The Reason Ozzy Osbourne Regrets “The Osbournes”

Before Keeping Up with the Kardashians, there’s keeping up with the “The Osbournes.” Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne‘s MTV reality show with his wife Sharon Osbourne and children Kelly and Jack Osbourne has ran for 52 episodes between 2002 and 2005.

The singer and his two kids had their reality TV debut in 2000 on the first episode of MTV Cribs showing their Los Angeles mansion. Their characters were so interesting that people wanted to see more of them. That’s when the idea of their own family reality show was born, letting out their unfiltered personalities.

Ozzy’s wife and manager Sharon recently told the Ringer:

“Ozzy had years and years of a career behind him. He had credibility, and what were the fans going to think of him? He had everything to lose, and we had nothing to lose. Who were we? I was a businesswoman, but it was behind the scenes. That’s the reason I wasn’t in Cribs. I was in my office.”

The Osbournes premiered on March 5, 2002 and found instant success, becoming the highest-rated cable series in MTV history. According to Nielsen Media Research data, the show had an average of 5.3 million viewers during the first season and surpassing 7.2 million viewers in its season finale.

Seeing the popularity of the show, MTV decided to follow more seasons and made a deal Miramax Films to release the series on DVD and VHS. The Osbournes signed a contract for additional episodes that was valued at more than $20 million.

Along with the fame and fortune, comes trouble for the family. Jack told the Ringer about the added seasons:

“The show had lost its earnestness. It wasn’t that we were faking, but it had become a show – whereas early on it was an experiment.”

Ozzy also admitted that he regret the impact the show had on his family. He told the Quietus in 2010:

“You go to bed one day and you wake up [the next] and the world’s completely different. Everywhere there’s fucking cameras, you get attacked by the fucking things. The kids couldn’t handle it. My wife couldn’t handle it: she had colon cancer.”

Even though, it appears that Ozzy was recovering from drugs and alcohol on screen, he would often lose himself in private as he told the Daily Record in 2009:

“When the filming ended, I’d go in my little bunker and smoke a pipe and drink about a case of beer every day.”

His wife added:

“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.”

The Osbournes aired its final episode on March 21, 2005, and went off the air after four seasons. A few family spin-offs have followed, including Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour and The Osbournes Want to Believe, in which Jack tries to convince his parents of the existence of paranormal activity.

Although the show was a success, the family are not open to have a comeback as Ozzy told the Quietus:

“On the one hand it was phenomenal, on the other hand I had to watch my family [suffer]. But we invented a new form of television. We started the ball rolling for all these fuckin’ new shows now. Would we do it again? I dunno. I don’t think so.”