The Marriage Ref is a television series hosted by comedian Tom Papa, which first aired on NBC on February 28, 2010, interrupting the coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony. It aired before moving to its official timeslot weekly on Thursdays. It was one of the shows used to fill the 10 PM timeslot vacated by Jay Lenos primetime show after he moved back to The Tonight Show (The Tonight Show with Jay Leno).
The television program has received generally negative reviews from television critics. National Public Radio called The Marriage Ref "painfully bad", The Star Ledger described it as an "ugly, unfunny, patronizing mess", and New York Magazine called it "kinda terrible". Both The Baltimore Sun and The Huffington Post questioned how comedian Jerry Seinfeld could produce something so "unfunny". After its debut, The Marriage Ref saw steady ratings decline with each episode, with a drop of 21 percent in the Nielsen ratings in its second week. However, the show was renewed for a second season on April 5, 2010.
Show Name: The Marriage Ref
Imagebg: #DF0704
Format: Live-action
Genre: Reality television
Runtime: 42 minutes
Director: Beth McCarthy-Miller
Presentedby: Tom Papa
Executive Producer: Jerry Seinfeld , Ellen Rakieten , Nick Emerson , Jennifer O'Connor (Jennifer O'Connor (producer)), Howard West , George Shapiro , Al Berman
Network: NBC (National Broadcasting Company)
First Aired: February 28, 2010
Last Aired: Present
Language: English (English language)
Audio Format: Dolby Digital 5.1
Num Seasons: 1
Num Episodes: 11
List Episodes: List of episodes of The Marriage Ref
Website: www.nbc.com/the-marriage-ref/