TVSquad

For those who might think the new Osbournes: Reloaded variety show is a quick-fix, six-episode ratings boost, think again. Reloaded, which premieres Tuesday at 9PM on Fox, was two years in the making. According to Sharon Osbourne, who spoke with reporters via a conference call Thursday, the family was given a somewhat open-ended invitation to return to television, and they wanted to make sure they picked the right project.

They cycled through a few options, rejecting most of them, including one idea that will be a smaller part of the finished product. "It was going around the country just looking for other Osbournes, and I was like, I don't think so," Sharon told the group. "But we did keep that as a segment on the show."

In a sure sign of the apocalypse, the variety show concept from the 1970s (such as Donny and Marie and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour) is making a comeback. Only this time, it stars Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.

The Fox show is as-of-yet untitled and will be executive-produced by James Sunderland, an exec producer on America's Got Talent where Sharon Osbourne is a judge. The show will be shot in Los Angeles and the plan is to start with a Christmas special.

"The plan is to blend musical perfs by the Osbournes and others with comedy sketches as well as gameshow, audience participation and out-of-studio taped elements", said Mike Darnell, Fox's President of Alternative Entertainment. The show may even have a segment called "The Osbournes Meet The Osbournes" in which Ozzy and family are filmed meeting other families named Osbourne.

If anything, this is going to be The Brady Bunch Variety Hour on acid. It's sort of appropriate that it's going to Fox. Perhaps the theme can be a heavy-metal riff of The Brady Bunch theme song.

A woman in Muncie, Indiana is suing CBS and Jack Osbourne because her home was mistakenly raided during the taping of an episode of reality show Armed & Famous (if you don't remember the show, it had C-list celebs like Osbourne and Erik Estrada as cops arresting people).

She's suing for $1 million, and named in the suit along with CBS and Osbourne are a Muncie police officer, the Muncie police chief, the Munice mayor, and the production company.

CBS dumped Armed & Famous this week after airing four episodes, but now it's going where it belongs: VH1. The 'reality' series stars has-been and pseudo-celebrities like Jack Osbourne, Wee Man, La Toya Jackson, Erik Estrada and Trish Stratus. They all become cadets and go out on the road with real cops in Muncie, Indiana (which commenters tell me isn't that small of a town after all).

VH1 will air a marathon of Armed & Famous on Saturday, topped off with a new episode (#5) at 9 pm. VH1 says it doesn't actually have episodes 6 & 7 but it will air them if the producers get them finished. And the cable network is not ruling out a second season of the series.

Well, Adam called it. CBS has pulled Armed & Famous off the air, after four episodes (there have already been four episodes?!?). The series raked in a measly 1.4 rating during its most recent episode on January 24th, just barely beating The CW's Beauty and the Geek. That final rating was less than half the ratings of the premiere, which got a 2.9. There are three more episodes of the show and so far there's no indication from the network whether they will be burned off on air. Don't be surprised if they show up on Innertube, though.

Armed & Famous was pretty much doomed from the start. Even though it got a bit of press, it was still a 'reality' show about a bunch of not-so-famous people who become cops in a rural Indiana town. Pseudo-celebrities Erik Estrada, Jack Osbourne, La Toya Jackson, Wee Man and some blonde chick apparently weren't interesting enough to grab ratings. Duh.

There are several things that bother me about the new CBS show Armed & Famous, which debuts this Wednesday at 8pm. One, it's another damn reality show. I've truly reached my breaking point with these shows, especially ones that are just gimmicks and not teaching us anything new or providing something substantial at the end.

But the main reason I'm bothered about the show is this: the ads keep saying that the show is going to feature "real celebrities" going to work as real cops. Um...since when are people like Erik Estrada and "that guy from Jackass" real celebrities? Latoya Jackson? She has a weird brother. Jack Osbourne? He's the son of a weird father. The hot blonde chick is...um, who is she again?

Some b-list celebrities are working hard in Indiana right now on a celeb-reality show for CBS. Erik Estrada, Jack Osbourne, Wee Man, Trish Stratus, and La Toya Jackson are training to be reserve police officers in Muncie, Indiana. The celebrities will be trained like other police officers, which also means book-learnin' about the constitution and laws. Oh, and they'll be carrying guns when they respond to emergency calls from the public (with another, real officer).

That sounds safe. I'm sure nothing will go wrong. La Toya Jackson seems like the stable kind of person you want carrying a badge and a loaded weapon. No word yet on when the reality series will air, but it sure does sound like summer content.

Last night at Royal Albert Hall in London, the National TV Awards, in which British viewers voted for their favorites in various categories, were handed out. Doctor Who won a bunch of awards: David Tennant won Most Popular Actor, Billie Piper won Most Popular Actress, and the show won Most Popular Drama; the show swept the three awards last year, as well (Christopher Eccleston won the actor award in 2005, of course). Little Britain won Most Popular Comedy -- one of the nominees was Will & Grace! -- and The X Factor won the Most Popular Entertainment show.

The entire list of winners and nominees are here, provided by Digital Spy. It's interesting how the mix of nominees combines both British and American shows, but the winners are all from British shows. And yes, that picture above is of Kelly and Jack Osbourne, who hosted the show with Sir Trevor McDonald. Kelly must have followed her brother's lead and dropped a bunch of weight. They look almost as distinguished as Sir Trevor in that picture.

Jack Osbourne, son of Ozzy and "star" of the reality series "The Osbournes," is apparently writing his autobiography, titled 21 Years Gone and set to be released by Pan MacMillan. The book will obviously touch on Jack's problems with drugs, his stint in rehab, and what it was like growing up with his famous father. While I suppose it's easy to laugh at the idea, given that Jack has been in the spotlight without having done much, my only minor complaint is that it's too soon. Given a few more years, the sort of people who read celeb bios might actually enjoy hearing what it was like growing up as Ozzy's son. Right now, though, I'm not sure people are clamoring for such a book.

[via Best Week Ever]

I bet even Jack Osbourne never thought he'd get to date supermodel Kate Moss someday. But now he's hot and she's clean, so apparently they make a good match. The unlikely couple were reportedly doing some dirty dancing at a party after the Golden Globes awards in Los Angeles earlier this week. Tabloids have them on a bunch of other dates, too.

Kate Moss has just been through a heck of a time. She was caught by British tabloids doing cocaine, lost half her modeling contracts, dumped her druggie boyfriend, and ran off to rehab in the United States. Maybe that's where she and Jack have a connection. He also did a stint in rehab for a drug and alcohol addiction. Jack, by the way, is 20 years old. Kate is 32.