"History can be a trip."
Ozzy & Jack's World Detour takes off at 9 p.m. today on History Channel. You're supposed to note that the series' tag line is a drug pun. This is, after all, Ozzy Osbourne and son.
Ozzy is being billed by History Channel as a "heavy metal legend." The 67-year-old, frequently addled former Black Sabbath frontman still paints his fingernails black and sports shoulder-length hair.
He also seems to be weathering the recent rocky patch in his 34-year marriage to wife Sharon. She kicked him out in May after Ozzy had an alleged affair with a Hollywood celebrity hairstylist. But now, according to Us magazine, the couple have gone through marriage counseling and are trying to work things out.
The 30-year-old Jack is best known as Kelly's brother and the chubby, rebellious teenage star of the hit MTV reality series The Osbournes (2002-05). Since then, Jack has hosted a couple of British travel and fitness series to get in shape and has the dubious honor of starring in the Fox summer variety series, Osbournes: Reloaded, which lasted all of one episode in 2009.
But that was then. This is now.
The 10 episodes of Ozzy & Jack's World Detour feature the two self-described "history nerds" hitting the road alone to visit "a bucket list of iconic and historically significant spots."
Jack notes there will be "no roadies, no tour buses and no boundaries." And, evidently, no Sharon. This is father-son time and reminds me of my own four father-son spring break trips to historic sites when our son was 14 to 17. This is a great opportunity for male bonding and the sites chosen make for some fascinating TV.
Each episode is an hour and the nifty places set for the series include, among others:
• Jamestown. Tonight's first episode begins in Virginia and a visit to the first permanent British colony in America. Jack (who does all the heavy lifting in the series) did his research and found that there were four Osbournes living in Jamestown by 1630, so the goal is to find out if they were related to the early Colonists.
Never fear. Although Jack does most of the talking, whenever the mumbling Ozzy becomes incomprehensible, the series furnishes handy subtitles.
Also, in deference to its basic cable audience, History Channel frequently bleeps the, um, colorful Ozzy to keep the show family friendly.
While on the road from Fredericksburg, Va., to Jamestown, the Osbournes visit Allan Cors' Virginia Museum of Military Vehicles in Nokesville to drive a World War II tank.
Then they go to Chancellorsville to dabble in some Civil War trivia and visit the final resting place of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson's left arm, which was amputated during the battle and buried in the Jones family cemetery at Ellwood Manor.
Just hold your nose during the visit to a Chick-fil-A. It's a badly bungled attempt at seamless product placement that just happened to feature Osbourne's "Flying High" coming on the radio.
The last stop before Jamestown was Colonial Williamsburg, where the guys toured the town, got fitted for wigs and shot real flintlock muskets at a new gun range. There was a shooting contest and eagle-eyed Ozzy actually won.
Naturally, Ozzy was most interested Williamsburg's pharmacists shop and the availability of opium.
Once at Jamestown, Ozzy seemed inordinately interested in instances of cannibalism. I'll skip the borderline tasteless jokes he made about consuming Sharon.
The first is the only episode I've seen, but it was entertaining and Jack makes for an articulate and well-informed host. Ozzy? Well, Ozzy is along for the ride.
Several of the other sites in the series include:
• Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota. The Osbournes visited the famous carved 60-foot faces of four American presidents, and while in nearby Keystone, the guys checked out the legendary Big Thunder Gold Mine.
• Stonehenge. The prehistoric monument is in Wiltshire, England.
• The Alamo. The iconic building in San Antonio was the site of the pivotal moment of the Texas Revolution.
• Roswell, N.M. Did a UFO crash 75 miles away in 1947? True or not, the town has benefited ever since.
• Sun Studios. The legendary recording studio in Memphis boasts such early artists as Ike Turner, B.B. King, Rufus Thomas, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich and Jerry Lee Lewis.
• Bletchley Park. This was the main site for Britain's code breakers during World War II.
• Johnson Space Center. The boys get spacey in Houston.
Style on 07/24/2016