Sep 69:00pm

60 Minutes II

Dan Rather on tour with The Dixie Chicks; Charlie Rose profiles Carlos Santana; Vicki Mabrey meets the mastermind behind The Backstreet Boys and NSync.

Sesame Street

"Frightened By Shadows" - Check local listings for time. This episode features BSB singing "One Small Voice" with Cookie Monster, Elmo and others.

Sep 11 6:00pm

Saturday Night Live

Julianne Moore / Backstreet Boys (1997-'98).

Sep 11 7:00pm

The Concert for New York City

VH1, Cablevision, Miramax Films and AOL present "The Concert For New York City", a one-night-only fundraising event to benefit the Robin Hood Relief Fund supporting victims of the Sept. 11th attack and to honor the heroic rescue workers. Five thousand members of New York Fire, Police and Rescue crews and their families will be in attendance as guests.

Arthur - It's Only Rock and Roll

The PBS animated special featuring the Backstreet Boys debuts on "Arthur's" flagship station on Aug 11, and is scheduled repeat at Noon on Sept 2, and 8PM on Sept 11. These airdates are for WGBH only; for other areas, check your local PBS station.

The Saturday Show

Nick performs his new single.

Making The video

Time Unknown - Footage and the video for the debut of Nick Carter's first single "Help Me"

Liquid News

Nick may appear. Not confirmed.

Latin Grammy Awards

Nick will be presenting.

The Saturday Show

Nick performs his new single.

TIME SQUAD

Kevin makes a guest apperance in episode 22 "Pop Squad".

Never Mind the Buzzcocks

Nick may appear. Not confirmed.

Ronald McDonald House Charities Annual "Awards of Excellence"

International megastar Celine Dion will lead an all-star lineup for Ronald McDonald House Charities® Annual "Awards of Excellence" gala, on Saturday, September 14, at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago. Other performers include Latin singing sensation Enrique Iglesias, producer/musician David Foster, pop idol Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, up-and-coming musician Josh Groban, and R&B/gospel singer Nita Whitaker.

Sesame Street:

"Frightened By Shadows" - Check local listings for time. This episode features BSB singing "One Small Voice" with Cookie Monster, Elmo and others.

A Baby Backstreet
Tue Sep 3, 7:15 PM ET

Singer Brian Littrell's wife, actress Leighanne Wallace, has the couple's baby on board.

"We're expecting a baby boy at the end of this year and we're very excited," the twosome said, appropriately enough, in a pre-Labor Day statement.

The news comes almost exactly two years after Littrell, 27, and Wallace, 33, wed. (They celebrated their second anniversary on September 2.)

"The only thing we have to deal with now is our puppies being jealous," the couple added. "We'd like to thank the fans for all of their support and love."

Pending puppy problems notwithstanding, Littrell will become the first Backstreeter with his very own brood.

His bandmate (and cousin) Kevin Richardson is the only other married Backstreeter, tying the knot with dancer Kristin Willits just three months before Littrell.

A third member, A.J. McLean, will tip the Backstreet balance from bachelor- to hitched-heavy in January, when he's scheduled to walk the aisle with his steady, singer Sarah Jo Martin. The two became engaged last December.

Nick Carter and Howie Dorough are the remaining unbetrothed Boys.

As for Littrell and Wallace, the parents-to-be met while shooting the band's 1997 video "As Long As You Love Me," in which she was an extra.

She has also appeared in such TV series as Silk Stalkings and One Life to Live. They became engaged in 1999 and reside in suburban Atlanta.

Until recently, the band had been lying low (and, for Littrell at least, making babies) since winding down their tumultuous 2001 concert tour, which was sidetracked while McLean completed rehab.

The Backstreeters are currently in the studio laying down tracks for the follow-up to 2000's Black & Blue. Meanwhile, for those who can't get enough BSB, Carter's solo debut, Now or Never, is slated for release on October 22.

