Osbournes Meet The Osbournes

OSBOURNES MEET THE OSBOURNES:

November 5, 2008

Ozzy Osbourne stops in Tyndall

Becky Tycz of the Tyndall Times & Register reports: What do you think your life would be like, if, you had the same name as a famous actor, singer, comedian or any celebrity for that matter? When Ozzie Osborn’s parents decided on the name at birth, they didn’t know that later in Ozzie’s life he would be teased about his name and mistaken for a famous person. Ozzie currently resides in Yankton with his family and is employed by Coop Farmers Inc. in Tyndall.

When heavy-metal rock star Ozzy Osbourne decided on the same name after his Black Sabbath years, this started the pranks for Ozzie in Yankton. Ozzie recalled while driving down the road, he was stopped by the police after they called in the license plate number into the dispatch office. The license plate came back registered to Ozzie Osborn. The police pulled over Ozzie to see if it was the real “Ozzy Osbourne.” Ozzie also remembers many prank calls throughout his life.

Ozzie always had in the back of his mind, if he ever would meet Ozzy face-to-face, he would ask him “why.” Meaning why did you take my name. Well Ozzie was given that opportunity to ask heavy-metal rock star Ozzy Osbourne that very question in person. Ozzy made a visit to Ozzie’s place of work in Tyndall October 28 where he took part in day-to-day working tasks at the elevator.

The Los Angeles, Calif. Osbourne family’s visit with Ozzie in Yankton and Tyndall is part of a segment called “Osbournes Meet the Osbournes.” The segment will become part of a variety show “The Osbournes: Loud and Dangerous” in which Ozzy and family are filmed meeting other families named Osbourne. The series will mix musical performances, comedy sketches and game-show competitions with the Osbournes’ unique blend of humor and outrageous sensibility. The eccentric clan pioneered the modern-day family-centric reality series with their hit show, “The Osbournes.”

“The Osbournes: Loud and Dangerous” is produced by FremantleMedia North America. The search for Osbourne families started by a representative from the producing company literally going through white pages to find Osbourne families in various cities and states. The spelling of Osbourne didn’t matter either.

Late summer, Ozzie recalls his daughter answering the telephone with a lady on the other end requesting to visit with her father. Once Ozzie started talking with the producer’s representative, Ozzie’s comment was “Yeh, right” when he was told that Ozzy Osbourne wanted to meet Ozzie Osborn. After agreeing, this started a long process of interviews, background checks, etc. for the Osborn family. The producers did a preliminary taping of the family which was then shown to the Osbourne family for their final approval. The Yankton family was the first family to be contacted and approved. Another process of contracts, legalities, etc. was the next step. After all contracts and negotiations were worked out, a date was determined for the Osbourne family to visit South Dakota. Media or other community members were not apprised of the event due to security reasons.

Preparing for the Osbourne’s visit to the elevator in Tyndall and to the Osborn home in Yankton wasn’t difficult, but time consuming. All logos and anything to do with company names on products needed to be removed or covered. There was no time in getting permission from companies in case a portion of the segment would appear on the TV. No additional security was needed in either Tyndall or Yankton as Ozzy’s security personnel accompanied he and his family on their trip.

In small town South Dakota, word gets around, and the date became known that this visit was going to take place October 28. The streets passing by the elevator were used quite a bit that day as people were constantly driving pass to possibly get a glimpse of Ozzy Osbourne. Throughout the few hours of Osbourne’s visit at the elevator, footage was shot and interviews were done. So small Tyndall could become famous after a portion of the footage is shown on the segment “Osbournes Meet the Osbournes.”

While Ozzy; his son, Jack; security personnel and producers were in Tyndall filming, Ozzy’s wife, Sharon and daughter, Kelly were in Yankton with Ozzie’s wife, Donna at Applied Engineering.

After all of the festivities, Ozzie is back to work at the elevator in Tyndall back to the same daily tasks he was doing before he shook the hand of the famous Ozzy Osbourne and family.

Courtesy of www.tyndallsdnews.com