That Loveable Sitcom Dad Who Likes to Nibble Bats

views updated

That Loveable Sitcom Dad Who Likes to Nibble Bats

Review

By: Caryn James

Date: March 5, 2002

Source: James, Caryn. "That Loveable Sitcom Dad Who Likes to Nibble Bats." The New York Times (March 5, 2002).

About the Author: Caryn James is the chief television critic for the New York Times. She has also worked as a Times film reviewer and the editor for the Book Review. James also wrote her first novel, Glorie, in 1999.

INTRODUCTION

In 1969, the metal band, Black Sabbath made its debut. The lead singer for this metal band, Ozzy Osbourne would become a cultural icon at the beginning of his career for the gothic imagery and erratic antics used during his performing. In recent years, however, the singer became a symbol of good parenting due to his family's appearance in the reality series "The Osbournes," televised on MTV.

Ozzy Osbourne was born in Birmingham, England as John Michael Osbourne. Early in his life, he dropped out of high school and served time in prison for burglary. However, his love for music led him to form several unsuccessful bands, until 1969 when the band he had been playing with called Polka Tulk changed their name to Black Sabbath. The group began touring and producing albums that created a following due to their occult-inspired imagery and controversial on-stage behavior. Despite successes with heavy metal anthems such as "Paranoid" and "War Pigs", conflict between members of the band led to Osbourne's departure from the group in 1977. He briefly rejoined the group again, only to be fired by the band in 1978. At this point, not only had Osbourne lost his recording contract, his first marriage also ended in 1979.

Upon the separation between Osbourne and Black Sabbath, the band's manager, Don Arden, chose to focus his energies on promoting Osbourne and ended his managing of the band. Arden's daughter, Sharon, also began to take an interest in Osbourne's career. In 1980, Osbourne released the recording, "Blizzard of Ozz," which included his signature song, "Crazy Train." Known as the "madman of rock," Osbourne often appeared on stage under the influence of drugs and alcohol. In 1982, while on tour with his second album "Diary of a Madman," Osbourne bit the head off of a bat that had been thrown on stage. This act gained Osbourne new notoriety and publicity, although he claimed later that he thought the bat was a toy at the time. In addition, Osbourne urinated on the Alamo memorial shrine leading him to be banned from performing in San Antonio for several years.

Osbourne experienced personal tragedy in 1982 after the accidental death of his collaborator and guitarist Randy Rhodes. Also in 1982, Osbourne married Sharon. By 1983, Sharon took control of Osbourne's career by buying out his contract from her father for approximately $1.5 million and leading to a twenty year estrangement between father and daughter. Shortly thereafter, the Osbournes began to start their family. In 1983, the couple had their first daughter, Aimee. The next year Kelly was born, followed by Jack in 1985.

Sharon continued to manage Osbourne's career and helped to facilitate a shift in the public perception of the rocker during the 1990s. In 1994, Osbourne received his first Grammy Award for best metal performance for "I Don't Want to Change the World" and in 1996, Sharon launched Ozzfest, an annual touring festival of heavy metal and hard rock bands. Osbourne reunited with Black Sabbath in 1997 to produce the album "Reunion" and the group toured Europe with Ozzfest. By 2000, Osbourne had been awarded his second Grammy Award for his performance of "Paranoid" with the band.

PRIMARY SOURCE

[This text has been suppressed due to author restrictions]

SIGNIFICANCE

In 2000, the Osbourne family appeared on MTV's celebrity home tours show, "Cribs." Following the taping of the show, Sharon met with MTV executives and pitched the idea of planting several cameras in the Osbourne house and creating the first reality sitcom. The family was paid approximately $200,000 for the first season. The show became an instant success by bringing in approximately 5.3 million viewers per episode. The show included Osbourne's fatherly advice to his children, and the show frequently bleeped the family's prolific use of profanities. MTV executives asserted that the show represented a shift in family values from strictness and rules to honesty and openness.

Participation in the show catapulted the entire family (except oldest daughter Aimee who chose not to live in the house during taping) into stardom as MTV's target audience of twelve- to twenty-four-year olds were introduced to the aging rocker and older viewers familiar with Osbourne's reputation tuned into the show. The family received numerous endorsement deals and was signed on to additional seasons at approximately $2-5 million per season. In addition, the Osbournes were invited to events also attended by the President of the United States and were invited to meet the Queen of England. Although the first season seemed reasonably comedic by concentrating on issues such as Osbourne trying to operate the remote control or dogs that refused to be housebroken, the second season became more reality than sitcom by dealing with Sharon's cancer treatment and Kelly's handling of stardom.

The show ran from March 2002 to March 2005.