The NY Daily News reports that, despite the heavy dose of continuing publicity that the Osbourne family has continued to draw to itself, ratings for the family's reality TV show on MTV have declined dramatically this year. Ratings for the most recent episode were the lowest of the season, attracting only about half the audience of the show's second-season premiere ... and they were even further below the audience numbers at the end of the show's first season in April. "The Osbournes" even finished behind MTV's long-running "The Real World" reality series.

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At the same time, the Osbournes' hosting role on the American Music Awards produced a ratings disaster, as the viewing audience for the AMA bash dropped by about 20% from the prior year., according to People Magazine, which said that this was the lowest rating ever for the AMA celebration. In the words of a Syracuse professor quoted in the article, "Once you take away the initial shock of the craziness of what you're seeing, there's not a lot left."

Even the "initial shock" proved too much for Patricia Heaton, co-star of "Everybody Loves Raymond," when she encountered the Osbournes at the American Music Awards. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer (where Heaton's brother is a columnist), Heaton, who was supposed to be a presenter on the show, stormed out of the auditorium after becoming offended by the "stupid and vulgar" humor of the show. She called the show "an affront to anyone with a shred of dignity, self-respect and intelligence."

Yep, sounds like the Osbournes to us.

If the level of posting on the TheOsbournesSucks.com message boards is any indication, the Osbournes are well on their way to being the latest addition to the Hollywood trash heap.