The Marriage Ref

Last February, when Jerry Seinfeld's new television project, The Marriage Ref—a "reality series that seeks to mine laughs out of marriage problems"—was announced, I said:

Seinfeld explains that, despite the fact that the show depends on marital problems for its existence, it's "not a therapy show; it's a comedy show," the concept for which he developed after nine years of marriage wherein he "discovered that the comedic potential of this subject is quite rich." … [T]he reason most [modern comedy] is garbage is because most of it is tired, hackneyed, rehashed rubbish (which wasn't even funny the first time) about "relationships." Men are horny dogs! Ha ha ha! Women are shopaholic chatterboxes! Ha ha ha! Mars and Venus, baby. Mars. And. Venus.

Oh, my aching sides.

…And the producer of the show promoted his last film with rape jokes and homophobic and transphobic promo spots.

I've little hope that the combination of a scarcity of groundbreaking and norms-shattering material and Seinfeld's sad retrofuckery are going to yield anything but a patriarchy-propagating monster.

Well, I've started seeing promos for The Marriage Ref on NBC. I'll let you be the judge:

Text onscreen: Based on a true story.

Voiceover backed by wacky music: Based on a true story. [image of elderly white man standing in yard, shirtless] In 2003, a man trying to avoid date night with his wife [image of elderly white woman in bed, with rollers in hair, eating popcorn] started a fire in his backyard [video of raging fire being futilely doused with water from hoses] and accidentally burned down his house. [image of woman looking angry (?) coupled with image of man in mug shot] If only they had "The Marriage Ref." From executive producer Jerry Seinfeld. Coming in March to NBC.

Text onscreen: This is a true story.

Voiceover backed by wacky music: This is a true story. David and Susan Harper [images of couple] constantly argue about her first husband's ashes [image of urn] on the mantle and his leg [image of prosthetic leg] in the closet. Seems like they could use "The Marriage Ref." From executive producer Jerry Seinfeld. Coming in March to NBC.

Shaker EastSideKate emails that there are other promos "featuring panelist Alec Baldwin.* The show's website is predictable. Bonus points to the NBC casting website, which features 'Stand Up for Diversity' right under requests for hackneyed sexist anecdotes to be featured on Seinfeld's latest train wreck."

Here, you can find Seinfeld talking about how this show is especially important for men: "Men do not know [that all couples fight], because men do not share with other men about what's going on in their marriage. So they suffer in silence! [laughter]"

Oh for fuck's sake.

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* Sure. Of course. Who better to serve as a panelist on a show about marriage than Alec Baldwin, a misogynist asshole who had a lengthy, ugly, public divorce during which he behaved appallingly childishly?