Osbournes: Reloaded
Encyclopedia
Osbournes Reloaded is a short-lived 2009 variety show
that aired its only episode on Fox
. The show was hosted by The Osbournes
— Ozzy
, Sharon
, Jack
and Kelly
— and premiered Tuesday March 31 on Fox following American Idol
. Fremantle Media North America, the producers of American Idol, produced the show. The show was also taped in the same studio as American Idol at CBS Television City
in Hollywood.
The show consisted of sketches, stunts, celebrity cameos, live action audience participation and live musical acts such as Fall Out Boy
, and would have included pretaped parody skits often featuring Ozzy in drag playing such characters as Audrina from The Hills
and Juno
. Other bits include the Osbournes working "real jobs" (Ozzy and Kelly working drive-thru fast food for example), a recurring Littlest Osbournes segment (British kids swearing like Ozzy and Sharon), and the Osbournes meeting other families from across the country that share their name.
Although planned as an hour-long show, the premiere episode was cut down to 35 minutes and American Idol was extended to an hour and 25 minutes. The show was universally panned by critics, with Roger Catlin of the Hartford Courant even going so far as to call it the "worst variety show ever" and Tom Shales
of the Washington Post labeling it "Must-Flee TV".
The Osbourne family appeared together to host Fox's Sunday night Animation Domination block on March 29, 2009.
the program, 10 of them delaying it until a later time and at least 16 not showing it at all, due to the nature of the program, most of them part of the station groups Local TV LLC and Raycom Media
. In the case of many of the Local TV-owned stations, this was the first pre-emption of a Fox program due to content in their histories after the July 2008 sale of seven Fox O&O stations to Local TV. These stations had previously shown promotions and commercials for the show, as the preemption decision came after the network offered the stations a six-minute preview reel of the episode's content. However, the network did manage to convince Sinclair Broadcasting Group, one of the network's largest affiliate groups and known as a conservative-leaning broadcaster, to air the show as scheduled.
One example included WXTX
, a Southeastern Media Holdings
-owned and Raycom-operated Fox affiliate in Columbus, Georgia
, which ran a ticker during the March 29 Animation Domination, which the Osbournes hosted that night:
in Wilmington, North Carolina
also preempted the show, showing a similar ticker during American Idol and beginning their 10pm news broadcast early.
Raycom's WPGX
in Panama City, Florida
also did not air the show. The station's General Manager, David Cavileer, said the inappropriate content and profanity made him uncomfortable having the show follow American Idol, which is very popular with a younger audience. A Simpsons
rerun was seen instead.
WXIX-TV
in Cincinnati
had also preempted the program, opting instead to start its 10pm newscast early, followed by a Surviving Severe Weather special at 10:30pm.
In Milwaukee
, WITI, a former Fox owned-and-operated station
owned by Local TV
, decided to air the show at 1:05am due to the content of the show in order to show a roundtable program about drug abuse
, "Dealing with Drugs". The station manager cited that, as many young people watch its lead in American Idol (especially with, as anchor Brad Hicks said as the special started, the presence of local contestant Danny Gokey
in the show), the Osbournes show would be more apppropriate for late-night, and that a show on the drug problem (an issue which was heavily covered in the last few weeks due to a rash of young adult deaths from drugs in the area) would be more appropriate to follow Idol. Sister station WDAF-TV
in Kansas City
also moved the show to 1:05am and aired the station's 60th anniversary special instead. However the promotions during Fox network time listing the "up next" starting time on both stations were not changed to disclaim the new time.
WGHP
, the High Point, North Carolina
affiliate serving the Piedmont Triad market, opted to delay the program until midnight, filling the original time slot with consumer reports from the news department. Station manager Karen Adams told the Greensboro News & Record that 60% of the email feedback she received was critical of the decision, although many of those viewers had missed the station's announcement of the rescheduling.
Other cities affected include West Palm Beach
(WFLX
), Birmingham
(WBRC
), and Knoxville
(WTNZ
), where the show was pre-empted outright; and Denver (KDVR
), St. Louis
(KTVI
), Raleigh
(WRAZ), Columbia
(WACH
) and Salt Lake City (KSTU
), where the show was moved to a later time.
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
that aired its only episode on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
. The show was hosted by The Osbournes
The Osbournes
The Osbournes is an American reality television program featuring the domestic life of heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne and his family. The series premiered on MTV on March 5, 2002, and in its first season, was cited as the most-viewed series ever on MTV...
— Ozzy
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
, Sharon
Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Rachel Osbourne is an English television host, author, music manager, businesswoman and promoter as well as the wife of heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne....
