Place an Ad | Subscribe | Advertise With Us

No ‘Osbournes’ here

By Jennifer J. Foster

Published: March 31, 2009

I just sent a thank you e-mail to the powers-that-be at Columbus, Ga.-based Fox affiliate WXTX for their decision to forego airing “Osbournes: Reloaded” tonight following “American Idol.“

From Fox Network’s Osbournes site:

All Aboard the Crazy Train!

Hop aboard the “Crazy Train” when Ozzy, Sharon, Jack and Kelly Osbourne turn another television convention upside down and inside out with their new series OSBOURNES: RELOADED premiering after AMERICAN IDOL Tuesday, March 31 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

The series will also venture off-stage with recurring segments including “Osbourne in the USA,“ where members of the family go to work in places such as a fast-food drive-thru; “Osbournes Meet the Osbournes,“ where the family goes cross-country and lives with other Osbourne families; and the “Littlest Osbournes,“ where pint-size, potty-mouthed versions of Sharon and Ozzy recreate moments from their early days…in all their four-letter glory.

“Pint-size, potty-mouthed versions of Sharon and Ozzy.“

Aren’t the regular-size, potty mouthed Sharon and Ozzy enough?

Seriously, little kids swearing up a blue streak. Funny? No. Stupid? Yes. But most of all, sad.

The pilot of this show was so bad that even “Entertainment Weekly”—not exactly known as the banner-waver for moral conservatism, modesty and prudishness—even “EW” called it “repulsive, repellent, ridiculous.“

It seems so often these days that it takes the formation and deployment of an angry mob to protect community standards. I wanted WXTX to know that I appreciated the station’s decision to turn that trend on its head and take a leadership role in helping us uphold those standards.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for the First Amendment. But what’s appropriate for late-night cable programming isn’t necessarily what’s appropriate for prime-time network programming—especially when it follows a show like “American Idol” and at an unusual time (8:20 p.m. Central time) specifically keyed to hook “Idol’s” young audience.

Ozzy Osbourne made his name as a musician, but his modern fame—and that of his family—is not about that. The family’s battles with drugs and alcohol are well documented; many of Ozzy’s young fans actually tune in to laugh at how disoriented and disheveled he is as a result of all those years of frying his brain.

I don’t think it’s funny. I don’t find any humor at all in someone who is as famous for unintelligible, profanity-laced ramblings as he once was for music.

Thank you, WXTX.