Mr. Seinfeld spoke with The New York Times about “The Marriage Ref” , here are some of the highlights:
Q.
You’ve just started taping the earliest episodes of your first new television series in more than a decade. How does it feel so far?

A.
That aspect of television is a lot of fun for me. We think of something, and then a week later it’s in front of an audience. There’s a complexity in solving the basic problem of “What is this show?” But having solved that, there’s a simplicity now to doing it that I’m really enjoying. My body was like “You’re making another television show?” All those sensations of doing it from 12 years ago and the previous nine come back. But because it’s all in such a different way, it’s fun.

Q.
You weren’t necessarily angling to get back onto television, but you got swept up in the idea for “The Marriage Ref”?

A.
Yeah. If an idea’s good, you become its servant. If you’re pushing it, working it, fixing it, whipping it like a racehorse that’s going too slow, it’s probably not that good an idea. A good idea has a — what’s the word? — a draft suction, that you get pulled into it. It took years for the American public to get into our universe when I did “Seinfeld.” It was like “Oh, now I understand what they’re doing.” This has none of those aspects. This universe is known already. There’s still a strong flavor of misanthropy here, that you will not mistake. Even in this most important institution, this most romantic subject, you’ll feel the flavor.

Q.
Who are some of the people you’re planning to have as celebrity panelists?

A.
Of course my pal Larry David. Matthew Broderick. Alec Baldwin was my No. 1 get, because to me, he’s just such a funny thinker. Last night, there was this issue, and Kelly Ripa had to decide, whose side are you on? You’ve seen her on talk shows, you can watch her every day on her show. You’re not going to see her face a dilemma like this and watch her sort it out. So you learn a little bit about her. It’s interesting.