By Erik Hedegaard

AJ McLean, who is one-fifth of the Backstreet Boys teen-pop supergroup and
the one with both the most tattoos and the most rakishly cut sideburns, is
sitting inside his hotel room recalling a warning recently passed on to him
by management. "What management said is, 'Watch out for this certain girl who
is obsessed with you and will not be happy unless she pulls a Romeo and
Juliet and kills you, then kills herself,' and I'm like, 'Jesus, now I gotta
go onstage after you tell me that? Just great.' " He pauses, shuffles his
hands through the pile of fast-food containers in front of him, finds his
pack of cigarettes and lights one up. Exhaling, he says, "I mean, I'm singing
pop music. I don't want to worry about some psycho girl. What do you do? Or,
what can you do? You can't do shit. You're stuck. So you live in a bubble.''

Today, the bubble has expanded to take over much of the thirty-seventh floor
of Le Parker Meridien hotel, in Manhattan, not far from the sun-flooded
greens of Central Park. Inside it are the five boys - besides AJ, there's
Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and Nick Carter - plus their
five bodyguards, three stylists, a hair groomer, a PR lady, a manager-type
lady, a girlfriend (AJ's, named Amanda) and a few others. They've been in New
York for a week so far. They don't go anywhere without their bodyguards. If
they do, strange, disquieting things happen. Once, at a mall back in Orlando,
where the group got its start, AJ allowed a beautiful female fan to cozy up
next to him for a photograph. Suddenly, she started quaking, like she was
having a grand mal seizure. When she calmed down, AJ said, "If you don't mind
my asking, what the hell happened to you?'' The girl said, "I just had an
orgasm.'' AJ said, "Well, OK, now . . .'' And then he got the heck out of
there.

So, they spend most of their time looking at the world from the
thirty-seventh floor, living out of suitcases, surrounded by half-eaten
McDonald's cheeseburgers and Big Bertha golf clubs that don't get swung often
enough. At the moment, they are awaiting the release of Black and Blue, their
third record. In the balance hangs the future of boy bands everywhere. Should
it flop, word will spread that such groups are on the way out. Should it
sell, then long live not only the boys but all the other teen acts currently
trying to make it, as well as already successful acts like 98 Degrees and 'N
Sync.

Of course, in some ways, the Backstreet Boys wouldn't mind if 'N Sync dropped
out of sight. The boys were the first of the new crop of boy bands, their
first two U.S. releases, Backstreet Boys and Millennium, huge multiplatinum
hits, altogether selling some 60 million copies. Then, earlier this year,
along came 'N Sync's No Strings Attached album, which sold 2.41 million
copies its first week out, breaking the record held until then by the boys.
Now the boys have a chance to win back the honor. And it looks like they
might: Record stores have pre-ordered 5 million copies of Black and Blue, and
industry observers are making deeply positive predictions. Says Tom
Calderone, an MTV senior vice president, "The anticipation is there.'' Says
Louise Barile, editor of teen fan-mag Tiger Beat, "We used to think boy bands
had a two-year life cycle, but I think the Backstreet Boys are going to keep
on going.''

And yet they worry. They worry that the album will fizzle, that their fan
base has dried up or been swiped by their competitors, that when they go to
MTV to drop off the video for the new album's first single, "Shape of My
Heart," only a few fans will show up to witness the well-publicized event.
"We've been out of the mix for so long,'' says Nick Carter, tremulously,
"maybe it'll only be fifteen people.'' Frankly, that's one of the things
about the Backstreet Boys: They can be pretty big worriers, about their legs
being too skinny, about their stomachs getting too big, about being singled
out by Kevin as the group's most enthusiastic masturbator. But that's the way
it is inside the Backstreet Boys' bubble.

