|
|
for the Osbournes
Like a sack of rocks for MTV family soap opera
By Kevin Downey
For just about anyone who’s had a bit too much of the Osbournes in the past year, and that means nearly everyone with a TV, it was easy to guess the MTV show that started the media frenzy would soon overstay its welcome.
It was really only a matter of time, but even the most cynical couldn’t have predicted the decline of “The Osbournes” would be quite this swift.
While the average audience for original episodes is down only 7 percent in season two, compared to the first season, the adult 18-34 audience that makes up much of MTV’s audience tumbled 36 percent last week from this season’s Nov. 26 premiere.
Moreover, while that premiere had strong numbers -- some 6.7 million viewers -- it was down roughly 17 percent from what is turning out to be the show’s peak. At the end of the first season about 8 million people were tuning in.
Still a top- 25 cable show, last week’s episode was watched by fewer than 3.9 million people.
A steady decline most weeks suggests that the disappearing audience isn’t a fluke but a sign that people are fleeing from too much of a good thing.
“It’s most likely a function of both overexposure and ‘been there, done that,’” says Stacey Lynn Koerner, senior vice president and director of broadcast research at Initiative Media.
“The same behavior this year just isn't as shocking."
The dipping fortunes of “The Osbournes” is almost certainly a reaction to the family’s omnipresence, but it may also be that the show isn’t all that good anymore.
This season didn’t start out that way, though.
Media Life television critic Dan Jewel, for example, said after two episodes, “Sharon [Osbourne’s] cancer has given the show drama and direction and depth; it’s almost as though it’s given it a much-needed plot, crass as that sounds.”
With a few more episodes under its belt, however, the show for some has lost its original appeal.
“The problem this season is that it really got away from Ozzy,” says Julie Wiskirchen, co-editor of Apeculture.com, a humorous pop culture webzine.
“He’s the character that people really found endearing. It’s focusing too much on the kids and they’re getting bratty. It’s really not entertaining to watch and it’s starting to cross over into being sad.”
Still, once the show goes off the air and has a few years to settle into television history, it’s assured a place among those programs that changed TV as we know it.
Moreover, there is always the chance MTV and the Osbournes could give the over-exposed a breather.
Could it be the family’s hosting duties on the “American Music Awards” this week was their last foray into multimedia publicity?
A 19 percent audience decline for this year’s special, which competed with Fox’s “Joe Millionaire,” could be the reinforcement both need.
But it probably won’t be, says Wiskirchen.
“In a way this is something Sharon calculated and knew would happen,” she says.
“I think she’s exploited it for what it’s worth and is making the most of it.”
Sharon already has “The Sharon Osbourne Show” coming in syndication this fall and it’s possible daughter Kelly’s attempt to become a singer -- not as critically panned as most people expected -- will give her a few more years of exposure.
Regarding the future of “The Osbournes,” MTV executives would not comment on whether they would cut back on the seemingly endless reruns or if the show is coming back after this season ends in mid-February.
January 16, 2003© 2003 Media Life
-Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life.
Printer-Friendly
Version | Send
to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact
Us