, Jack
Jack Osbourne
Jack Joseph Osbourne is an English media personality, best known as the son of musician Ozzy Osbourne and music manager Sharon Osbourne, and brother of Aimee and Kelly Osbourne.-Early life and family:...
and Kelly
Kelly Osbourne
Kelly Michelle Lee Osbourne is an English media personality, television personality, host, judge, fashion designer, singer, and actress, best known for being the daughter of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne...
— and premiered Tuesday March 31 on Fox following American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
. Fremantle Media North America, the producers of American Idol, produced the show. The show was also taped in the same studio as American Idol at CBS Television City
CBS Television City
CBS Television City is a television studio complex located in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles at 7800 Beverly Boulevard, at the corner of North Fairfax Avenue...
in Hollywood.
The show consisted of sketches, stunts, celebrity cameos, live action audience participation and live musical acts such as Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
, and would have included pretaped parody skits often featuring Ozzy in drag playing such characters as Audrina from The Hills
The Hills
The Hills is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from May 31, 2006 until July 13, 2010. The show uses a reality television format, following the personal lives of several young adults living in Los Angeles, California, but tends towards a narrative format more commonly found...
and Juno
Juno (film)
Juno is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. Ellen Page stars as the title character, an independent-minded teenager confronting an unplanned pregnancy and the subsequent events that put pressures of adult life onto her. Michael Cera, Olivia Thirlby, J. K....
. Other bits include the Osbournes working "real jobs" (Ozzy and Kelly working drive-thru fast food for example), a recurring Littlest Osbournes segment (British kids swearing like Ozzy and Sharon), and the Osbournes meeting other families from across the country that share their name.
Although planned as an hour-long show, the premiere episode was cut down to 35 minutes and American Idol was extended to an hour and 25 minutes. The show was universally panned by critics, with Roger Catlin of the Hartford Courant even going so far as to call it the "worst variety show ever" and Tom Shales
Tom Shales
Thomas William "Tom" Shales is an American critic of television programming and operations. He is best known as TV critic for The Washington Post; in 1988, Shales received the Pulitzer Prize...
of the Washington Post labeling it "Must-Flee TV".
Backstory
In July 2008 Fox announced that the Osbourne family would be hosting a new variety show tentatively titled Osbournes: Reloaded (working title was 'Osbournes: Loud and Dangerous'). The show started taping at Television City in December 2008 before a live audience.The Osbourne family appeared together to host Fox's Sunday night Animation Domination block on March 29, 2009.
Preemption
At least 26 Fox affiliates opted to preemptBlackout (broadcasting)
Blackout usually relates to the broadcasting of sports events, television programming, that is prohibited in a certain media market.The purpose is theoretically to generate more revenue by obliging certain actions from fans, either by making them buy tickets or watch other games on TV...
the program, 10 of them delaying it until a later time and at least 16 not showing it at all, due to the nature of the program, most of them part of the station groups Local TV LLC and Raycom Media
Raycom Media
- History :Although Raycom Media dates its birth to 1996, the core of the company was formed in 1992 when Atlanta native Bert Ellis formed Ellis Communications. He eventually controlled 13 television stations and two radio stations....
. In the case of many of the Local TV-owned stations, this was the first pre-emption of a Fox program due to content in their histories after the July 2008 sale of seven Fox O&O stations to Local TV. These stations had previously shown promotions and commercials for the show, as the preemption decision came after the network offered the stations a six-minute preview reel of the episode's content. However, the network did manage to convince Sinclair Broadcasting Group, one of the network's largest affiliate groups and known as a conservative-leaning broadcaster, to air the show as scheduled.
One example included WXTX
WXTX
WXTX is the primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for the Chattahoochee Valley of West Central Georgia and East Central Alabama. Licensed to Columbus, Georgia, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 49 from a transmitter in the Vista Terrance...
, a Southeastern Media Holdings
Southeastern Media Holdings
Southeastern Media Holdings is a broadcasting company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. It owns television stations in several cities in the Southeastern United States.-Fox Affiliates:* WXTX-TV, Columbus, Georgia* WSFX-TV, Wilmington, North Carolina...
-owned and Raycom-operated Fox affiliate in Columbus, Georgia
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...
, which ran a ticker during the March 29 Animation Domination, which the Osbournes hosted that night:
"WXTX has informed the national Fox Network that we will not be airing Osbournes Reloaded on Tuesday following American Idol. We find that the programming does not meet our community standards, especially given the family audience that American Idol attracts."The message ran twice in a row at around 13 minutes on the hour, every hour, during the block. Sister station WSFX
WSFX-TV
WSFX-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for North Carolina's Cape Fear region licensed to Wilmington. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 from a transmitter in Town Creek Township. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable, Charter, and ATMC channel 9...
in Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
also preempted the show, showing a similar ticker during American Idol and beginning their 10pm news broadcast early.