For the most part, of course, it's been a beautiful if not altogether easy
glissando of a ride to the top. The boys were living in Orlando in the early
1990s, all sons of the middle class (or lower), eager to make it as
entertainers in one of the nearby theme parks or in any other similar
theatrical enterprise. They meet middle-aged aviation tycoon and major-league
dreamer Louis Pearlman, who thinks that with his backing the lads can become
the new New Kids on the Block. Starting in 1993, he drops about $3 million on
their careers. In return, they give him their lives. They play shopping
malls, SeaWorld and high schools nationwide. They get a contract with Jive
Records. They can't make any headway in grunge-loving America, so they go to
Europe. The youngest back then is Nick, 13; the oldest is Kevin, 20. They
conquer some of Europe. They conquer more of Europe. They conquer Europe
again. They are moneymaking gods in Europe. Eventually, in mid-1997, they
release Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) in the U.S. It's a smash. They
take heat for probably being little more than talentless, soulless
lip-syncers.

They also wake up one day and realize that, for all their efforts and all
their touring, they each have less than $100,000 in the bank. Plus, behind
their backs, Pearlman has formed another all-boy band, 'N Sync. Feeling
betrayed, Brian - a regular churchgoer who knows a thing or two about right
and wrong - calls in lawyers. Suits are filed, against Pearlman and two other
managers Pearlman has hired. The Millennium album is being recorded. The boys
are about to go on tour. The suit, rancor-filled and corrosive, threatens to
screw this all up by bogging down the boys in a legal ruckus. So they decide
to settle. The settlement gives Pearlman one-sixth of everything the boys
make. The boys think this is grotesquely unfair. "It's ridiculous,'' says
Brian. "He's doing no work.'' But the show must go on. And anyway, the money
galls them less than the presence of 'N Sync as chart-busting rivals. "It's
not 'N Sync itself but where 'N Sync comes from that digs me, digs me, digs
me - and gets me, still and to this day,'' says Kevin one afternoon,
morosely. "Mr. Pearlman was always speaking loyalty and preaching loyalty,
saying, 'I love you guys; you're like my sons.' And I'd lost my father to
cancer. So I looked at Lou like a father figure. But I was naive, and he's a
liar. We'll always remember him for helping us get started. But we'll also
remember him for screwing us blind and building another group behind our
backs.''

That's one reason why the title of the new album is Black and Blue, for the
way Pearlman bruised and hurt them. That's also why, in the official
Backstreet Boys press-kit bio, there is no mention of Pearlman. It's as if he
never did anything for the group. He has been expunged. "We're on to bigger
and better things,'' says Brian. "And we're better men for it.''

Inside the bubble, up on the thirty-seventh floor, in a room cluttered with
the anonymous but functional belongings of the seasoned, rootless traveler,
and with the shades drawn on both the light and the darkness of the outside
world, AJ McLean, 22, is saying, "Nick and Kevin probably have the quickest
tempers, but I probably have the worst temper. I just go off. Like when I
broke up with my ex-girlfriend, and our song came on the radio, I just
grabbed a baseball bat and beat the crap out of the damn machine. When I get
stressed out, I get really violent toward myself and just say, 'Screw the
group! To hell with everything!' There have been times when I wake up like
that and think I don't want to do this anymore. But then I sit back and think
further, and then I'm like, I do want it. I live for it. These guys are my
best friends. They been there for me, and I've been there for them.''

He lights a cigarette and shrugs. "Anyway,'' he goes on, "I've been in this
business for twenty years. I don't know anything else. I don't want to know
anything else. I live, eat, sleep, breathe, shit - whatever - this business.
This is my life.''

World Entertainment News Network

Troubled BACKSTREET BOY AJ McLEAN joined
his bandmates onstage in Milwaukee on
Saturday night (25AUG01) for a tearful reunion.

More than 14,000 fans screamed and cheered when the singer took to the stage at
the BRADLEY CENTRE - his first show since he checked himself into a rehabilitation
centre where he was treated for alcoholism, depression and anxiety last month
(JUL01) - prompting the group to postpone a number of tour dates.

McLean, obviously moved by the support of fans, wasn't allowed to dwell on his
feelings for long - his bandmates welcomed him back dousing the him with sticky
silly string.

