“..Bickering couples, celebrities making fun of each other, Madonna and Larry David.
What’s not to love?
Critics hate “The Marriage Ref” (10 p.m. Thursdays on NBC).
They say it’s condescending, awful, wretched, unfunny, canned, corny.
Some viewers seem to agree: ..
.. One tweeted during Thursday night’s premiere, “Now Jerry Seinfeld has been on both the best and the worst TV shows of all time.”
Are we watching the same show?
Because what I’m seeing is married people bickering over something ridiculous and trivial ..
.. (see also: being themselves) while celebrities crack jokes, tease each other, and reveal odd details about their personal lives (see also: being themselves for a change).
What’s not to love?
Let’s consider the portrayals of marriage on TV available to us up until now: ..
.. Angry couples about to divorce on “Dr. Phil,” ..
.. cutesy couples guffawing over their adorable children’s goofy shenanigans with homemade explosives on sitcoms ..
.. and exhausted couples squabbling over who lost the map on “The Amazing Race.”
In all of these cases, you provide the commentary .. and the laugh track .. (especially on Dr. Phil).
On “The Marriage Ref,” Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais and Jerry Seinfeld do it for you.
Now let’s consider the portrayals of celebrities available to us: ..
.. We can gaze at photos of them in sweatpants taking their kids to the park, we can listen to their stilted attempts at warmth and spontaneity on the red carpet ..
..or we can endure their longer, even more stilted attempts at warmth and spontaneity on late night talk shows.
When celebrities speak instead of just standing around and looking pretty ..
.. they tend to speak at great length about whatever movie or show they’re promoting ..
.. then titter nervously through the balance of the interview.
On “The Marriage Ref,” stars finally have something fun and concrete to banter about: the absurd quarrels of married couples.
Here’s a husband who wants his stuffed dead dog displayed in the house, a wife who would like the dining room only to be used on Thanksgiving ..
..(the rest of the year it sits, fully decorated, but untouched) ..
.. a husband who gets pedicures instead of spending time with his kids ..
.. a wife who wants her husband to stop taking off his wedding ring when he plays basketball or goes out with his friends.
“I think if you’re going to stuff your dog, you should stuff it in either a useful or attractive position,”..
.. Alec Baldwin remarks in the show’s sneak preview..”
go to source/story>>Ignore the haters, “The Marriage Ref” rules – Heather Havrilesky – Salon.com
