So there I was, innocently checking out The Onion to find out what wasn’t going on in the world, when I ran across an ad for something called “The Marriage Ref.”

Near as I can tell, it’s a reality show produced by Jerry Seinfeld, which also stars Mr. Seinfeld as a member of a “celebrity” panel who comments on video from “real” people’s irritating, depressing, inconsequential personal conflicts.

Seeing this, I was reminded of what a character played by Kevin Dillon said in the largely forgotten film “Heaven Help Us” upon seeing “Blue Hawaii:” “… what’d they do to Elvis? Cut his balls off, or something?”

I find myself wondering how a guy responsible for some of the wittiest TV of the past generation could have sunk this low. If Jerry Seinfeld is now doing reality TV, and acting like he enjoys it and finds it amusing (could he really need the money that badly?), then television is officially decadent. Actually, it’s probably past that. It’s over. Aside from PBS and the movie channels, forget about it.

Here, just to remind us of what was: