A reality television explosion was sparked by the success of the MTV series The Osbournes, and Ozzy Osbourne has much to say about the current state of the genre.
In an interview with SPIN, the 75-year-old rock legend discussed the evolution of reality television since his candid series featuring his wife Sharon and two of their children, daughter Kelly and son Jack, ceased airing in 2005 after four seasons. The principal difference, according to the Black Sabbath frontman, is how “scripted” it is today as opposed to when their performance was completely unscripted.
“What they currently refer to as reality television is not reality,” Osbourne told the publication.
“Currently, their actions resemble a scripted reality.” This is not fresh. “It certainly is not reality,” the musician elaborated. “In regard to our performance, what you observed accurately reflected the proceedings. It was not manufactured. None of it was scripted.”
Even though she mentioned the 2007 première of E!’s Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the Grammy winner emphasized what distinguishes the Kardashian family’s series (currently available on Hulu as The Kardashians) from Keeping Up with the Kardashians. He remarked, “It’s quite intriguing that so many people adore the Kardashians.”
“They went an additional level beyond.” “They organized themselves despite the fact that they saw what we did and said, ‘That’s a good idea,'” Osbourne said of certain elements of the series that appeared to be scripted.
Conversely, the rock star criticized the unadulterated aspects of his personal life that were portrayed in The Osbournes, attributing its singularity and amusement to those aspects. “The reality show did not significantly alter our daily lives, as that is precisely how we operate,” he explained. “We did not evolve into the Osbournes, a couple that is merely entertaining.” “That is the state of affairs; they merely extracted comedic elements from it.”
He further stated that he was prepared to terminate the program as soon as MTV and the producers “began to ask [them] to do things [they] wouldn’t normally do.” He stated, “I lost interest in it at that juncture.”
Despite the podcast’s considerable success, all participants reached a consensus in a November episode that The Osbournes would not return for a second season.
“It will never occur again.” “Never in a million years,” stated the heavy metal icon.
During their dialogue, Ozzy, Jack, 38, and Kelly, 39, collectively stated that they have come to understand the profound impact it has had “on everyone’s mental health” over the years.
Home to Roost, a 10-part BBC reality series about Sharon, 71, and Ozzy’s relocation to the United Kingdom, was announced in 2022, notwithstanding the absence of a reboot.
As the rock icon has recently undergone a series of operations, most recently in September, following a fall in 2019, a release date has not yet been declared.
