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CNN Live Today
Interview With Mike Schneider
Aired May 06, 2002 - 14:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: If you missed the big White House Correspondents' dinner Saturday night in Washington, and chances are you did, you may be surprised at who didn't. And we don't mean President Bush, though he did do the introductions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What a fantastic audience we have tonight: Washington power brokers, celebrities, Hollywood stars, Ozzy Osbourne.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
BUSH: The thing about Ozzy is he's made a lot of big hit recordings. "Party With the Animals," "Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath," "Face in Hell," "Black Skies" and "Bloodbath in Paradise."
Ozzy, mom loves your stuff!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: And Ozzy's appearance also proved irresistible to the evening's emcee, Drew Carey.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DREW CAREY, MASTER OF CEREMONIES: Now, Ozzy Osbourne and the president have a lot in common. Yes, first of all, they both love their families. They're both family men. They both partied a little too hard when they were younger.
(LAUGHTER)
CAREY: Half the time, you can't understand a word either one of them are saying.
(LAUGHTER)
CAREY: And neither one of them can make a move without their wife's approval.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: And it appears that Ozzy's wife, Sharon, has given her approval to two more years on MTV. The trade paper "Variety" broke the news late last week. "Variety's" Mike Schneider joining us now from L.A. with the eye-popping figures on this. $2 million? Is that right?
MIKE SCHNEIDER, "VARIETY": Twenty million.
CALLAWAY: Twenty million?
SCHNEIDER: Over two years.
CALLAWAY: Over two -- oh, my...
SCHNEIDER: If this goes as planned. It's a phenomenon. It's something that we've never really seen before in cable TV. This show has just surprised almost everyone in the business. And it's gone on to become by far MTV's biggest hit of all time.
CALLAWAY: Wow. But, Mike, even 2 million would have been a lot. I thought it was something like a couple hundred thousand they received for the first...
SCHNEIDER: For the first season they received about $200,000, so this is quite a pay bump. But it's well worth it. MTV is getting the kind of mileage out of this show that you just don't see everyday, just from a marketing perspective, from a buzz perspective, from every perspective.
CALLAWAY: Ozzy is getting a lot out of it too. I know he recently got a star on the walk of fame. He's getting a lot of publicity, and appears to be loving it.
SCHNEIDER: Yes, it's opened him up to an entire new audience. You've got parents watching the show along with their kids. Parents remember Ozzy from his days as the leader of Black Sabbath. And the kids now sort of tune in because he's MTV's hottest star.
CALLAWAY: He really has started to seep into the pop culture. Now, when you start hearing Ozzy-isms among the MTV crowd. I know the local paper here quoted a young man attending a music festival here in Atlanta. When he found himself short of enough money to buy something, he turned around and went, "Sharon!"
SCHNEIDER: It's quite amazing.
CALLAWAY: Yes, just like you hear Ozzy doing all the time. All right, you know, when we have a success on a program like this, you know you're going to get copycats. There has to be a lot of people out there making proposals for other MTV type shows like this.
SCHNEIDER: Absolutely. I think every network exec in town is trying to figure out who's the next Ozzy Osbourne. Of course, it's going to be tough to find the next Ozzy Osbourne. There are a couple of things about him and the show that's really set it apart.
MTV, of course, is also looking at a few people. But so far, you know, there's only one Ozzy. So it will be interesting to find out who else might join the fray.
CALLAWAY: What are you hearing about who they're looking at? I'm just curious. Any names?
SCHNEIDER: Well, right now, you know, a lot has been said about MTV looking at P. Diddy as a possibility. It looks like his kind of show is a little different though. It's not really looking so much into his personal life, but more into him on the search for, on the hunt for a new successful star.
They've also discussed Brandy, who -- the pop star Brandy, who is pregnant, possibly following her as she gives birth and goes through the trials and tribulations of parenthood.
But otherwise, you can let your imagination run wild, the kind of washed up rock stars who are out there pitching themselves as we speak.
CALLAWAY: Washed up. I don't think Ozzy would say that.
SCHNEIDER: No, he wouldn't.
CALLAWAY: How was his career before this?
SCHNEIDER: Well, obviously he had been already been experiencing a renaissance through the Ozzfest, which is one of the most successful tours out there right now. So to call him washed up probably isn't quite fair. But this definitely has brought him an entirely new audience, which is pretty amazing.
CALLAWAY: After all, we've seen his house. We know where he lives. He's not doing bad at all, right?
SCHNEIDER: Exactly. And obviously we've seen that house, so that $20 million is probably necessary to keep that lavish lifestyle going.
CALLAWAY: Twenty million. You think they're going to make any changes -- any changes from what they did this season?
SCHNEIDER: They've discussed some changes. We've heard about the possibility of them going to England for a while to get away from sort of the madness that's enveloped around their house. But for the most part, I think the show is what it is. It's pretty simple. It's pretty bare bones and it's pretty successful, so why mess with it?
CALLAWAY: All right. Mike Schneider -- I can't help when I see clips from that show. It is funny. Mike Schneider with "Variety." Thanks, Mike.
SCHNEIDER: Thanks a lot.
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