Justin Timberlake, Nick Carter, Nick Lachey, AJ McLean — in the late 1990s and early 2000s, these famous fellas were as much pop powerhouses as the likes of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. The era's boy bands like NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, O-Town, LFO, BBMak and more sparked a billion-dollar, globe-spanning cultural phenomenon whose effects are still felt today, what with recent descendants like the Harry Styles-led One Direction and the K-pop behemoth BTS. And tonight, a new documentary is delving into the whole boy band commotion, with direct insights from the groups' members themselves about the highs and lows of being in a world-famous boy band.
Premiering Saturday, February 8, from 8pm to 10pm Eastern Time on The CW, The 90s Boy Band Boom is a captivating oral history of one of pop music’s most iconic eras, exploring the rise of boy bands in the 1990s and early aughts with all of the instant and immense fame, strenuous tour schedules, oddly parasocial fan relationships and sky-high pressure that comes along with being in such popular, generation-defining music groups.
Directed by Amanda Burt (Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story, This Is Pop) and co-written by Burt, Stefanie McCarrol and Natalie Schenk, the nostalgia-inducing doc features not only never-before-seen archival footage from the era but also exclusive interviews with some of the performers and personalities who lived through it: NSYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick, Backstreet Boys’ Brian Littrell and AJ McLean, 98 Degrees alums Nick and Drew Lachey, former MTV VJ Dave Holmes, music video director Wayne Isham, pop singer Tiffany and choreographer Darrin Dewitt Henson (who created NSYNC's iconic "Bye Bye Bye" dance), among them.
To tune into the premiere of the new The 90s Boy Band Boom documentary tonight at 8pm, you're going to need access to The CW. The network is readily available for anyone with a traditional pay-TV subscription or TV antenna that receives local station signals, but if you've cut the cord, you can also access The CW's programming via live TV streaming subscribers such as Fubo, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV.
