Friday, March 19, 2010

The Marriage Ref

I'm ashamed to admit this: I actually enjoyed parts of the Marriage Ref. (I watched the episode with Ricky Gervais, Larry David, and Madonna.)

So the show has this really stupid idea: let's get married couples to send us videos showing their biggest gripe with other, and then we'll decide who wins. (The real answer is neither person wins because America now knows their problems. I guess you could say America wins, but I wouldn't go that far. I think we may lose, too). Anyway, there's this guy, Tom Papa, who isn't funny (but he's supposed to be) who is there every week as "the Ref." His job consists of introducing the couples' videos to the panel and making "the call" (of who wins) in the end. And let me tell you, he gets annoying quickly.

But then, in each episode, there is a different celebrity panel who is there to "advise" (read "make fun of the couple"). To tell the truth, I know this panel is the only reason I liked the show. Larry David and Ricky Gervais are just funny guys (and Madonna, though she wasn't intending to, was a decent straight-man).

Really, the show seems to be a facade to get more than one comedian in the room. They should just ditch the feuding couples and, instead, feature a couple of comedians an episode to riff on anything. Or, to go a different route, ditch everything and start with a brand new show. At one point in the episode I saw, David and Gervais joked about having a reality show where they were roommates. That's actually the show I'd want to see. Jerry Seinfeld, spend your money on that instead.

Despite enjoying parts of the show, I'm only giving it a 2/5. I found all of the regular portions stupid and liked it only because of David and Gervais. Plus, deserves a low score just for interrupting the Closing Ceremony of the 2010 Olympics. Not cool, Marriage Ref. Not cool.


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