Seinfeld Bombs! The Marriage Ref Returns With Poor Ratings

Can't win 'em all, Jerry!

Last night, NBC's Jerry Seinfeld produced reality series The Marriage Ref returned with numbers MUCH lower than its 2010 premiere.

The premiere, which was 20% down from last year's finale episode, scored a 1.6 rating in adults 18-49. Ouch.

Might be time to start thinking about pursuing another project, Jer!

Did U tune in for The Marriage Ref's season premiere? Do U think this show is on its way out?

[Image via WENN.]

Ads For Cheating Website To Air During The Marriage Ref?!

LOLs!

It turns out some NBC affiliates were supposedly in talks to advertise AshleyMadison.com, a website that encourages married people to cheat on their spouses!

Emails were exchanged between NBC's New York affiliate and the site explains Ashley Madison's independent ad buyer, Jud Bardwell saying that an NBC ad rep:

“Confirmed with me verbally on about March 29th that two of the [ads] were approved to run in all the shows that he sent me rates on. We were going back and forth on The Marriage Ref and I indicated that Ashley Madison was planning on running in the 5/6 episode, and also that we were going to be sending a new creative for approval which was actually just submitted this morning [Monday].”

But a rep for NBC's affiliates said that although Ashley Madison approached them about buying air time, they did not agree to air the commercials.

It would be kinda funny, though!

What do U think?

Gawker.TV: The Five Best Videos Ever of the Day [Clipjob]

Network execs hate Jerry Seinfeld's new show as much as we do. It's their own fault for the Leno fiasco, and now they're using Yiddish words and shaking in their "deep doo-doo." Real-life Costanza says it's all about ego.

Interestingly, the Post's write-up is by Jerry Oppenheimer (Read more...)

Madonna Fancies Herself A ‘Marriage Ref’

Her Holiness Madonna has deigned to appear on network television to give marriage advice on Jerry Seinfeld’s new TV series for NBC titled The Marriage Ref. Why *anyone* would want to get marriage advice from a woman with 2 failed marriages is beyond me … but I’m guess it’ll make for some interesting television to watch:

With two failed marriages under her belt, Madonna is probably not the most qualified person to hand out marital advice. That didn’t stop her giving her tuppence worth as she aired her views about one couple’s relationship troubles on a new reality US TV show called The Marriage Ref. And she clashed with Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David as they had different opinions on one married couple’s trivial argument. Although the domestic spat was not clear from the trailer shown in the US on Sunday night, it seemed to be enough to get Madonna, Larry and the third celebrity panelist Ricky Gervais hot under the collar. At one point, Madonna, who was married to actor Sean Penn from 1985 to 1989 and divorced director Guy Ritchie in 2008 after eight years of marriage, puts her head in her hands and (Read more...)

Dustin Hoffman "Bets" On A New HBO Project (Because It’s About Gambling!) [Trade Roundup]

Dustin Hoffman's starring in the Deadwood guy's new series. The Dancing with the Stars cast is out. Everyone's partying at the Oscars. The UN pitches movies. Welcome to the roundup, care for a cookie? Too bad. We don't have any.

•David Milch produced the gloriously profane series Deadwood (Read more...)

Gawker.TV: The Five Best Videos Ever of the Day [Clipjob]

Today at Gawker.TV, Three reasons why it's time to put Barbara Walters in a home, highlights from The Soup, The Ricky Gervais Show's Karl Pilkington ponders "eating knob," and how The Marriage Ref sums up everything wrong with NBC.

Three Reasons Why it Might be Time to Put Barbara (Read more...)

Jerry Seinfeld’s New Show Almost Cancels Out Seinfeld [The Marriage Ref]

Everyone was puzzled upon learning that Jerry Seinfeld's triumphant return to NBC would be as the producer of a reality/game show called The Marriage Ref. After seeing the first episode, we are still puzzled. The Marriage Ref is a mess.

The Marriage Ref is about (Read more...)