricky Gervais.
Did that first wife remind anyone else of Stephanie from Survivor?
03-01-10 | 01:10 PM
#29
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
This is Jerry's punishment for marrying Jessica Seinfeld. It does prove that a lot of big celebrities are willing to take a bullet for Jerry though.
There were a couple of good lines/laughs, but the whole idea is pretty dumb and mercifully won't last long.
There were a couple of good lines/laughs, but the whole idea is pretty dumb and mercifully won't last long.
03-01-10 | 01:32 PM
#30
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
I'll watch for Larry David and Ricky Gervais, but this really was terrible. I expected no different after hearing it announced.
03-01-10 | 02:22 PM
#31
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
If Jerry really wanted this to work he should have at least made himself the host, especially since his name seems to be the primary selling point.
03-01-10 | 02:30 PM
#32
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
If i was married to that shrew, i would forget the dog and have myself stuffed. That horrid laugh, and those chola eyebrows? Her soon to sag juggs did not make up for the rest of her.
"The happiest day of my life was when that dog died"
Seriously?
"The happiest day of my life was when that dog died"
Seriously?
03-01-10 | 02:36 PM
#33
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
Truly awful. Makes "Cheaters" look like an Emmy-worthy show.
Seinfeld laughing like a horse's ass at every unfunny line the entire show only made it worse.
Seinfeld laughing like a horse's ass at every unfunny line the entire show only made it worse.
03-01-10 | 02:39 PM
#34
Senior Member
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
Horrible show. Even if it was decent I'd boycott after the bullshit they pulled with the Olympics. This network is going down in flames. Comcast ought to do the humane thing and just contract the network to cable...let the NBC affiliates have a fighting chance with the CW. As they have shown in the past year, the only thing people watch them for is sports...and even that's halfassed.
Since the Olympics were brought up, they not only abruptly cut away (and in the prior 10 minutes threw a 1/3 screen graphic advertising the crap on screen) from the Closing Ceremonies but when they came back you could tell it was heavily edited down...by appearances they cut out at least a half hour worth of stuff. They cut away with everyone in their seats. After the hour break they came back with the athletes on the floor listening to Nickleback. Then they filled over 1/3 of it up with commercials/closing credits. At one point they went to commercial with the stands still fairly full and came back 2 minutes later with them almost empty. At the end they went from the stadium floor full of Olympians to it almost empty as Costas/Michaels tried to sell us a line of bullshit and pat themselves on the pat for the great Olympics that we saw. (Of course failing to mention that 60% of it was tape delayed, 25% of it was rediculous fluff pieces, and the other 15% was mostly figure skating.) Summing it up, NBC found a way to take the one thing that they had going for them and screw up yet again. Maybe Dick(head) should have spent more time listening to what people wanted for coverage instead of ripping Conan.
Since the Olympics were brought up, they not only abruptly cut away (and in the prior 10 minutes threw a 1/3 screen graphic advertising the crap on screen) from the Closing Ceremonies but when they came back you could tell it was heavily edited down...by appearances they cut out at least a half hour worth of stuff. They cut away with everyone in their seats. After the hour break they came back with the athletes on the floor listening to Nickleback. Then they filled over 1/3 of it up with commercials/closing credits. At one point they went to commercial with the stands still fairly full and came back 2 minutes later with them almost empty. At the end they went from the stadium floor full of Olympians to it almost empty as Costas/Michaels tried to sell us a line of bullshit and pat themselves on the pat for the great Olympics that we saw. (Of course failing to mention that 60% of it was tape delayed, 25% of it was rediculous fluff pieces, and the other 15% was mostly figure skating.) Summing it up, NBC found a way to take the one thing that they had going for them and screw up yet again. Maybe Dick(head) should have spent more time listening to what people wanted for coverage instead of ripping Conan.
03-01-10 | 02:47 PM
#35
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
Never mind that NBC decided that we needed commercials every 5-6 minutes.
I understand they blew their load paying to show this, but seriously?
I hope someone else gets the Olympics next time, NBC can't do them without screwing it up.
I understand they blew their load paying to show this, but seriously?
I hope someone else gets the Olympics next time, NBC can't do them without screwing it up.
