The Osbournes: The First Season (Uncensored)
May 2003 Reviewed by: Marc Mickelson Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Is it a bigger deal to be a rock star or a TV star? This is one of the questions raised by the DVD release of The Osbournes: The First Season, along with: How many dogs are too many? and What makes Pat Boone such a good neighbor? What makes The Osbournes such a good TV show -- if you are like me and accept that it is -- is the balance of the family's craziness to its caring life together. It is clear that the eccentric Osbourne clan is not your run-of-the-mill well-off family, but it's also equally apparent that parents, Ozzy and Sharon, and children, Jack and Kelly, have tremendous affection for each other. Together they comprise a dynamic, work-in-progress family, not some Hollywood concoction of the same, and through them we get an astute depiction of American celebrity life in the early 21st century, complete with concert footage, shopping sprees, trips on private jets, and fans everywhere. I won't pretend that I enjoy Ozzy Osbourne's music, but I do admire the stern tenderness with which he handles his children. While Ozzy may be the most famous member of the clan, his wife Sharon is CEO. If you doubt that she is responsible for Ozzy's success, even going so far as to pitch the idea for The Osbournes in the first place, you aren't paying attention to what's shown.

And so much is shown, giving viewers many ways to approach the show. The most frequent recurring motif is the presence of the many dogs that share the Osbourne house. They vomit and relieve themselves everywhere (insert your own Ozzyisms here), so it is a good thing that the house is big. An episode in which neighbors clash is surprising because we find out that the Osbournes are like most of us and do not like to hear loud music at all hours of the night. This causes them to lament the good ol' days of living next door to Pat Boone. Jack's pal Dill scratches his overgrown head of hair through an entire episode in which we find out that being a professional skateboarder is not much different from being an amateur. There are small moments here and there that are funny, then fascinating, then troubling, then funny again. And who can resist Ozzy's shuffling gait and characteristic mumbling?

This two-DVD set is rich with bonus materials, although not all of them are worth investigating. On the downside are the "Name That Dookie" game -- in which players match the, ah, um, dookie to the dog that made it -- and "Osbournes Bingo." The cast commentary is also lame, made up of offhand remarks and too much giggling. Each episode has the real-time commentary of the people in it as a major element, so there's not much meaningful to add after the fact. The "Ozzy Translator" is merely the ability to turn on subtitles that translate what Ozzy is saying.

There is bonus footage, as well as "Too Oz for TV" bloopers, but the best addition to the DVD set are the "Conversations with the Osbournes." In these, family members talk candidly about touring, family life, and each other. It is clear from these that the Osbournes cherish their life, no matter how chaotic it can be. One thing I would have included is the episode of MTV's Cribs on the Osbournes, which is where the series really began. The DVD's picture and sound quality are improvements from cable-TV broadcasts, although neither can be considered state of the art.

About the profanity -- it is almost a character itself. There are two versions of this DVD set: one with no censoring (although it can be enabled via the onscreen menus), and one with complete censoring, in which each episode is presented exactly as it was shown on MTV. Because the ample cursing is a known characteristic of the series, I somehow doubt that anyone who would buy this DVD set would be offended by the frequent use of the F-word, but then I don't have children. Knowing exactly what Ozzy and his family members are saying behind the bleeps will be welcome to many, but if "such language" offends you, you should enable the bleeped track.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Osbournes: The First Season on DVD, and I had seen half the episodes on MTV before viewing the set. The packaged extras add to the enjoyment of the series, but the shows  stand firmly on their own. We can now include the Osbournes with the Nelsons, the Cleavers, the Bradys, and the Simpsons in the pantheon of sociologically significant TV families. Rock and roll!

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