Last spring, Howie Kohlenberg, a 47-year-old beauty products salesman and entrepreneur, appeared on “The Marriage Ref” with his 37-year-old wife, Christine. Since then, Kohlenberg’s struggling business failed, his wife left him to chase Hollywood dreams, and he’s gone bankrupt and now faces eviction. And Kohlenberg’s blowing the whistle on the monster who created this mess: “Marriage Ref” producer Jerry Seinfeld. The NY Post has this groundbreaking scoop:

Kohlenberg says he and Christine were happily married but having money issues with their now-defunct Midtown spa when a friend suggested auditioning for the show. They were picked out of a pool of thousands. ”We did it to drum up some business,” he said. “They promised to promote the spa on air. They didn’t.”

Whoa whoa whoa. Is he saying that some people in the television industry… didn’t fulfill a promise? But that’s DISHONEST! This is the first time I’ve ever heard of such moral shortcomings in Hollywood.

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Here’s one for the comedy geeks: Ricky Gervais sat down and talked about comedy with Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, and Louis C.K., and the resulting conversation will be aired on HBO April 22nd as a one-hour special called “Talking Funny.”

I’ve got a couple preview clips below, and even though they’re short, they effectively give me a big ol’ comedy boner. It’s not often you get to see four giants of stand-up talk about their craft like this. I mean, sure, my personal preference would be to see Dave Chappelle sitting in Seinfeld’s chair, but I’m not THAT finicky about such an impressive lineup. The last person I want to sound like is the music snob who quibbles with the Coachella lineup. Even though the Strokes are unbelievably boring live and have no business co-headlining with Kanye and Arcade Fire and Kings of Leon.

Aw crap.

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Len Lesser, the veteran character actor who played Uncle Leo on “Seinfeld,” died yesterday at the age of 88 from cancer-related pneumonia. Yikes. That sounds like the worst kind of pneumonia.

Lesser’s lengthy list of television credits included parts on “Get Smart,” “That Girl,” “The Munsters,” “The Monkees,” “The Rockford Files,” “thirtysomething,” “ER,” and “Everybody Loves Raymond,” which featured Lesser in a recurring role as the arm-shaking Garvin. His film credits included “Outlaw Josey Wales,” “Kelly’s Heroes,” “Birdman of Alcatraz” and “Death Hunt.” He most recently appeared on the TV drama “Castle.” [AP]

“Seinfeld” castmates Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander remembered Lesser fondly:

“I’ll never forget when Uncle Leo was in prison and tattooed ‘Jerry Hello’ on his knuckles,” Seinfeld said in [a] statement, adding that Lesser was “a very sweet guy” and that the cast “always loved having him on the show.”

“Len was a tremendous guy,” [Alexander] tweeted. “He was a smart actor/comedian who knew exactly what he was doing in the creation of Uncle Leo.” [NYDN]

Ah, Twitter. Always such a wonderful medium to eulogize someone. “RIP Len. gone 2 soon. ur in our <3s and prayers. miss u 4eva”

This video is making the rounds on all the other TV and pop culture websites, so I’d better get with the program and post it as well. This is a bunch of “Seinfeld” clips re-cut to make a trailer for George, a tear-jerker about a middle-aged man who loses his fiancée but finds spiritual renewal when he adopts a son.

It’s pretty well executed, but I’m not doing flips over it because I don’t get much joy from comedy repurposed for something serious (even if it’s tongue-in-cheek like this). I’d much rather see the opposite, something like Pride and Prejudice and Fart Noises.

Anyhoo, screen caps can get kind of boring, so here’s Costanza and some golden retriever puppies:

The Marriage Ref (NBC) — I’ve been needing an excuse to use this picture of Seinfeld. Tonight’s panel features Jimmy Fallon, Sheryl Crow, and Kirstie Alley, and the lead-in is two hours of “Office” re-runs. Nice, I don’t have to watch TV tonight.

Bones (Fox) — New episodes return tonight. I’ve come to realize that this is basically “CSI: Castle” — or, more accurately, “Castle” is “Bones, She Wrote.” The formula for both shows: underrated sneaky-hot chick + square-jawed actor with previous role on a Joss Whedon show = instant cult following.

Real Housewives of New York City (Bravo) — I’ve grown to dislike these women the most out of all the other Housewives franchises, because media coverage makes them harder to ignore. This is YOUR fault, Page Six.

The Fugitive Chronicles (A&E) — Series premiere. Description from Yahoo: “This original docudrama brings to life the most compelling fugitive captures in recent history. Each one-hour episode dramatically reconstructs an infamous manhunt with gritty reenactments, fugitive narratives recreated from real testimony, and exclusive taped interviews with law enforcement officials.” Not my thing, but true-crime fans’ll probably like it.

The Vampire Diaries (CW) — Everyone I know who watches this is a girl. Does that make it a bad show? Yes.

The Tonight Show (NBC) — Justin Bieber is a guest tonight. As I understand it, America supposedly has a case of Bieber Fever, but I’m not really sure what he does. Does he sing? Is he an actor? No, don’t tell me. I actually don’t want to know. Side note: I’ve got a nasty case of beaver fever, which is something entirely different.