Everyone at this point has heard the news of Ozzy Osbourne's unfortunate passing, but despite his influential contributions to the world of music, some of his best work also come from simply being himself around a series of cameras. I remember being a kid and seeing The Osbournes on television, way back when MTV had some relevancy still. Even then I remember the show being something hilarious, and my awareness of Ozzy as a musician was actually quite thin. Back then I knew more about the family from the show than I did from Black Sabbath being a thing. But over the years this show became harder to find. It didn't really air anywhere after, aside from user uploaded clips on YouTube, there wasn't really a way to witness the greatness of prime reality television. None of that nonsense which airs today, this was the real deal. Absolute tomfoolery!
Well, a few months ago, before Ozzy's passing, it appeared that the Osbournes themselves had purchased the rights to the show, which meant that they could do whatever they wanted with it. And an official channel on YouTube began to upload the entire episodes of every season, completely free and uncensored. I had watched some of the show not too long ago out of nostalgia, but with the recent news I decided to jump back into the show and realise its greatness yet again. Now, I'm really not someone that enjoys reality TV, especially the modern stuff. But there's something about The Osbournes which feels really raw, something that captures a more relatable perspective of a regular family, even if they are from a fundamentally different background due to the wealth from Ozzy's music career.
There is still some classic filmmaking magic going on here to make certain themes a bit more exaggerated and comedic. Mostly the way the episodes can be shot or edited, giving certain events more focus and comedic effect. Though it rarely feels like it has been really scripted beyond that. In a way, it feels more like a YouTube video before YouTube. Despite Ozzy's antics and being the main attraction of the show with his old mentality and general lack of awareness over things, the self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness in actuality being a long-haired old man that spends his days eating burritos in tracksuit bottoms and struggling to get televisions to operate. The dysfunctional family itself makes for a show that is almost warming to see, realising that no matter the wealth nor the location one grows up in, there's still that family chaos. Arguing siblings. The rebellious teenagers. The parents that mock them.
While this is an ordinary family, they still have to maintain their many obligations that comes with some of the nepo baby side of things, the kids often struggling to find their own footing in the world often surrounding music: Kelly's (and I remember this era) attempt at being a singer and dealing with interviews for print magazines back in the day. And also Jack's attempts at being more on the production side of music, attempting to find the talent and build something from there. The lack of professionalism and the chaos at home definitely makes for some fun humour, and in a way almost shows how simple some of these industries can be. As if to shine a light on how silly the world really is. In the middle of all of this is Ozzy in a more retired state, spending his days around the house trying to figure things out. There's this contrast between their lives that really makes for some engaging television, the Prince of Darkness now wanting to have little fires on the beach or go fishing with his son.
And it's such moments like those that we really see what sort of man he really was. A man that would tell people over and over that he had been trying for seventeen years to take his son fishing. Though he was also a man that grew up in the relatively poor environment of Birmingham, and that definitely led to some of the more comedic situations he got himself into. Where the common man within him never really left, but was thrown into a world of luxury and chaos, where things rarely made sense. Where you're never really left alone, but you're still trying to stick to the few routines you had before the fame and money. I liked that there's balance in this show for that stuff, it's a deeply human and rare look at reality television, and unlikely we'll ever see anything remotely close to it again.