'Osbournes' Producer on How Ozzy Osbourne Shaped Reality TV

The Osbournes producer Van Toffler spoke to Variety after the death of Ozzy Osbourne, praising the late metal musician and his family for beginning the reality TV boom as we know it.

How did Ozzy Osbourne die?

Osbourne’s death at 76 was announced by his family in a July 22 statement. No cause of death has been announced. “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” the statement read. “He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family's privacy at this time.”

What did The Osbournes producer say about Ozzy Osbourne?

In an interview with Variety hours after Osbourne’s death was announced, Toffler gave his sympathies to Osbourne’s widow, Sharon, and their two children, Jack and Kelly. He also credited the unconventional family for paving the way for the forthcoming reality TV boom with their early-aughts series The Osbournes. The show, which premiered in 2001 on MTV, was an instant hit largely due to the metal rocker’s profane, lovably confused persona.

“It was so wrong, but unlike anything else that was on TV,” Toffler said. “First of all, that family—with the king of metal featured, and all the things he was allegedly accused of doing—but also the language! We had to bleep so much of the dialogue. That became such an integral part of it, the way we bleeped it, how often we bleeped it, and we weren’t making it up.”

As soon as the show premiered, “it was a ginormous global hit,” Toffler raved. “We were deep in the throes of reality television in the early 2000s, but I don’t think we’d ever had someone over 50 years old featured on any show on MTV in its history,” he explained. “We were looking to launch Cribs, and we shot a bit with the Osbournes, and we all kind of looked at each other and just felt there is some wonderful, serendipitous chaos and insanity in this house that people would eat up. What a loving, dysfunctional, chaotic, musical family they were. And it just hit us to keep shooting, which went on for years.”

How did The Osbournes become such a successful show?

Toffler laid the success of the series directly at the feet of Ozzy, saying that the series showed the world a different side of the previously feared musician. It helped that his doting wife, Sharon, was there to soften his image. “Ozzy had an allegedly sinister style and way about him, and you know, snorted a line of ants on a tour with Motley Crue and all the lore that all of us read,” Toffler said. “People were scared s---less of him. You know, the prince of darkness. But he’s like a lovable teddy bear. I mean, we know who the tougher one was in that family, and it wasn’t Ozzy. So I think it just endeared him to people around the world…And then just getting to sit with him was eye-opening and quite wonderful over the years.”

The Osbournes is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video and other major rental platforms.