The Osbournes. (Insider Report).

It wouldn't be quite accurate to say that in its latest "reality TV" tour de force, The Osbournes, MTV has sunk to new lows. Television' s premier purveyor of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll has a long, consistent, and unenviable record of substandard fare, including Beavis and Butthead and innumerable pornographic, violent, and outright Satanic rock videos. But if The Osbournes isn't a new low, it comes close. Nestled in a half-hour slot after the equally debauched reality show The Real World, The Osbournes, a sort of real-life sitcom following the life of heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne and his dysfunctional family, has become an instant hit (MTV's most popular program to date). Its appeal is not limited to middle-aged devotees. Young and old alike are fascinated by the unabashed, in-your-face rock 'n' roll lifestyle that the Osbournes willingly flaunt on screen.

Filmed over four months in the Osbourne family's Beverly Hills mansion, The Osbournes is heavily edited and at times barely comprehensible because of the coarse language of the Osbourne family, including their nanny. The antics of the 53-year-old heavy metal star-turned-paterfamilias seem ludicrous -- until one recalls that his senile babblings and fumbling behavior are the result of ...