Decision House (2007-2008)

Starring: Lynn Toler

One of several "reality" series introduced on MyNetwork during the 2007-08 season, Decision House was hosted by Judge Lynn Toler, for many years the presiding jurist on the popular Divorce Court. Unlike her earlier show, Toler's new series was designed to nip marital problems in the bud, long before the couples even considered divorcing; or, in her words, Decision House was "what I would like to do with those [couples], if I had had more time and we'd gotten there earlier. The husbands and wives appearing on the series were undergoing such domestic crises as financial disagreements and infidelity. Under the aegis of Southern California's Daybreak Counseling Service, these estranged couples were required to live together within the walls of "Decision House" for four or five days while a panel of experts, arbitrated by Judge Toler, discussed the problems at hand or offered advice. At the end of the confinement, Toler would decide, in the words of the series' press release, "whether the couple should press on together or go their separate ways." Inasmuch as one the "experts", Dennis Nusbaum, was billed as a "drill sergeant", be assured that the couples would like as not be coerced rather than coddled into facing their troubles head-on. Decision House made its prime-time bow on September 12, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide