casting

What Self-Respecting Gay Couple Will Agree to Go On Seinfeld’s Marriage Ref?

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Remember that comedian whose television show ruled the 1990s and turned Festivus into a national holiday? Well now Jerry Seinfeld is on the other side of the camera producing the reality show The Marriage Ref, a show with a premise as terrible as Bridezillas: Let’s find couples that fight with each other, then bring in a marriage referee to call ’em down! Like couples counseling, but faster! Well, lest you thought Seinfeld would only inflict this pain on heterosexuals, you are wrong: He’s casting for gays.

Maybe the premiere of Modern Family really does introduce a new era in television, where gay Americans are actually portrayed as family types, raising children and keeping a home, rather than always solving their best girlfriends’ relationship and wardrobe problems.

Seinfeld’s Refs, on NBC, just sent out this casting announcement (which follows one in June that didn’t single out the gays):

I contacted you because we are searching the country for gay married couples. This could be an excellent opportunity to show on primetime television that marriage is marriage – a show about married life simply would not be complete without showcasing married couples in all forms. I am a casting associate producer for a new show on NBC called “The Marriage Ref.” The show is produced by Jerry Seinfeld and will focus on couples that bicker naturally about every day issues – we will then bring in a marriage referee to settle arguments.

We are also accepting applications from straight couples. If anyone comes to mind I was hoping you could forward them my info or vise versa. .The show is going to air Sunday nights at 8pm on NBC and will feature celebrities like Chris Rock, Madonna, Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston. Please let me know if you know any couples personally or otherwise that may be interested in this exciting opportunity. I have included a link to the preview on NBC.com below. Hope to hear from you soon!

(If you think you fit the bill, contact Theresa Horwitz at Shed Media at [email protected].)

This will either be an excellent way to showcase gay couples as stable, loving families who struggle with the same relationship quibbles as heteros — or a terrible way to show we don’t know what the hell we’re doing, either.

But how prescient, then, that GLAAD just released its 14th annual “Where We Are On TV” study (” a comprehensive review of scripted LGBT primetime characters in the 2009-2010 television season”),which finds “that 18 LGBT characters will account for 3% of scripted series regulars in the 2009-2010 broadcast television schedule, up from 1.3% in 2006, 1.1% in 2007, and 2.6% in 2008. The number of scripted LGBT series regulars found on mainstream cable networks continue to decline, from 40 in 2007, 32 in 2008 to only 25 this year.”

Oh, but no word on reality television? The one segment of the small screen where we make up 86 percent of characters?!

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