While the Osbournes have just about used up their 15 minutes of fame, this two-disc set is a time capsule keepsake of that brief and shining moment when goth metal god Ozzy Osbourne and family put their indelible stamp on pop culture as the stars of the first reality sitcom. Chronicling the lives of the Osbournes as they set up housekeeping in their new Beverly Hills digs was a positively batty idea that succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams. The Osbournes--fiercely devoted wife, mother, and manager Sharon; petulant teenage misfit son Jack; his more flamboyant, pink-haired sister Kelly; and pop Ozzy--are not the Clampetts. But persistent use of the F-word and other obscenities (which sound so much classier with a British accent) aside, the Osbournes are at heart a close-knit family. Or, as Ozzy so tenderly puts it at one point, "I love you more than life itself, but you're all fu(bleep) mad." Episode four bears him out as Sharon and Jack declare war on their noisy next door neighbors with airborne foodstuffs (when one compares Sharon to the Wicked Witch of the West, she replies, "the Wicked Witch has nothing on me"). In addition to the 10 episodes, this compilation features several notable extras, the most inspired of which is a translator that provides subtitles for the addled Ozzy's dialogue. Viewers are also offered the option to bleep or not to bleep. The first season of The Osbournes was a lightning-in-a-bottle phenomenon whose success has yet to be duplicated, not by the shameless Anna Nicole Smith, not by clueless Liza Minelli, not even by the Osbournes themselves. Highly recommended. (K. Lee Benson)
The Osbournes: The First Season
Miramax, 2 discs, 220 min., not rated, DVD: $29.99 Volume 18, Issue 3
The Osbournes: The First Season
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