'A Very Boy Band Holiday' special: What to know and how to watch
"A Very Boy Band Holiday," featuring members of *NSYNC, O-Town, New Kids on the Block, New Edition, Boyz II Men and 98 Degrees, premieres at 8 p.m. ET Monday on ABC.
But as you can imagine, it wasn't easy to wrangle all those guys into participating.
"There was a lot of favors. I ain't going to lie!" *NSYNC's Joey Fatone, who helped put the special together after O-Town's Erik Michael Estrada came up with the concept, told ABC Audio.
"There was a lot of, 'Hey man, would you like to do this?'" he said. "Some people, they were 100%. Some people took convincing -- but I'm sure ... when they see this -- and maybe hopefully do it next year again -- we'll have more people and do different combinations, which should be fun."
The "different combinations" are what the show's all about, as various group members come together to perform holiday classics and their own Christmas songs. For instance, Fatone, Estrada and 98 Degrees are teaming up to sing *NSYNC's "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays."
During an appearance on "Good Morning America" on Monday, 98 Degrees' Drew Lachey spoke about why he believes so many fans are excited for the special.
"I think even for us, looking back on the songs that influenced your teen years and your childhood, there's a nostalgia there," he said. "But I think especially during these complex times and where things are kind of tense with everything and there's no clear direction to anything, there's a lot of animosity, I think people want to go to a simpler time in their life -- a time when, you know, the biggest complexity in their life was which video was going to be number one on 'TRL' that day."
"It's a simplicity and innocence that people want to be able to go back to a little bit," he added.
"A Very Boy Band Holiday" is just the latest example of the boy-bands working together this past year, with Lance Bass, Fatone and Kirkpatrick collaborating with Backstreet Boys' AJ McLean and Nick Carter, Boyz II Men’s Wanya [wahn-YAY] Morris and 98 Degrees' Jeff Timmons.
So, will we see more of this in 2022?
"I hope so," Fatone told ABC Audio. "I mean, it's fun, it's different. You know, Boyz II Men, Backstreet, O-Town, 98 Degrees, they've worked with their guys...[for] well over 20 years, some of us 30 years. So to work with a different group of people, and sing your songs ... and also sing other songs that you're familiar with, that are not your songs --- why not?"
