The Prince of Darkness has been outwitted by a television remote. In fairness to Ozzy Osbourne, perched on the edge of his flowery antique sofa in Beverly Hills, it is a monstrously unwieldy device. He grasps the thing with both hands and slams it with his fist, but still he can’t figure out how to get the television to show him anything other than the weather in Afghanistan (“2000 degrees and cloudy”, he huffs). “I’m a very simple man. You’ve got to have computer knowledge to turn the f***ing TV on and off,” moans Ozzy. “I pressed this one button, and the shower started. I’m going: ‘What is this? Where am I, man?’”
This was how we found Ozzy Osbourne, who has died at the age of 76, in the opening episode of MTV’s The Osbournes. Premiering on 5 March 2002, it changed the shape of reality television forever and Ozzy’s slapstick struggles against the big remote set the raucous, sweary tone. The mundane was elevated to the level of rock’n’roll farce and its success was unprecedented.
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