Seinfeld Confident of Marriage Ref’s Success

CANNES: In town to promote The Marriage Ref, a new comedy panel series he is executive producing with Ellen Rakieten for NBC, Jerry Seinfeld told World Screen Newsflash: "I feel more confident about this than most other things I’ve done."

Endemol is launching the show to the international community at MIPCOM this week as a format, while Endemol Worldwide Distribution will be selling the original American version. The show has been commissioned for a prime-time run of six hour-long episodes on NBC in March 2010, after the Winter Olympics. 

The Marriage Ref will feature opinionated celebrities, comedians, sports personalities and international stars who will candidly comment, judge and offer different strategies to real-life couples in the middle of a marital dispute. Some of the casting footage of couples to be featured in the show was screened for buyers and the press at an Endemol event in Cannes last night that also featured a stand-up performance by Seinfeld.

Speaking to World Screen Newsflash this morning, Seinfeld addressed the pressures that producers often feel when awaiting ratings to come in for new shows. "I’m not that big on pressure," he said. "I suppose it’s always there. I felt it last night [at the Endemol showcase]. This is an international audience, I don’t know if they’re going to understand everything I’m talking about. But I’m used to that and I’m comfortable with it. I’ve had hits and misses so I know what it is. Last night was an amazing night for me to see the audience watch the tape of those couples and see how quickly they responded. That’s kind of the science behind it for me. I always like to test everything scientifically. I thought, this definitely relates. Imagine a month of promos on the network during the Olympics for this show. I think people are going to be interested. I’m not that worried about it. I feel more confident in this than most other things I’ve done. It’s not really that contingent upon some spectacular creative execution—we feel that we’re custodians of this gigantic, larger force of just marriage and how interesting it is."

Look out for more from Seinfeld in an upcoming edition of World Screen Weekly.