03-01-10 | 03:17 PM
#36
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Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
The only show that would work with this kind of theme is the forthcoming Jerry & Jessica Seinfeld divorce ... LIVE ON NBC! Watch Jerry get taken to the cleaners by his gold-digging ex-wife to be! PRE-NUP BE DAMNED!
Let's not forget, Jessica bailed on her first marriage to a NIEDERLANDER after 2 WEEKS, because Jerry has more money in the bank, and knows far more famous people that she can leetch onto.
Let's not forget, Jessica bailed on her first marriage to a NIEDERLANDER after 2 WEEKS, because Jerry has more money in the bank, and knows far more famous people that she can leetch onto.
03-01-10 | 03:42 PM
#37
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
Just watched it, what an abomination of a show. Just everything from the animated intro to the end of it, start to finish. How things like this even make it to air, especially on a major network in a time slot like this, is beyond me. As mentioned before, it felt less like a real TV show and more like a show you would see in a movie that the characters are watching or something, and a low rent movie at that. It was obviously staged, had an awful laugh track (or they were legit FORCED to laugh), and the host has got to be one of the worst of all time. Not to mention that the show doesn't even have a "point". There is no contest, there are no real winners or losers. Ok, so what if that awful host says there is a "winner". It's not like that actually forces the couple to do what he says and there's no way to ever follow it up to make sure. It's like they're just giving a trip to these couples for "acting" themselves. And yeah, they were obviously acting. It couldn't be more obvious that the entire show, even the couples, is staged and scripted or the couples were at least given "jabs" to delivery to one another.
Don't even get me started on tossing the "fact girl" or whatever that was into the show for no reason and then the stupid "greatest hits" by Marv Albert, performed as if he just randomly wandered onto the set and started to ramble doing his best impression of himself.
I'm shocked that something so horrible was promoted like this. Sure, they have bad shows now and then, but this was in an entirely different league of bad. Everyone in charge at NBC needs go go, but that goes without saying. Not only everything because of all of the screw ups they have done the past few years, but having the Conan/Tonight Show deal then the absolute mismanagement of the Olympics and then immediently this show, NBC is quickly going down the tubes.
There is no way this lasts more than just a few episodes. And sure, it averaged 14.6-million viewers and a 4.8 rating among adults ages 18 to 49 for the debut episode, but that wont matter at all. The Olympics cut so abruptly that a lot of people possibly didn't even realize what was happening. This show is going to crash and burn harder and faster than most things before it. Just wait and see.
Thank God for their Thursday 8-10 lineup.
Just saw this review of the show, awesome:
http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2010/0...rss-topstories
Don't even get me started on tossing the "fact girl" or whatever that was into the show for no reason and then the stupid "greatest hits" by Marv Albert, performed as if he just randomly wandered onto the set and started to ramble doing his best impression of himself.
I'm shocked that something so horrible was promoted like this. Sure, they have bad shows now and then, but this was in an entirely different league of bad. Everyone in charge at NBC needs go go, but that goes without saying. Not only everything because of all of the screw ups they have done the past few years, but having the Conan/Tonight Show deal then the absolute mismanagement of the Olympics and then immediently this show, NBC is quickly going down the tubes.
There is no way this lasts more than just a few episodes. And sure, it averaged 14.6-million viewers and a 4.8 rating among adults ages 18 to 49 for the debut episode, but that wont matter at all. The Olympics cut so abruptly that a lot of people possibly didn't even realize what was happening. This show is going to crash and burn harder and faster than most things before it. Just wait and see.
Thank God for their Thursday 8-10 lineup.
Just saw this review of the show, awesome:
http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2010/0...rss-topstories
Last night, NBC gave a demonstration of the difference between so-awful-it's-awesome and so-awful-it's-amazing awful. First came the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, which, after the usual nods to the next Olympic site, final benediction by Olympic officials and emotional performances, morphed into a bizarre comic parody of Canadiana that was like a hallucinogenic trip induced by maple syrup. There was a comic monologue by William Shatner. There was Michael Buble and sexy Mounties. There were dancing hockey pucks and giant beavers. (Someone call the Parents Television Council!) The only thing missing was Terrence and Phillip.
