Critics pan Seinfeld’s ‘pointless’ Marriage Ref

US comedian Jerry Seinfeld's new TV show - his first since the universally acclaimed series Seinfeld ended in 1998 - has been widely panned. The Marriage Ref was described as "painful" and "pointless" after it made its NBC debut on Sunday night following the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics.
 
The show had 14.5 million viewers - six million more than NBC's average audience for that timeslot - but the broadcaster may be wishing the launch had been a little more low-key after the show earned scathing reviews from critics and was mocked by viewers on Twitter.
 
The Marriage Ref features real-life couples who are given a celebrity referee to adjudicate their arguments. Sunday's pilot featured 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin, soap actress Kelly Ripa and Seinfeld himself. Future panellists will include Madonna, Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria and comedians Tina Fey and Ricky Gervais.
 
One reviewer, Alan Sepinwall of the New Jersey paper the Star-Ledger, said he still considered Seinfeld a "tremendous" comedian but The Marriage Ref was "painful, pointless and obnoxious... [the] undercurrent of contempt for the couples being judged made the whole affair feel particularly unpleasant".
 
Meanwhile Time's TV reviewer James Poniewozik - who was already in a bad mood after watching giant beavers and William Shatner on the Winter Olympics closing ceremony ("a bizarre comic parody of Canadiana that was like a hallucinogenic trip induced by maple syrup") - slated Seinfeld's show as "the most God-awful mishmash of a comedy-variety show".
 
Seinfeld fans took to Twitter to express their disappointment at the comedian's return. Under the trending topic '#MarriageRefFail' they described it as "terrible, terrible", and "the most inane show I've ever seen". Another blogger quipped: "Divorce papers have been filed."
 
NBC had high hopes for Seinfeld's first show in 12 years. Last year the ailing network suffered its worst ratings ever and was recently left red-faced after it was forced to move Jay Leno's show back to a late-night slot after disastrous ratings.
 
However the studio's executives can be forgiven for putting their trust in Seinfeld. It would not have escaped them that Seinfeld creator Larry David's HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm had its best-ever audience ratings in October thanks to a "Seinfeld reunion" storyline featuring the comedian and the rest of the original cast.

The Seinfeld magic may have worked for Curb, but it clearly isn't working on The Marriage Ref. Baltimore Sun TV critic David Zurawik hit the nail on the head when he said: "Who knew Seinfeld could be this unfunny?" ·