The TV Column: Seinfeld to Produce 'The Marriage Ref' Reality Show for NBC
Jerry Seinfeld and Jessica Sklar have a good laugh after tying the knot in 1999. They began dating a few weeks after Sklar returned from her honeymoon to New Yorker Eric Nederlander.
(By Kevin Mazur -- Associated Press)
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Jerry Seinfeld is returning to series TV!
On NBC!
But he won't star!
And, it's not a scripted series!
It's a reality show!
Comics advising real couples with marital woes!
Wow!
NBC said yesterday that it was "proud to announce" a new comedy/reality series created by "superstar comedian and producer Jerry Seinfeld's Columbus 81 Productions."
Yes, Jerry Seinfeld -- the man who famously met, wooed and won his wife right after she returned to Manhattan from her honeymoon with her new husband, Eric Nederlander -- has created a TV series in which comics, sports figures and opinionated celebrities (which sounds like NBC-speak for Donald Trump) will advise average-Joe couples in the throes of a "classic marital dispute."
"The Marriage Ref" "is not a therapy show, it's a comedy show," Seinfeld said in a canned statement. "After nine years of marriage, I have discovered that the comedic potential of this subject is quite rich."
Seinfeld will be partnered in the project with Ellen Rakieten, a 23-year veteran of "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
"Rakieten joined 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' as a producer at its inception in the mid-1980s and was a major force in creating the most dominant program in daytime history," according to the network.
