The Osbournes

The Osbournes
Created by	Jonathan Taylor
Starring	Jack Osbourne Ozzy Osbourne Kelly Osbourne Sharon Osbourne Melinda Varga Robert Marcato
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	52
Production
Running time	ca. 24 minutes
Original release
Network	MTV
Release	March 5, 2002 – March 21, 2005

The Osbournes was an Emmy Award-winning American reality television program broadcast by MTV in the U.S., by CTV in Canada, Channel 4 in the UK and MTV UK and Ireland in Ireland and the UK, RTÉ Two in Ireland, Network Ten, MTV Australia in Australia, TV2 in New Zealand and MTV Brasil in Brazil. The show features the domestic life of heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne and his dysfunctional family. It premiered on March 5, 2002, and in its first season, was cited as the most-viewed series ever on MTV. The final episode of the final season aired March 21, 2005

The Show

In addition to famous Black Sabbath star Ozzy, the show features his wife Sharon; his son Jack; his daughter, fledgling singer Kelly; and, since the second season, his adopted son Rob. His other daughter, Aimee, has refused to participate in the show, and publicly criticizes her parents for their antics on the show. In most family photos shown on the show, she is either absent or blurred.

The series also followed the family as they dealt with major events such as Sharon's battle with cancer, and the aftermath of an ATV accident that nearly killed Ozzy.

The theme song for the show is a cover of Ozzy's song "Crazy Train", done in a jazz-swing style by Pat Boone. The cover is often misattributed to Richard Cheese who also does covers in a jazz-swing style.

The series was parodied during the intro of the 54th Primetime Emmy Awards with talk show host Conan O'Brien staying with the Osbournes while in Los Angeles because of his hosting duties.

Criticisms

The series was noted for its frequent use of foul language, which was bleeped during MTV broadcasts in the United States. To many this became a running joke with the series. The Canadian broadcasts on CTV and UK broadcasts on Channel 4 are uncensored (in an interview Ozzy himself stated that, while he was happy that the Canadian broadcasts were uncensored, he preferred the censored version because the cursing was more noticeable due to the bleeps), and some episodes were also aired uncensored to Australian audiences when shown on Network Ten. It is broadcast uncensored on MTV Australia. It was revealed, however, in an episode of MADtv in which Jack and Kelly guest-starred, that they did not swear as much as it seemed they did, and that it was only edited to make it seem that way.

After the show

Concurrent with the success of the series, Kelly Osbourne launched a brief career as a singer and hosted a tv show called Project Catwalk, while Sharon Osbourne hosted the talk show, The Sharon Osbourne Show (which was axed in the UK after the 1st series) and later the x factor .The family also parodied their TV series during a cameo appearance in Austin Powers in Goldmember.

November 30- December 1, 2007, items belonging to the Osbournes and featured in the show were set to be auctioned. The two day event listed memorabilia as well as furnishings of the home. Bidders could bid through the Auction Network[1].

DVD Release

So far, the first and second seasons, including season "2.5", have been released on DVD. However, MTV and executive producer Sharon Osbourne have no plans for a release date for the final two seasons.

Awards

Along with the highest ratings in MTV history, The Osbournes won a 2002 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program

See also

• List of episodes of The Osbournes

OZZY IS THE BEST