As much as they seem like a recent phenomenon, boy bands have been around since even before the dawn of pop music, thanks to barbershop quartets. Indeed, The Beatles could be considered by some to have been a boy band (after all, Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison were all still high-school-aged when they began performing together), though they don't fit the modern definition of one, namely a group of male singers who generally dance during their performances but don't play instruments. The modern day incarnation of boy bands can be traced through the family bands of the 70s (The Jackson 5 and their white alternative, the Osmonds), to bands of childhood friends of the 80s (New Edition and their white alternative, New Kids on the Block), to the manufactured groups of the 90s (Backstreet Boys and their equally white alternative, 'N Sync). After the heyday of "I Want It That Way" and "Bye Bye Bye", the genre faded from popularity, at least in the US, though it remained popular overseas. Indeed, the two most successful boy bands of the last decade, One Direction and BTS, hail from Great Britain and South Korea, respectively.
ABC's A Very Boy Band Holiday is not aimed at the 12-year-olds currently swooning over BTS, or the 20-year-olds who used to swoon over One Direction. Instead, it's aimed at the 30-through-50somethings who came of age during the 80s and 90s. And while there were plenty of boy band alumni on stage, fans were probably disappointed that the hinted-at reunions didn't exactly happen.
To be fair, it was probably too much to hope that Justin Timberlake would show up, but 'N Sync fans would have to be disappointed that only Joey Fatone (who acted as a de facto host) and Chris Kirkpatrick showed up (Lance Bass did appear, but only as a 5-second, 3-word cameo via Facetime at the very end of the special). Bobby Brown, arguably the second-most successful boy band alumni of that era, did show up for a couple of segments, but the only other New Edition member to show was Michael Bivins. No members of Backstreet Boys appeared, and only one New Kid, Joey McIntyre, came, though it seems obvious that he agreed to do the special only if his teenage son could get a solo number himself (to be fair, the kid wasn't bad at all). Rounding out the lineup were Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men, even though that group wasn't really considered a boy band during their heyday (a running joke throughout the special), Erik-Michael Estrada of O-Town, and Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons and Justin Jeffre of 98 Degrees (that group's most famous member, Nick Lachey, also appeared, but like Bass, just via a brief Facetime cameo).
The singing was actually pretty solid in the special. The various singers mostly stuck to various group's own Christmas songs (98 Degrees's "This Gift", 'N Sync's "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays", New Kids's "This One's For the Children", Boyz II Men's "Let It Snow"), or songs popularized by other boy bands (The Jackson 5's "Give Love on Christmas Day). What I also liked was that it took the format of variety specials of old, which tried to claim that the special was coming from the home of the host (in this case, Joey Fatone's), and the various guests acted like they had no idea there was a special going on (adding to the humor was that the director made no attempt to hide the fact that Fatone's "house" was merely a set in a studio). I could have done with less in-between song banter, but that's something that is true of nearly all variety special hosted by musicians.
All in all, I was pretty pleasantly surprised by A Very Boy Band Holiday. It's not an all-timer or anything, but it was a smooth and entertaining hour, and not nearly as cheesy as it could have been. Hopefully, if they do it again in a future year, they can actually get some more participation from the no-shows. No, I'm not expecting Timberlake, but surely A.J. McLean isn't too busy.
Next time: The History Channel of Christmas
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