Often seen as mommy's boys, Italian men are now letting their mothers choose their future wives live on television.

Italy's state TV aired the first episode(1) of a new reality show this week in which the mothers of five single men have to pick out prospective(2) brides from a selection of candidates.

Critics said "Perfect Bride" was both insulting(3) to women and showed Italian TV -- already packed with other reality formats such as Big Brother and Celebrity Island -- falling to new depths of banality(4).

In the first episode, the jury of mothers -- called only by their first names such as "Mamma Rosa" and "Mamma Ambra" -- quizzed 18 hopefuls about their suitability(5) as wives.

From next week the mothers will have to live in a Big Brother-style house with their potential daughters-in-law, seeing first hand how they deal with household chores(6). Viewers will be encouraged to vote off the candidates they dislike.

Mamma Teresa said she was looking for "a simple, intelligent, classy girl" for her son Claudio. "I would like someone who's not too ostentatious(7) and who knows how to take care of the family," she said on the program's Web site.

Claudio, viewers learn, is "a really capable person, very affectionate(8) with his family," but suffers from one defect common to many Italian bachelors: "He has too many girlfriends! I want to find him his ultimate woman."

In a country where it is normal for unmarried men to live with their parents into their 30s and "mamma mia!" (my mommy) is a common exclamation(9), the Italian mother figure is revered(10) by society but often feared by girlfriends and wives.

TV critics said the program exploited the stereotype(11) of the overbearing(12) mamma.

"It's the most grandiose(13), caricatural(14), corrosive(15) demolition of the image of the Italian mamma," said Italy's leading daily Corriere della Sera.

La Repubblica daily said Prefect Bride had an out-dated vision of women's role in society. "State TV is going too far in its failure to limit the rubbish, the rudeness, the lying, the lack of manners and the wiping out of social changes which happened 50 years ago," it said.

大利男人常被看作是妈妈的宝贝，如今还让妈妈为他们在电视上现场选妻子了。

本周，意大利国家电台播出第一集选媳妇真人秀。五个单身男人的妈妈需要从一群候选人中挑出未来儿媳妇。

评论说《完美新娘》是对女人和意大利电视台的侮辱。它与其他一些正播出的真人秀节目如《老大哥》和《名人岛》的形式如出一辙，只是更加庸俗了。

在第一集中，这些妈妈评委们被简称为“罗萨妈妈”、“安姆布拉妈妈”等，考验18位候选者是否适合作妻子。

下周开始，妈妈们将与儿媳妇们一起住在一套《老大哥》样式的房子里，亲眼看媳妇们是如何处理家务琐事。观众们则可以通过短信投票让不喜欢的媳妇下台。

特里萨妈妈在节目的网站上说她想为儿子Claudio找一个简单、聪明、优雅的女孩：“我希望她不要特招摇，知道如何照顾家庭。”

Claudio在观众眼中是个“非常有才干的人，热爱家庭”，但是和很多意大利单身汉拥有相同的问题：“他的女朋友太多了！我想帮他找到最终归宿。”

在意大利，三十来岁的未婚男人同父母住在一起是普遍现象，“我的妈妈呀”也是他们常用的感叹词。因此妈妈们在社会中备受尊重，但是女朋友和妻子们都很惧怕她们

电视评论说此节目利用了专横妈妈们的一贯做派。

意大利主要日报Corriere della Sera说：“这是对意大利母亲形象最浮夸、讽刺性的诋毁”。

La Repubblica日报说《完美新娘》对女性社会角色的理解太过时了。它说：“国家电台太失败了，竟然没能遏制住这种垃圾、粗俗、谎言、无礼，并对50年来发生的变化视若无睹。”