Raycom's WPGX
WPGX
WPGX is the Fox Network-affiliated television station for the Florida Panhandle that is licensed Panama City. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 9 from a transmitter in the Bennett section of Youngstown. Owned by Raycom Media, the station has studios known as the "Fox...
in Panama City, Florida
Panama City, Florida
-Personal income:The median income for a household in the city was $31,572, and the median income for a family was $40,890. Males had a median income of $30,401 versus $21,431 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,830...
also did not air the show. The station's General Manager, David Cavileer, said the inappropriate content and profanity made him uncomfortable having the show follow American Idol, which is very popular with a younger audience. A Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
rerun was seen instead.
WXIX-TV
WXIX-TV
WXIX-TV channel 19 is the Fox Broadcasting Company affiliate in Cincinnati, Ohio. The station's city of license is Newport, Kentucky, across the Ohio River...
in Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
had also preempted the program, opting instead to start its 10pm newscast early, followed by a Surviving Severe Weather special at 10:30pm.
In Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
, WITI, a former Fox owned-and-operated station
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...
owned by Local TV
Local TV
Local TV LLC is a limited liability corporation, owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners , which operates 18 local network-affiliated television stations in the United States.-History:...
, decided to air the show at 1:05am due to the content of the show in order to show a roundtable program about drug abuse
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
, "Dealing with Drugs". The station manager cited that, as many young people watch its lead in American Idol (especially with, as anchor Brad Hicks said as the special started, the presence of local contestant Danny Gokey
Danny Gokey
Daniel Jay "Danny" Gokey is an American country music singer and church music director from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the third place finalist on the eighth season of American Idol...
in the show), the Osbournes show would be more apppropriate for late-night, and that a show on the drug problem (an issue which was heavily covered in the last few weeks due to a rash of young adult deaths from drugs in the area) would be more appropriate to follow Idol. Sister station WDAF-TV
WDAF-TV
WDAF-TV, virtual channel 4.1, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Kansas City, Missouri-Kansas designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners. Its studios and transmitter are located in the Signal Hill...
in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
also moved the show to 1:05am and aired the station's 60th anniversary special instead. However the promotions during Fox network time listing the "up next" starting time on both stations were not changed to disclaim the new time.
WGHP
WGHP
WGHP, channel 8, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem, North Carolina designated market area...
, the High Point, North Carolina
High Point, North Carolina
High Point is a city located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina. As of 2010 the city had a total population of 104,371, according to the US Census Bureau. High Point is currently the eighth-largest municipality in North Carolina....
affiliate serving the Piedmont Triad market, opted to delay the program until midnight, filling the original time slot with consumer reports from the news department. Station manager Karen Adams told the Greensboro News & Record that 60% of the email feedback she received was critical of the decision, although many of those viewers had missed the station's announcement of the rescheduling.
Other cities affected include West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
(WFLX
WFLX
WFLX is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Gold and Treasure Coasts of South Florida. Licensed to West Palm Beach, the station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 28 from a transmitter in Lake Worth west of US 441/SR 7. The station can also be seen on Comcast...
), Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
(WBRC
WBRC
WBRC, virtual channel 6, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Birmingham, Alabama designated market area. The station is owned by Raycom Media, and its transmitter is located atop Red Mountain in Birmingham...
), and Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
(WTNZ
WTNZ
WTNZ is the Fox-affiliated television station for Eastern Tennessee licensed to Knoxville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter on Sharp's Ridge in the city's Arlington section. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 11 and in high definition...
), where the show was pre-empted outright; and Denver (KDVR
KDVR
KDVR, , is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Denver, Colorado designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, under a local marketing agreement with Tribune-owned CW affiliate KWGN . Its transmitter is...
), St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
(KTVI
KTVI
KTVI, virtual channel 2, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the St. Louis, Missouri, designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, under a local marketing agreement with Tribune-owned CW affiliate KPLR...
), Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
(WRAZ), Columbia
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...
(WACH
WACH
WACH is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Midlands of South Carolina. It is licensed to Columbia. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 48 from a transmitter along SC 12 in Southwestern Kershaw County. Owned by Barrington Broadcasting, the station has studios on...
) and Salt Lake City (KSTU
KSTU
KSTU, channel 13, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Salt Lake City designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, and its transmitter located on Farnsworth Peak, southwest of Salt Lake City...
), where the show was moved to a later time.