Is The Marriage Ref Good for the Gays?

In all but five states of this union, gay people do not have the right to marry each other. But, according to Jerry Seinfeld yesterday at the Television Critics Association (TCA) convention in Pasadena, we gays will have The Marriage Ref.

The hourlong unscripted show sprang from the real-life marriage of executive producer Seinfeld, who once asked a friend to arbitrate a silly fight between him and his wife Jessica, who was in yesterday's audience. (For the record, Seinfeld says, he lost, and had to accept the friend's binding decision.)

He decided to turn the idea into a show, in which 3 to 5 real-life couples per episode will be videotaped at home, having the typical types of arguments that couples -- and yes, despite our supposed "alternate lifestyle," we gays, too -- have that run for years and tend to fester. One show, he explained, will show a wife whose husband prefers to park his Harley in the middle of the living room. Other issues may be less glaring. But in order not to trivialize or be flippant about serious issues like domestic abuse and child endangerment, none of the shows, the comedian emphasized, will go near issues "that makes you uncomfortable that the marriage might be in real trouble."

In the show's format, a panel of celebrity guests discusses each couple's video, and makes a case for one or the other of the complainants to judge Tom Papa, whose sole decision will be binding. And says Papa, a comedian whose previous TV work includes the short-lived (and New Jersey-set) 2004 NBC sitcom Come to Papa, his decision won't always be the obvious one. In the case of the Harley couple, for example, Papa hints that he may have found in favor of the husband. "She's yelling at him, 'You have a Harley in the living room!' And he's like, 'I understand that, dear.' He was so nice to her. I was like, 'What he is doing is completely insane, but how respectful is this guy? He's got to get points.'"

And of course, with the court case challenging Prop 8 about to begin here in California, it was on everyone's mind: For the Marriage Ref's services, what about gay marriages?

"Oh yeah, they're in," Seinfeld enthused.

"If you're married and you're fighting, send your tape," Papa added.

Not that there's anything wrong with that!

(The Marriage Ref will air a special sneak preview on Sunday, February 28, following NBC's coverage of the Closing Ceremony of the Winter Olympics, before settling into its regular Sunday time slot, from 8 to 9 PM beginning March 14.

The show will shoot episodes in New York starting Wednesday, January 27. So if you need help figuring out who should take out the garbage, call Jerry!)

Head Case returns on Starz

Today at the TCA Convention, live from the Universal Hilton in Los Angeles:  Starz's original comedy, Head Case.

Head Case stars Alexandra Wentworth as Dr. Elizabeth Goode, a messed-up therapist (is there any other kind?) with a specialty in working with celebrities.

As a result, the show is jam-packed with guest-star appearances from big-name stars, who have to, as the show's producers Robert Bauer and Jason Farrand explain, to leave all their defenses and preconceptions at the stage door.  "Patients" arrive on set with no idea of what the discussion is to come, and the show is completely unscripted, with Wentworth leading the celebs through fake therapy sessions in which anything goes.  "I don't know if it's because it's therapy and it's unscripted," Wentworth explains, "but they just let it all out and we use it to our advantage."

The result is completely unpredictable, always hilarious and quite often naughty.  This season, for example, Jerry Seinfeld casts off his squeaky-clean image to talk much more risque with Dr. Goode.  "Jerry was excited to do something unscripted," Wentworth theorizes, "because his standup is very scripted.  I think he felt very liberated."  And the results, Farrand says, "were risque enough to make his wife Jessica Seinfeld laugh her socks off, and almost ruin the take.  We had to tell her to be quiet."

With hours of film in the can from celebs, the Head Case team edits down the footage to create storylines.   "We go as far and as deep as Ali takes the session or the celebrity goes," Bauer says.  "Invariably they open up to a lot of stuff that I don't think they front loaded with." Farrand explains that the celebs are given the security blanket of knowing they can call "cut" at any time.  But for the most part, that doesn't happen, and most material, no matter how outrageous, is usable.  Except for some of the content of the "session" with singer Macy Gray.  "She talked a lot about how she wanted to 'bed,' and I'm being PG, Barack Obama," Wentworth remembers.  "So we reedited it and it's still very funny, but she's not being disrespectful."

This year, besides Gray, celebrity patients will include Geri Halliwell, Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry and actors James Denton and Kevin Rahm, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, Andy Dick, Greg Grunberg, Hugh Hefner, Kevin Nealon, Jeff Probst, Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott, Melina Kanakaredes, Tate Donovan, Janeane Garofalo, Paulina Porizkova, Sandra Bernhard, Tiffani Thiessen, Craig Bierko, Jennifer Finnigan and Jonathan Silverman, Illeana Douglas, Las Vegas magician Lance Burton, and WWE star Dave Batista.

The show is branching out this season, Wentworth explains, to non-actor celebs, like designer Isaac Mizrahi and Mario Batali.  Wentworth would like to get some sports stars and even some politicians in there too, she says.  And so, one journalist asked, does that include her celeb politico husband, George Stephanopoulos?  While hubby George is a fan of the show, Wentworth answered, an appearance at this point is probably unlikely.  "I'm talking about Senator Craig -- people who have nothing to lose."

Head Case

Season 2

Debuts Friday March 20, 2009

10 PM ET