Ozzy Osbourne: Meet the Osbournes, Ozzy and Family

Ozzy Osbourne and family are being chronicled in a new "reality sitcom" airing on Tuesday nights at 10:30 p.m. EST on MTV. After their "Cribs" segment was well-received by MTV viewers, the Osbournes began thinking of turning their lives into a television show. TV execs wanted to "build a fictional show around them" but they would only agree to do the series if it were not real. Sharon Osbourne said, "We’re not the Partridge family. It had to be real or we wouldn’t do it. MTV agreed to do it as it was and just leave it pure."

So Ozzy, Sharon and two of their three children, Jack and Kelly, agreed to live with cameras following their everyday lives for a few months. The Osbournes’ older child chose not to be a part of the "sitcom." Sharon said, "We all learned a lot about ourselves – that we swear too much and have bad tempers." Dialogue had to be "bleeped" out 59 times during the first 30-minute episode. The idea of Ozzy Osbourne as a regular dad is amusing. He talks with his kids about tattoos and gives them a lecture one night, "Don’t drink, don’t take drugs. If you have sex, wear a condom."

As stated by the Associated Press, one reason the Osbournes did the series was to demystify their lives. Even with the collections of "devils and crucifixes," viewers will see lives that are pretty mundane." Ozzy asked, "What is a functional family? I know I’m dysfunctional by a long shot, but what guidelines do we all have to go by? The Waltons? What I’m trying to say is, what is the family that we should all take our inspirations from?"