Married Life (TV series)

Married Life
Created byKen Finkleman
Country of originCanada
Original release
NetworkThe Movie Network
Release1995 (1995)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Married Life is a Canadian television comedy-drama series, which aired in 1995.[1] Created by Ken Finkleman as a parody of early 1990s reality television shows such as The Real World and Cops,[2] the series stars Robert Cait and Karen Hines as Frank and Ivy, a young engaged couple who agree to have their first months of marriage documented by television producer George Britton (Finkleman) for a television reality show, only to have Britton manipulate them into decisions, including having extramarital affairs, designed to boost the show's ratings with sensationalism.[3]

The cast also includes Mark Farrell, Jeremy Hotz, Wayne Flemming, Rosemary Radcliffe, Claire Cellucci, Angela Asher, Brad Brackenridge and Tony Ning.

The series aired on The Movie Network in Canada,[1] and on Comedy Central in the United States.[4]

The series was a Gemini Award nominee for Best Comedy Series at the 10th Gemini Awards.[5] Finkleman also received nominations for Best Direction in a Comedy Series and Best Writing in a Comedy Series, Joan Hutton was nominated for Best Photography in a Comedy Series, and the cast were collectively nominated for Best Performance in a Comedy Program or Series (Individual or Ensemble).[6]

Finkleman went on to produce The Newsroom for CBC Television in 1996; that show, and virtually all of Finkleman's subsequent series, included Finkleman playing a television producer similar in character to George Britton, but renamed George Findlay.

  1. ^ a b "Married Strife: Ken Finkleman's Married Life doesn't stand on ceremony- it mocks both marriage and television with equal abandon". The Globe and Mail, April 1, 1995.
  2. ^ "Reality bites: Toronto's Ken Finkleman doesn't claim to break any new ground in his documentary parody, Married Life. But he's having fun, a pleasant change for a comedy scriptwriter who's fed up with Hollywood". The Globe and Mail, May 1, 1995.
  3. ^ "What's going on here? Married Life might be called `unreality TV'". Toronto Star, May 1, 1995.
  4. ^ "Comedy Central going after summer laughs". The Spokesman-Review, June 9, 1995.
  5. ^ "Major Gemini nominees; Awards gala to be broadcast March 3". Montreal Gazette, January 25, 1996.
  6. ^ "More nominees for the Gemini awards". The Globe and Mail, January 25, 1996.