According to The Hollywood Reporter, new episodes of the reality show “The Osbournes”, which follows the lives of the BLACK SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne and his family, will air on VH1 rather than the network that aired the original series, MTV.
MTV and VH1 are sister networks under the Viacom conglomerate.
The “fly-on-the-wall” TV series, which became the highest rated original program in MTV‘s history, started in 2002 and ended in 2005. The show chronicled Sharon Osbourne‘s battle with cancer, as well as younger children Kelly and Jack Osbourne‘s stints in rehabilitation for drug and alcohol abuse.
“The Osbournes” was credited with being the first show where cameras followed celebrities around and led to a number of copycats like A&E‘s “Gene Simmons Family Jewels”, which followed the life of KISS bassist Gene Simmons and his family, and A&E‘s “Growing Up Twisted”, about the family of TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider.
During an appearance on the November 7 edition of the UK talk show “Loose Women”, Sharon said: “Ozzy has decided that he wants to do another few episodes — not a whole season, about eight episodes — of ‘The Osbournes’. It’s been 13 years since the last one. He said that for the whole three years that we did it, he was drunk the whole time, so he said he would like to do one where he is completely sober, as he is now…”
She added: “It’s not forever. It’s no more than eight episodes. Because it’s been 13 years and our lives have changed so much, it’s a kind of catchup. It’s like, ‘What are they doing now?’ That’s it.”
Filming for the show will reportedly begin at the family’s California home in January.
Speaking to The Times-Picayune, Ozzy said about “The Osbournes”: “It was a TV show, which was a good idea that went f**king out of control.
“The No. 1 mistake I made was having it filmed in the house I lived in, instead of a reproduction in a studio where I could go every day and come home. You have camera crews living in your garage 24/7 for three years; anybody would go f**king crazy at the end of it.”
He added: “Nobody could have predicted what was going to happen with it. It started off with ‘Cribs’. MTV said a load of people wanted a rerun, asking for it to be shown again and again. Somebody said, ‘Why don’t you do an extended version of ‘Cribs’?’ It was like, ‘We can do that.’ But then it went wildly out of control.”
In a 2012 interview, Sharon stated about “The Osbournes”: “Our lives were never the same again. Everybody’s grown up with Ozzy, everybody loves Ozzy, but for us we were a family. You know, we weren’t in the public eye at all, and it changed our lives so much.”
In “The Osbournes”, the legendary singer would often be seen running on a treadmill and getting fit. But he told The Daily Record back in 2009 that it was all a charade. Once the cameras stopped rolling, Ozzy, supposedly a recovering alcoholic, would go to a room and get stoned.
Sharon said: “As Ozzy will tell you, the three years that we were filming, Ozzy was stoned the whole time. He wasn’t sober for one day.”
Ozzy revealed: “When the filming ended, I’d go in my little bunker and smoke a pipe and drink about a case of beer every day.
“I’d give myself some goodness and get up early in the morning and go jogging for six miles.”
Ozzy admitted he couldn’t watch the show — because it’s obvious by his body language in front of camera that he didn’t know what time of day it was.
He said: “I used to do a lot of prescription drugs as well.”
Source: Blabbermouth
