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"The Marriage Ref has been panned by critics following its series premiere last night. NBC&amp;#039;s latest reality show format, hosted by comedian Tom Papa and produced by Jerry Seinfeld, centres around a panel of celebrities witnessing a recorded real-life couple arguing before deciding who they deem to have won the war of words. Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger described the programme as an &amp;quot;ugly, unfunny, patronising mess&amp;quot;. He said: &amp;quot;Not only was The Marriage Ref not nearly funny enough to justify the constant chortling from the celebrity panelists, host Tom Papa and the studio audience, but there was this undercurrent of contempt for the couples being judged that made the whole affair feel particularly unpleasant.&amp;quot;  CNN&amp;#039;s James Poniewozik branded the creation &amp;quot;the most God-awful mishmash of a comedy-variety show&amp;quot;. He added: &amp;quot;It was as if someone thought that, if you just piled more and more elements on, somehow they would magically turn into an entertaining show.&amp;quot; Poniewozik then took a swipe at NBC, saying: &amp;quot;It was, at least, an interesting object lesson in how TV works. It proved that, if you are Jerry Seinfeld, NBC will put any program you want on the air, and will give you no network notes.&amp;quot; However, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly said that he enjoyed the show, commenting: &amp;quot;I thought The Marriage Ref was silly fun.&amp;quot; &amp;gt; Madonna appears on NBC&amp;#039;s Marriage Ref "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/news/a205992/seinfelds-marriage-ref-panned-by-critics/>