In 2001, Rod Aissa was part of a handful of MTV lunch leaders with Sharon Osbourne in a restaurant in Santa Monica, California, to discuss potential collaboration with her family. Osbourne apologized for having arrived late, blamed her in the antics of her husband and immediately embarked on a dizzying game of the hijinks of her house which made everyone laugh – hard.
“We are exaggerated and crazy, and there is a lot of curse and fights and dogs everywhere,” recalls when she said, “but there is so much love in our family.”
This family, of course, also includes Ozzy Osbourne, the legend of Heavy Metal and the Black Sabbath Front which accidentally became a pioneer in reality TV, thanks to the phenomenon of the first aughts “The Osbournes”. With the news that Ozzy Died Tuesday at 76Fans have flooded social media with images of theatrical performances of Prince of Darkness, as well as clips of him chasing his elusive cat through his back The assembly of a Burrito Chipotle.
Before the premiere of “The Osbournes” in 2002, Ozzy Osbourne was known for its heavy pioneering metal and its popularization “many of its exaggerated stereotypes: over-indulgence, contempt for obeying the rules, a sort of caricatural and perpetual adolescence,” said Craig Marks, Musical journalist and editor of Hits Magazine. “For other hard rock musicians in particular, he was a force of nature, someone whose appetite for drugs was practically heroic.”
But it was the family around the rocker who stung the interest of MTV leaders, including Aissa, and led to the creation of a series that launched a whole television sub-genre, while presenting a new generation that was too young to live the peak of Black Sabbath. An off -competition episode of “MTV Cribs” – in which teenagers Jack and Kelly Osbourne visited MTV to MTV – had offered an overview of the chaotic but charming dynamics. He also presented the various paradoxes of Ozzy: originally from the Birmingham working class, in England, and which is now moving into a brand new manor by Beverly Hills; Sing on death and occult it on stage and just try to watch the history chain at home.
“We knew that we had lightning in a bottle because this family, with their love and their dysfunction, represented so many of us in the world,” continued Aissa. “And it was going to be something special because of Ozzy – his sense of humor and his lack of inhibition to say anything or behave in a certain way. You could never script it or ask him to do anything twice, because it was not who he was. You could not even ask Ozzy to cross a door twice because the camera was not ready. “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “
Innumerable hours of three years sequences have captured the daily rhythms of the family – taking care of their many pets, meeting famous friends and cutting their heads with neighbors – as well as their more major moments, such as the diagnosis of Sharon cancer, the quadruple quadru of Ozzy accident and children’s struggles with substances and renowned new. Everything has been changed together as an American sitcom, with nostalgic graphics, optimistic needle drops and a Crooner cover of the “Crazy Train” tube as themed song.
“I had to watch the first episode with Ozzy, and it was the 22 most long minutes of my life,” said Aissa laughing. Then, “Ozzy did not say a word or a laugh or anything; I thought he hated it. He got up and said to me:” I love them so much. Do not F — This. “”
“He didn’t like him, but he liked to be at home with the family, and [the show] They all gave them a reason to be together and to really connect, “he added.” At that time of his career – Platinum Records everywhere, as closed to the world, a recording studio in his house – Ozzy did not need this show, and he was not really interested. But as the episodes broadcast, and as people began to tell him about what they are a real family, he started to really appreciate what they were doing. »»
The show of the show The first 2002 was an instant success. It has become both the best rated series of MTV to date and the most watched show on any cable channel; His first season won the Emmy Award for the best reality program. And its cultural impact was global, given the undeniable cultural position of the network.
“MTV was still the end of young people’s culture when” Les Osbournes “made their debut,” said Marks, who also co-written the book “I want my MTV: the non -censored history of the clip revolution.” “Social media did not yet really exist – MySpace will be launched in 2003 – and” MTV Cribs “, undoubtedly the first reality show” Celebrity “on the network, began in 2000 and was a success. But nothing compared to the cataclysm of “The Osbournes”. ” »»
At that time, unicenized shows emerged, in particular those that featured the rich and the famous. But the early 2000s was also the largest “Y2K: How the 2000s have become everything (trials on the future that was never).” The Osbournes and their clumsy patriarch have simply arrived at the right time.
“People appreciated the fact that it was this look behind the curain and that it was released in the show as a simple mixture of disorders by various aspects of modern life, in an endearing and silly way which is very different from his public figure,” said Shade. “Ozzy was known in a certain way by baby boomers, but as an old man of” Osbournes “, he was able to connect with a new audience of millennials without even trying.”
After the program’s race, each member of the family became a personality of autonomous television: Sharon as an author, judge of the reality competition and animator of Talk-show; Kelly as a commentator of the “fashion police” of E!; And Jack as a travel journalist and documentation producer (including shows with Ozzy and Sharon).
Although “Les Osbournes” only take place for four seasons over three years, its impact continues. The series cemented MTV as a hub for uncripted programming Zeitgeisty, with “Punk’d”, “Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica” and “Laguna Beach” in the first in the years that followed. The networks have tried to capitalize on the unexpected juxtaposition of the ordinary and the ostentatious, like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, “The Simple Life” and the set of Manor Playboy “The Girls Next Doror”.
Many coping projects – with Hulk Hogan, Gene Simmons, Terry Bradshaw, Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons, Snoop Dogg, Sylvester Stallone, Alec Baldwin, The Kardashians and Plus – have since tried to reproduce the singular ozzy ozzy charism.
“It was an extremely successful show that was new and relatively cheap to produce,” said Shade. “They have created this brand new advertising tool for celebrities to burn their image and revive their careers, and it has become its own category of reality TV which is somehow played. People now see it as a construction that perhaps at the time. ”
This is because, at the time, it was really not the case. Unlike today’s uncripted titles – often with predefined scenarios, configuration scenes, speech head interviews and personal brand plans – “Osbournes” were built with little strategy and no real expectations. “To be honest, we didn’t really know what we were doing, because no one had done it before,” said Aissa, laughing.
“We have not decided to do reality TV; we just decided to make television,” he continued. “They did not try to be stars of reality. They were just their authentic self, interacting with each other as if they did not see the cameras. It was as if they were there, and I think it was a large part of the magic.”
