Customer Reviews

Officially Osbourne: Opening the doors to the land of Oz

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Osbournes have gained fame not just for pioneering the reality TV show (and succeeding in it the way pretty much nobody else has), but for letting the masses in on their family life. It's weird, it's wacky, and when you pare it down it's pretty close to anyone else's family life. And that includes dogs peeing on the furniture, music, thongs, the arrogance of big sisters, getting tattoos, and much more.

"Officially Osbourne" is an episode guide (first season) interspersed with biographies, interviews, and information. Each of the bios includes favorite music, birth date, video games, personal philosophies, what their family members say about them, and then an interview. Each episode has a basic summary (about two or three paragraphs) and a slew of pictures. Also there are best lines ("Bubbles? Oh come on, Sharon! I'm the Prince of #$&*in' Darkness!"), and highlights (a fire in the kitchen -- "the first one in the new house").

There are chapters on other topics too: On Melinda Verga, a lower-key employee, on home decor (black, antiques, and crucifixes), the different rooms in the house, and on the pets (dogs and cats, most memorably Lola). One chapter is devoted to Ozzy and Sharon's parenting methods, and what their kids think of those methods. And most tantalizing of all is the chapter where they talk about what never made it onto your TV screen...

This book captures some of the spirit that infuses the Osbourne TV show. The coverage and interviews with Ozzy, smart wife Sharon and kids Jack and Kelly (Aimee declined to be in the show). Their attitudes are refreshingly honest and open -- in a celebrity subculture where people say prescripted, inoffensive lines, the Osbournes will tell the world what they do and don't like (Kelly hates pop singers, for example).

The pages are likably colorful, not just black text on white paper. The pictures are a slightly more mixed bag -- there are a lot of them on almost every page in the book, of everyone: The house, the furnishings, the dogs... unfortunately, many are too small to look at easily, and some are blurred. Many are quite good, clear and well-lit.

"We're not the #$&*ing Partridge Family" -- Sharon said it best. And "Officially Osbourne" takes some of the best elements from the TV show and commits them to paper. Definitely recommended for people who watch the show.

Officially Osbourne is an excellent guide to the Osbournes. It shares details of the episodes, profiles of the family members, untold stories, interviews, parents' advice from Sharon and Ozzy, and more. The pictures in this book are mostly animated, and while regular photos would have been great, it does add a more fun approach to the book. This is a must have for fans. You'll learn so much more about the Osbournes.

For any Osbourne fan, this is the book to get. It has every detail you ever wanted to know about the show. Great pictures and interviews, as well as info you didn't know!

This is interesting and fast moving. But any Audio listener it's only one CD. Wish Amazon would list how many cd's in each audio book description.

wow this book is so funny. better than the show. you get to know how the osbournes feel on sudden fame and get to see inside their home without going all the way to california. each of them including the dogs have a profile. and I literally laughed outloud reading this book.

Unless you were unable to comprehend the show if you watched it there is no purpose in even looking at this book. Just more people trying to cash in on The Osbournes with laughable products.