And then, just as the ceremonies were reaching a brilliant crescendo of Canadian self-satire, NBC cut away—at least in the Eastern and Central time zones—to the premiere/preview of Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref, the most God-awful mishmash of a comedy-variety show to lead into local news on NBC since immediately before the Olympics.
The first bad sign was the animated intro, in which Seinfeld explained the premise—giving couples a "ref" to adjudicate their arguments. It both gave the show corny, low-rent feel (Seinfeld and his wife looked like the work of a not-very-good sidewalk caricaturist) and ignored the fact that, as Monkey See blogger Linda Holmes pointed out, baseball does not have refs.
From there it just got worse, as a studio audience coughed out forced laughter at a lame monologue by host Tom Papa, who brought out the celeb refs for the night: Seinfeld, Kelly Ripa and Alec Baldwin. (Because when you want to find harmony in your relationships, you ask the guy who left an abusive voicemail to his daughter.) Then came the video profiles of the squabbling couples, both of the my-husband-has-a-crazy-idea school: in the first, hubby had his beloved deceased dog stuffed, and in the second, the husband wanted to install a stripper pole in the bedroom.
The couple each seemed camera-ready—very camera-ready, too camera-ready, either as if they were aspiring actors or had been coached, making the show seem phony even by reality standards. Then "reffing," which was basically the panel trying improv comedy riffs. (It's funny, ordinary Americans, because the celebrities are laughing at you! Because you're idiots!)
Then the couple received their verdict, in an interview segment that had all the drama of watching NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me as a TV show. Then Natalie Morales tossed a few shovels of dirt on the casket of TV journalism by pulling up "fun facts" on how many Americans stuff their pets or install home stripper poles. Then veteran sports announcer Marv Albert recapped the "funniest" moments of the program you just watched. It was as if someone thought that, if you just piled more and more elements on, somehow they would magically turn into an entertaining show.
It was, at least, an interesting object lesson in how TV works. It proved that, if you are Jerry Seinfeld, NBC will put any program you want on the air, and will give you no network notes. For the sake of my fond memories of the sitcom Seinfeld, I am going to make myself believe that Seinfeld knew this, and was deliberately punking the network.
The big winner in all this: Jay Leno. The Marriage Ref may or may not give him a good lead-in on Thursday nights, but already The Jay Leno Show is looking better in comparison.
Read more: http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2010/0...#ixzz0gxnXNncH
And then, just as the ceremonies were reaching a brilliant crescendo of Canadian self-satire, NBC cut away—at least in the Eastern and Central time zones—to the premiere/preview of Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref, the most God-awful mishmash of a comedy-variety show to lead into local news on NBC since immediately before the Olympics.
The first bad sign was the animated intro, in which Seinfeld explained the premise—giving couples a "ref" to adjudicate their arguments. It both gave the show corny, low-rent feel (Seinfeld and his wife looked like the work of a not-very-good sidewalk caricaturist) and ignored the fact that, as Monkey See blogger Linda Holmes pointed out, baseball does not have refs.
From there it just got worse, as a studio audience coughed out forced laughter at a lame monologue by host Tom Papa, who brought out the celeb refs for the night: Seinfeld, Kelly Ripa and Alec Baldwin. (Because when you want to find harmony in your relationships, you ask the guy who left an abusive voicemail to his daughter.) Then came the video profiles of the squabbling couples, both of the my-husband-has-a-crazy-idea school: in the first, hubby had his beloved deceased dog stuffed, and in the second, the husband wanted to install a stripper pole in the bedroom.
The couple each seemed camera-ready—very camera-ready, too camera-ready, either as if they were aspiring actors or had been coached, making the show seem phony even by reality standards. Then "reffing," which was basically the panel trying improv comedy riffs. (It's funny, ordinary Americans, because the celebrities are laughing at you! Because you're idiots!)
Then the couple received their verdict, in an interview segment that had all the drama of watching NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me as a TV show. Then Natalie Morales tossed a few shovels of dirt on the casket of TV journalism by pulling up "fun facts" on how many Americans stuff their pets or install home stripper poles. Then veteran sports announcer Marv Albert recapped the "funniest" moments of the program you just watched. It was as if someone thought that, if you just piled more and more elements on, somehow they would magically turn into an entertaining show.
