'The Marriage Ref' Information

Produced by Jerry Seinfeld, The Marriage Ref, is a television reality show on NBC where "disputes between real-life couples are revealed, examined -- and ultimately judged. For the first time, audiences will be able to look at these fights, analyze them and declare a winner."

The Marriage Ref had a sneak preview on February 28, 2010 with the first episode appearing the following Thursday on NBC.

The Marriage Ref Topics:

According to the show's web site, topics The Marriage Ref plans on covering include married couples' disagreements about parenting, pets [both dead and alive], fashion, money, in-laws, weight, housework, chores, communication, neatness, jealousy, past history, friends, sex ..."

The Marriage Ref Cast:

• Tom Papa: Host. Married since abt. 1999.
• Jerry Seinfeld: Panelist and Executive Producer. Married since 1999.
• Alec Baldwin: Guest Panelist. Divorced.
• Kelly Ripa: Guest Panelist. Married since 1996.
• Natalie Morales: Fact Checker. Married since 1998.
• Marv Albert: Announcer. Married (second marriage) since 1998.
• Madonna: Guest Panelist. Married and divorced twice.
• Larry David: Guest Panelist. Divorced.
• Ricky Gervais: Guest Panelist. In long term relationship since 1982.
• Eva Longoria Parker: Guest Panelist. Married since 2007.
• Sarah Silverman: Guest Panelist.
• Tina Fey: Guest Panelist. Married since 2001.
• Martin Short: Guest Panelist. Married since 1980.
• Matthew Broderick: Guest Panelist. Married since 1997.
• Maria Menounos: Fact Checker.
• Matt Lauer: Guest Panelist.
• Charles Barkley: Guest Panelist.
• Cedric the Entertainer: Guest Panelist.

Quotes About The Marriage Ref:

Jerry Seinfeld: "The idea of the show is it's married couples -- real married couples having a real fight in their home. They're not in the studio. And we watch the video in the studio with a live audience and a panel of celebrity guests and Tom, who is our marriage ref. And we're going to watch the argument. We're going to discuss the argument, who's right, who's wrong, and we're going to make a call in favor of the husband or the wife, very similar to the way it's done in sports. Because we felt the sports simplicity is what's missing in marriage ... And that's kind of the idea of the show, right? To shorten the fight ... We're not going to fix your marriage."
Source: April MacIntyre. "Jerry seinfeld and tom Papa's 'Marriage Ref' scores for NBC." MonstersandCritics.com. 2/28/2010.

Tom Papa: "There's Dr. Phil and places you can go for that. This is all light and funny. This isn't fights about whether we should stay married or get divorced. It's all just silly. And we find in our marriages -- I've been married 10 years as well. If you laugh at all these crazy situations, you survive. And that's what this show's about, surviving. We want these marriages to flourish and be OK, so we just want to have a laugh with it all."
Source: April MacIntyre. "Jerry seinfeld and tom Papa's 'Marriage Ref' scores for NBC." MonstersandCritics.com. 2/28/2010.

"So what exactly is the show? A little bit of a lot of things, Seinfeld said: reality show, panel show and comedy show. The basic concept: A married couple in dispute pre-tapes their disagreement -- not a marriage-threatening argument or something involving children -- and then celebrity guests offer their reactions and choose sides."
Source: Scripps Howard News. "Seinfeld's comic 'Ref' pokes fun at marriage spats." SunTimes.com. 2/27/2010.

Jerry: "This is the point of the show, especially for men because men do not share with other men what's going on in their marriage. They suffer in silence and think that my marriage is a mess. Not to sound lofty, but I feel a little sense of mission with this show as I kind of want to tell everybody your marriage is fine. We're all doing this."
Source: Rob Lowman. "Fight Night." DailyNews.com. 2/28/2010.

Jerry Seinfeld: "Really, 85 percent of marital difficulties is ridiculous problems ... That's kind of the idea of the show: to shorten the fight. And we're not presuming to help these people. We're not going to fix your marriage ... This is a comedy. We really feel laughing at yourself, laughing at your marriage, seeing other marriages that are also in absurd situations is a wonderful medicine."
Source: Scripps Howard News. "Seinfeld's comic 'Ref' pokes fun at marriage spats." SunTimes.com. 2/27/2010.

Ellen Rakieten: "Marriage and relationships are universal on every front. Everybody plays games and when you're a kid and there's an argument—the ball was in, he was safe, the ball was out—that's why there are umpires, you need a ref. And in marriage you need a ref. It's a very pro-marriage show. When you can laugh about things, when you can step outside of yourself, a lot of times it's just all silly stuff, but it can balloon into not-so-silly stuff. Make no mistake this is a comedy."
Source: Steve Cooper. "Ellen Rakieten Talks The Marriage Ref." HitchedMag.com. 10/2009.