No Joke: New Osbourne's Show Performs Real Marriage Ceremony

“Viewer Discretion is advised.”  That’s right. Tuesday night’s debut of Fox’s new reality show “Osbournes: Reloaded” was not suitable for anyone who believes marriage is sacred.

The Osbourne family’s new variety show made light of the covenant of marriage as Ozzy Osbourne walked the real-life bride down the aisle. Ironically, the preacher warned that marriage is “not something to be entered into lightly.”

Any show involving the Osbournes is sure to have its fair share of f-bombs and inappropriate humor and the March 31st unveiling of Fox’s ”Osbourne’s: Reloaded” was no exception. But it was the strange marriage ceremony held on-stage before an audience of thousands that was the true head-scratcher.

Audience member Nick was pulled up on stage and surprised to discover that his longtime girlfriend Lilly had set him up. A teary-eyed Lilly appeared on screen and told Nick, in front of the audience, “I’ve had enough. It’s over, unless you marry me tonight.” Nick would reveal his answer at the end of the show when the preacher asked Nick during a real wedding ceremony, “Do you take this woman to be your wife?”

To everyone’s delight, Nick agreed to marry Lilly and the two were wed in front of family and friends and all of America, under gobs of white tulle and gorgeous flowers. But the ceremony was comical at best. Ozzy walked Lilly down the aisle, and the couple was on camera saying their “I dos.”

“The marriage union is the closest relationship that can ever exist between two individuals,” the unnamed preacher announced. “It is not something to be entered into lightly.” Tying the knot on stage during a variety show hosted by drug-addled has-been rock stars is certainly taking it lightly.

Several Fox affiliates preemptively decided to refuse to air, expecting the trashy content associated with the Osbournes. The Parents Television Council applauded those stations for protecting young viewers.

It can be argued, “It’s just a TV show, and it’s all in fun.” True, but with divorce rates for first marriages hovering around 50 percent and tabloid celebrities running through disposable unions at a clip of one every two years or so, the institution of marriage has been tragically cheapened. This was just another example of that depressing trend.

Then again, what should we expect? It is the Osbournes.