It was, at least, an interesting object lesson in how TV works. It proved that, if you are Jerry Seinfeld, NBC will put any program you want on the air, and will give you no network notes. For the sake of my fond memories of the sitcom Seinfeld, I am going to make myself believe that Seinfeld knew this, and was deliberately punking the network.
The big winner in all this: Jay Leno. The Marriage Ref may or may not give him a good lead-in on Thursday nights, but already The Jay Leno Show is looking better in comparison.
Read more: http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2010/0...#ixzz0gxnXNncH
Last edited by Brent L; 03-01-10 at 03:53 PM.
03-01-10 | 05:27 PM
#40
03-01-10 | 05:30 PM
#41
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
I liked the premise and was looking forward to the show, but yeah that was just really bad. I agree that seinfeld needed to host if it had any chance at success, but there was all sorts of wrong there.
03-01-10 | 09:34 PM
#44
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
Ouch. This wasn't good. Some of the jokes definately seemed like obvious setups.
Seinfeld: "Okay, so you say this, and then I'll say this."
It's like rehearsed improv.
Seinfeld: "Okay, so you say this, and then I'll say this."
It's like rehearsed improv.
03-02-10 | 02:41 AM
#45
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
I cannot believe they stopped the Olympics closing ceremony to show this.
Quality of the show aside, the mere fact that this show was deemed more important than the tail end of the OLYMPICS completely boggles my mind.
Quality of the show aside, the mere fact that this show was deemed more important than the tail end of the OLYMPICS completely boggles my mind.
03-02-10 | 08:43 AM
#46
Moderator
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
Where to start with this show?
First of all it's a good concept. On paper, I can see why a network executive would greenlight this. However, it's like a pretty girl with too much makeup. They took a simple concept and stacked too much on top of it.
The host is biggest problem. He's supposed to be the centerpiece of the show, but he's bland, unfunny, and it doesn't feel like he has an control over the proceedings. Compare him to somebody like Lewis Black on "Root of All Evil" a similar show with a much more solid execution.
And what's with the Google Girl with the laptop? Sure, she's cute, but they couldn't have looked this shit up BEFORE the show? A bit sad to see her torpedoing her own journalism career in this way.
Finally, the couples. They did find amusing couples who were naturally fun. But the conflicts were both pretty one-sided. It was obvious who was in the right in both situations. I felt like Seinfeld sided with the husband in the second segment out of an obligation to have some sort of conflict on the panel.
The one positive note is that they do have real celebrities on the panel -- funny ones at that. Most shows of this nature would premiere with Carrot Top, Heidi Montag, and Vern Troyer.
First of all it's a good concept. On paper, I can see why a network executive would greenlight this. However, it's like a pretty girl with too much makeup. They took a simple concept and stacked too much on top of it.
The host is biggest problem. He's supposed to be the centerpiece of the show, but he's bland, unfunny, and it doesn't feel like he has an control over the proceedings. Compare him to somebody like Lewis Black on "Root of All Evil" a similar show with a much more solid execution.
And what's with the Google Girl with the laptop? Sure, she's cute, but they couldn't have looked this shit up BEFORE the show? A bit sad to see her torpedoing her own journalism career in this way.
Finally, the couples. They did find amusing couples who were naturally fun. But the conflicts were both pretty one-sided. It was obvious who was in the right in both situations. I felt like Seinfeld sided with the husband in the second segment out of an obligation to have some sort of conflict on the panel.
The one positive note is that they do have real celebrities on the panel -- funny ones at that. Most shows of this nature would premiere with Carrot Top, Heidi Montag, and Vern Troyer.
03-02-10 | 08:54 AM
#47
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
I thought it was okay. The host really sucks. And what is up with Natalie Morales as the "fact checker"? That is dumb. I'll be back only for the panels really.
03-05-10 | 07:33 PM
#49
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
He sound slike he's impersonating Jerry and badly.
03-05-10 | 07:41 PM
#50
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref -- Debuts 2/28/10
Anybody watch the second episode? Was it any better?