The Osbournes - Overview

Overview

In addition to metal musician Ozzy, the show features his wife and manager Sharon, his son Jack, his daughter Kelly, and, from the second season on, his adopted "son" Rob. The Osbournes have another daughter, Aimee, who refused to participate in the show, and publicly criticized 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 Lewis Lamedica.

Concurrent with the success of the series, Kelly Osbourne launched a brief career as a singer, while Sharon Osbourne hosted The Sharon Osbourne Show. The family also parodied their TV series during a cameo appearance in Austin Powers in Goldmember.

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.

Ozzy confirmed in an interview on BBC Radio 2 in May 2009 that he was "stoned during the entire filming of The Osbournes" and can no longer watch the episodes for this reason.

Profanity was censored during MTV broadcasts of the series in the United States. 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. The Canadian broadcasts on CTV and UK broadcasts on MTV and Channel 4 are uncensored. Some episodes were also aired uncensored to Australian audiences when shown on Network Ten. It is broadcast uncensored on MTV Australia.

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