The members of 'N Sync -- the hottest musical group in America today -- aren't big fans of one of their competitors.
No, not the Backstreet Boys. The group that has raised 'N Sync's ire at least a bit is O-Town, the aspiring boy band at the center of ABC's series "Making the Band."About the nicest thing that 'N Sync's Chris Kirkpatrick has to say about "Making the Band" is that it's "kind of cheesy."
And there's a good deal of resentment behind Kirkpatrick's antipathy toward the show. "Band" follows the lives of a group of guys groomed to be the next 'N Sync or Backstreet Boys -- a new group put together by the real bands' former manager, Lou Pearlman of Trans Continental Records.
"That kind of hurts our image since it was made by one of the guys that put money behind us in the beginning," said Kirkpatrick, who continues to dispute Pearlman's account of their relationship -- that he was a major force behind the development of 'N Sync.
"They flip it around and make it look like he's out there, he's the one that's putting the group together, he's the one that's sitting in choreography rehearsals giving his input," Kirkpatrick said in a recent telephone interview. "He's the one in vocal rehearsals, when in actuality we didn't talk to him for months at a time."
'N Sync and Pearlman have gone through an ugly split that featured lawsuits and countersuits, ending in an undisclosed settlement. (Reportedly, Pearlman will receive one-sixth of 'N Sync's earnings over the next few years.)
But Kirkpatrick wants to make it perfectly clear that while Pearlman gave his group financial backing, he is hardly the Svengali he makes himself out to be. Which is why Kirkpatrick doesn't like "Making the Band" (tonight at 8:30 on Ch. 4) at all.
"It kind of clumps us into this thing of making us look like we're like that group," he said. "And it really kind of takes away some of our credibility."
Not that all the members of 'N Sync are terribly worried about O-Town and the TV show. "I'll be totally honest with you. I haven't seen the show," said JC Chassez.
And not that 'N Sync doesn't have a sense of humor. Kirkpatrick said he thought "2-Gether," MTV's recent boy-band TV movie parody, "was a great show."
"It's out to be funny, and it is. It's a riot," he said. "We make fun of ourselves more than anybody. Like I said, there's a difference between making fun of something and trying to make it legitimate when it's not."
By the way, MTV has ordered six half-hour episodes of "2-Gether" to follow up on the success of the TV movie. (Sandy native Noah Bastian will return as one of the cast members.) Over at ABC, the ratings for "Making the Band" haven't been anything to get excited about, and the show's future is very much in doubt.
HMMM . . . MORE "SPORTS NIGHT"? Just when it looked like ABC had pretty much completely given up on its high-quality, low-rated series "Sports Night," the network has scheduled it during the current sweeps.
A pair of new episodes will air back in its regular Tuesday-at-8:30 p.m. timeslot on May 9 and May 16.
How all of this fits into reports and conjecture that ABC had washed its hands of the show is unclear. Is this just because the ratings for "Talk to Me" -- the tryout comedy that took "Sports Night's" time slot -- have been abysmal? Or is ABC rethinking the future of the show?
CHILD ABUSE? Jonathan Lipnicki, the 9-year-old star of the movie "Stuart Little" (who also starred in the short-lived sitcoms "The Jeff Foxworthy Show" and "Meego"), recently did a guest stint on the WB's "Dawson's Creek."
Which isn't necessarily a big deal. But the youngster's reaction is somewhat surprising.
"I screamed when I found out I got the part. I love the show so much," the WB quoted Lipnicki as saying.
But he's 9 years old! No 9-year-old should be watching "Dawson's Creek," which even the WB advises is for teenage and older viewers.
Does this kid have parents?