Ozzy Osbourne is going on tour again and it’s guaranteed this will be nothing like what you’ve seen before. If there’s a tour bus it will have to abide by campground quiet hours, and the only groupies in sight will probably be waitresses at a diner somewhere. That’s because Ozzy and his son Jack are setting out on some road-tripping for the History Channel, calling it Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour.
In 10, hour-long episodes the duo will stop off to visit all the sights that Ozzy missed during his years on the road – Stonehenge, Mt. Rushmore, Bletchley Park to see Alan Turing’s Enigma code-breaker. The two are both history buffs so some of the choices may seem a little odd…or really, really cool depending on what you think of abandoned Minutemen missile silos and WWII tank collections.
When the idea was announced last fall the king of metal told Billboard it’s all perfectly Osbourne, ““[It’s] like a father and son spoof on history. We went to Stonehenge and met a guy who thinks he’s the f—ing reincarnation of King Arthur. We’re going to Mount Rushmore, to the abandoned silos where America used to have their Minutemen missiles and all that. It’s educational for me, actually — history with an Osbourne slant.”
It’s good to see the father and son together. EW notes that they were the original reality TV family, charming America in 2002 with The Osbournes, well before the Kardashians ever signed a production deal. The three-year run of the show grew to become the most-viewed series in MTV’s history, won an Emmy, and got Ozzy and his wife Sharon invited to the White House Correspondent’s Dinner. But post-series revelations have tarnished its image. Ozzy pronounced to a British radio show that he was stoned during the entire run of the series and doesn’t remember it at all. Jack and Osbourne daughter Kelly have made claims that everything was staged, which is unsurprising but still a secret the reality-TV industry tries to bury.
The series opened doors worldwide for Kelly in modeling, hosting and acting roles including stints on Dancing With the Stars, Project Runway, and currently on Australia’s Got Talent. Sharon Osbourne also went on to hosting and panelist appearances on everything from The Talk, to VH1’s Rock of Love: Charm School, to The X-Factor.
After The Osbournes wrapped both Jack and Kelly pursued treatment for substance abuse that prompted Jack toward an interest in fitness. From 2005-2009 he hosted Jack Osbourne: Adrenaline Junkie, which profiled his training for outdoor adventures and sports. He’s also produced a documentary about his father titled God Bless Ozzy Osbourne and was featured on Syfy’s Haunted Highway. In 2012 he was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, a multi-symptom auto-immune disorder affecting the central nervous system.
It will be good to see this unique father and son slowing down to enjoy life like the rest of us for a while. The show debuts July 27 on History.