‘The Osbournes’ to return in November

Having scored lucrative book and DVD deals, and dealt with the illness of family matriarch Sharon, MTV’s “The Osbournes” will return for a new season of episodes Nov. 26, the cable network announced Tuesday.

At its height last season, which ended in May, “The Osbournes” averaged more than 7 million viewers, becoming the highest-rated series in MTV’s history. The first of 10 new episodes will debut at 10:30 p.m. Nov. 26.

Filmed as a kind of unscripted home-movie-meets-family-sitcom, and set in the misfit family’s Beverly Hills home, “The Osbournes” quickly touched off a media frenzy and sent rival cable and broadcast networks into meetings with other B- and C-list stars who might make entertaining guinea pigs on staged reality series.

The Osbournes include Father Ozzy, the muttering heavy metal king; Sharon, the tough-minded wife and mother; teenage son Jack and teenage daughter Kelly, neither of whom exactly recall Bud and Princess on “Father Knows Best.”

In addition to being entertaining TV characters, Sharon and Ozzie proved to be shrewd, if eccentric, negotiators when it came time to renew the series and discuss ancillary revenue streams like home video and DVD. Last spring, MTV ordered another 20 episodes of “The Osbournes,” and after other deals closed, the family had parlayed their popularity into a cottage industry worth millions of dollars.

Still, it was a difficult summer for the family. Sharon Osbourne underwent surgery for colon cancer and later chemotherapy treatments. It is unclear how much of the new season will deal with her health problems.

“This season the show takes on a whole new meaning as we share the highs and the lows of the last six months with our viewers,” Sharon Osbourne said in an MTV press release.

Whether “The Osbournes” can duplicate its popularity remains to be seen, though MTV still has the Osbournes signed for another 10 episodes after the upcoming run.

In the meantime, copycat shows have sprung up, including “The Anna Nicole Show” on E! Entertainment Television; an at-home show featuring Liza Minnelli and husband David Gest; and a new show, “The Surreal Life,” six episodes of which the WB recently ordered. That show features seven celebrities of various vintage (MC Hammer, Emmanuel Lewis) sharing a house.