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Turned on, they tune in

'Making the Band' fans cheer their faves

May 26, 2000
Web posted at: 2:57 p.m. EDT (1857 GMT)


In this story:

Tune in Friday night

Who is the fairest?

Chasing dreams

A window into showbiz

Even guys watch

RELATED STORIES, SITES icon



(CNN) -- Those kids from MTV's "Real World" never had to work this hard.

Daily sets of crunches, endless dance routines, vocal exercises, record contract analyses and noisy adulation from mostly teen-aged girls are all part of daily life in the real-life documentary show for the guys chosen to participate in "Making the Band."

  INTERVIEW
 

In addition to all that hard work, they have to live together and be taped 24/7 in the prime-time ABC series, which is produced by the folks who created "Real World" for MTV.

ABC Entertainment figured it couldn't miss with its combination of hot young guys set up to (figuratively) duke it out spot in a pop band guided by Lou Pearlman, the man who brought the world the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync.

The series started in March by whittling hundreds of hopeful Backstreet Boys down to only eight show participants. The final episode will weed out three more, leaving five would-be stars -- the band O-Town -- who will record an album for Pearlman's Trans Continental Records.

The show was pulled from the air for two weeks in May to make room for more established ratings winners during the sweeps, prompting fans to clog online message boards with messages complaining about "MTB" withdrawal symptoms.

Tune in Friday night

Their howls end Friday, when the show airs at 9 p.m. (EDT) in a one-hour recap of the first shows, from initial auditions to the present. The final 15 episodes will run throughout the summer, with a finale in which five winners will be announced and loosed on the world.

It's bubblegum pop stardom in the making.

Sari McGuigan, 16, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, a fan of Backstreet Boys, LFO, Mytown and the Moffatts, says she and her friends are avid fans of the show.

"Most of my friends watch it," she writes, responding to an e-mail query about the show. "Every week after I watch it, I am usually so excited about what happens that I call (a friend) go on and on about something!"

McGuigan is one of hundreds of regular participants in "Making the Band"'s online bulletin board, where she and others try to predict the show's outcome, hash out gossip and gush -- the more exclamation points, the better.

Who is the fairest?

Which of the eight makes her heart pound the hardest?

"I love Jacob! I think he has and amazing voice and is so talented. He can dance and he seems like he has a good personality -- he's really hot, too!" she answers. "And Erik's pretty cool, too. He has an awesome voice as well and I like his attitude he has at times! He's adorable too!"

Like most fans, McGuigan uses first-name references only when referring to her heartthrobs -- the youthful-looking, spiritual Jacob Underwood, and Erik-Michael Estrada (no relation to the "CHiPs" star).

While the over-17 set might be too cool to actually show up for an 'N Sync concert, they're apparently not too hip to show up in droves for the TV show, as another e-mailer admits.

Tammy Wehner, a 39-year-old businesswoman and mother of two from Jacksonville, Fla., became so hooked on the show that she tracked down the Web site for for participant Ikaika Kahoano's band and sent him an e-mail. Kahoano, a Hawaiian musician/medical student, responded, thanking Wehner for her "kind" words.

"I first tuned in to the show, because I like the shows 'The Real World' and 'Road Rules,' and 'MTB' is similar to these shows," Wehner writes. "However, I continue to watch the show because of Ikaika. ... I want to see how he handles the pressure."

Crystal Jardine, a 27-year-old bulletin board participant from Strongsville, Ohio, credits nostalgia for her initial fascination with "Making the Band," but now says she's hooked on O-Town's talent.

"I think it all began when I became a huge fan of Menudo," she writes. "Ever since then, I have tried to follow the boy bands. I think they are truly amazing with their singing, dancing, and performing abilities -- not to mention that they are easy on the eyes!"

Chasing dreams

But there's more to the show's appeal that cute guys singing, she continues. "I think it is great that others are able to go after their dreams, and to be able to watch it on TV enables viewers to share in the excitement."

"Making the Band" makes for some good bonding moments, writes Elizabeth Ruddel, a 35-year-old mother of three from Indianapolis. When the show airs, Ruddel says, she's in front of the set with her daughter, 10-year-old Katie.

"My favorite on 'MTB' is Trevor (Penick) because he is really taking this opportunity seriously and is working very hard," Ruddel responds. "I applaud him because I know how tough it is to compete in show business. I, however, would like to see more of the business aspect of the group and less about their personal lives."

Katie Ruddel -- her favorite is Ashley Angel, and yes, that is his real name -- says the bonding time with Mom is cool, but she has developed an appreciation for the devotion it takes to be in a band.

"I really like watching 'MTB' because it really shows how much trouble ... people in a band have to go through to make it," she writes. "I like watching the show with my mom because ... she is really cool and understands how it is like to be CRAZY about a boy band!!!!!!"

Not everyone all the bulletin board respondents are so gushing.

"I have thought since the very first show that Paul (Robert Paul Martin) looks like some kind of reptile ... an iguana or something like that," one participant writes. "He has that leering kind of smile that looks like a great big long tongue is going to come striking out at any minute. YIKES!!!"

A window into showbiz

Others watch and learn. Stephanie Lydia, an aspiring 19-year-old musician from Madison, Wisconsin, credits the show with providing her a peephole into the music industry.

"This show has been a window into what it's like for most recording artists, and what it will be like for me if I ever do make it that far," she writes. "You hear many artists struggles who make it to the top, and this show is a visual of that."

But how hard is it, really? These guys have room and board paid for in a high-rent house in Orlando, Florida -- hence, the band's name, "O-Town" -- and there's a guaranteed record contract at the end of the show for the five who make the cut.

"Personally I think it's just another marketing tool," Lydia writes. "It's no different than putting their faces on shirts, pencils, posters, keychains, key chains, underwear, milk cartons, cereal boxes, blankets or toilet paper that plays their new single when you turn it."

Even guys watch

One of the few male participants on the bulletin board is Edgar Phillip Zarzoso, 29, of Montreal, someone who played in a band that no longer exists.

When he was in the band, Zarzoso writes, the members "were in a similar situation to O-Town, encountering similar problems between members, egos, the necessity of putting in hard work; so watching the show is kinda like watching me a year ago."

Kelli Evers, 31, of Herndon, Virginia, thinks the men in her house may be closet fans of the show, too. When she and her mother-in-law recently watched an episode, she writes, she told the guys to take a hike.

"Big surprise -- they stuck around and complained the whole time, but never so much as got up for a drink," she writes.

"It's like eavesdropping on the kid down the street," she continues. "I never considered myself nosy, but why else would I find 'MTB' so compelling?"



RELATED STORIES:
A Backstreet Boy goes out on his own
May 2, 2000
'N Sync: The movie
April 27, 2000
'N Sync: all that glitters
March 29, 2000

RELATED SITES:
ABC TV's Official Site
   •Making the Band


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