The group also took time out mid-way through the concert to thank their fans for
waiting for the group's BLACK & BLUE tour to resume as McLean sought help.
Speaking on behalf of the group, BRIAN LITTRELL told fans, "As you guys know, we took
a little break. If it wasn't for you guys, we wouldn't be here tonight. But
the Backstreet Boys aren't the Backstreet Boys without all five of us."

Wearing a white suit and hat, McLean then stepped forward admitting that he was
trying not to cry as he addressed his fans.

He said, "I wish I could go out and hug each and every one of you. Thank you for
letting me go through what I needed to go through to get myself better. I'm
celebrating 51 days sober today." The group now have 38 dates to complete the Black
& Blue tour, which came to a halt on 5 July when McLean accepted he needed help to
deal with his drinking problems.

*** Backstreet Boy donates to sheriff's dept.

CANTON, Ga. (AP) - Brian Littrell of the Backstreet Boys was so
grateful that Cherokee County deputies recovered his two Chihuahuas
that he donated $10,000 to the Sheriff's Department to buy new
bulletproof vests. "Out of the blue, we received a check from Brian
Littrell, who lives in Cherokee County," said Sheriff Roger
Garrison, who showed off the new vests Wednesday. "The $10,000
enabled us to buy 30 vests." The new vests will allow Garrison to
replace outdated ones. Littrell's missing pets, Tyke and Litty, were
taken from his home last July. Deputy Donald Evans, who recovered
one of the dogs, was excited about getting the new vests. "It was
great that he was able to do that for us," Evans said. "We would
have helped anyone in that situation."

(Launch) - Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean launched his JNN Foundation
last Thursday at the Hard Rock Live in his hometown of Orlando, Fla.
The organization, named for his alter ego Johnny No-Name, will focus
on efforts to raise awareness, as well as funds, for the VH1 Save
The Music Foundation and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
McLean kicked off the Foundation's initial funding by making a $1
million personal donation to the foundation.

*** Backstreet Boys make school principal lonely
5/25/01

(Launch) - The Backstreet Boys performed two songs Tuesday in Key
West, Fla., at a taping of MTV's "TRL Retirement Home," much to the
delight of thousands of adoring fans. "TRL" host Carson Daly
introduced the Backstreet Boys at just after 2 p.m. ET, whereupon
the group took to the stage to perform its latest single, "More Than
That." The students of Key West High School were faced with a
difficult decision on Tuesday: Go to class, or go check out the
Backstreet Boys performing live on Duval Street. You can probably
guess where most of the students ended up. Key West High School
principal Jim Hollins told the local Daily Citizen newspaper that
there were approximately 850 students absent from his school by
mid-afternoon. "It's like a ghost town around here," he said.
"Somebody didn't use good judgment on this - if they had waited two
weeks, there wouldn't have been a problem." The Backstreet Boys
visit to the "TRL Retirement Home" will air on at 12 p.m. ET this
Saturday on MTV.

(WorldPop) - A representative for the Backstreet Boys has put to rest
the rumors suggesting the band will split up after their current
world tour. Reports from GMTV and Sunday's News of the World
newspaper claimed the group would call it quits after releasing a
greatest hits album next year. The band's rep said he had heard no
such news from the U.S. Backstreet camp and that he would not be
"panicking about these stories." For more, visit
http://www.worldpop.com/news/news_story.cfm?newsid=5258

--The Backstreet Boys will soon be on an all-music edition of "Who
Wants to Be a Millionaire" Nick Carter and Howie Dorough will be in
the hot seat, while the rest of the Boys might just show up as a
lifeline! All winnings will be donated to the Boys charities, including
the Dorough Lupus Foundation.

--The nominees for the 2001 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards have
been announced. The Backstreet Boys have been nominated for favorite
group!!

Fans can click on the following link, and then select the music
category....let the voting begin!
www.blockbusterawards.com