2Gether's Reality Check The boy band is a spoof but the fans are genuine

They've inspired scores of fawning fan Web sites, including a self-proclaimed "groupie site." They've got kids beseeching teen magazines for more "cute pix" of group members. And they've sold nearly 100,000 copies of their self-titled debut album - in just the last three weeks.
There's only one problem: 2Gether, the boy band in question, isn't a teen act at all - but a savvy sendup of the whole screechy phenomenon.
2Gether, a - read my lips, please, satirical teenybopper act cast for an MTV movie spoof that aired in mid-February - has officially crossed the line between reality and fantasy, becoming a genuine, red-hot wonder.
"It caught us by surprise," admits Brian Graden, the MTV programming boss behind the project. "We have no master plan. The mere fact that we're having a serious conversation about this whole topic is funny."
But all the giggling hasn't stopped the network from giving the go-ahead - announced last week - to a regular weekly series featuring the guys. It begins this summer.
And why not? According to Patricia Joseph, who oversaw the 2Gether album for TVT Records: "While the audience couldn't have missed the comedy, it's clear from the faxes I'm getting that ... girls have fallen in love with the characters, just as they would with 'N Sync."
In fact, even the members of 'N Sync are intrigued with 2Gether. "I kept trying to figure out which one was supposed to be me," says the hit group's Chris Kirkpatrick with a laugh. So, is 2Gether just a blur on the art/life border? The death of irony? Or is it simply more proof that when it comes to teen bands, we're dealing with an area where reality never mattered much to begin with?
"As with any idolatry, once you've decided to worship, it's hard to get out of it," says Matthew Rettenmund, editor of Pop Star! magazine, which has been flooded with earnest e-mails about 2Gether. "In the end, it doesn't matter how the idol got there or what forces are behind it."
Especially since the forces behind these false idols took pains to create a boy band that eerily mirrors the real thing. For example, the cover artwork on 2Gether's album apes the blue color scheme and pouty poses on the Backsteet Boys' latest LP. MTV also hired some of the same producers and writers who have penned songs for actual boy bands, and tapped Nigel Dick - director of several Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys clips - to direct the movie.
"The quality is there, in both the music and the film," says Evan Farmer, the fake heartthrob of the group, who now inspires genuine shrieks on the street. "These guys know the market." So well, in fact, that Farmer says some kids listen to several songs on the album before they get the joke. "A lot of people don't listen to the words at first. Then they go, 'Wait a minute.'"
The lyrics to the catchy single "Calculus" play it pretty deadpan, centering on a metaphor corny enough for the real thing: "I know my calculus/you, plus me, equals us." The guys go for something broader in songs like "Before We Say Goodbye," in which they weepily croon, "We've been down this road before/And we always made it through/But in case we break up/Can I still have sex with you?"
The Surreal Thing: A fake band becomes a real hit. The guys sing these lines themselves, sidestepping any trip to Milli Vanilli-ville. Farmer, who has acted in soaps and has a part in the upcoming remake of "Shaft," was briefly recruited a few years back to sing in a Russian boy group called Na-Na. The group used the 28-year-old New Yorker to appeal to the nation's emerging market for English-speaking stars. But when the Russian economy turned south, the group died.
Still, Farmer's boy-band background did help him get the part with 2Gether. MTV's Graden says the network wanted real singers from the start, and elected to keep its satire light and affectionate. "This wasn't designed to offend anybody," Graden explains. "The satire didn't go as far as Spinal Tap. We tried to create five characters that were really likable."
The result upholds a long MTV tradition of psuedo-irony. "MTV has a great history of keeping an arm's length from certain trends," Graden admits. "We celebrate them, but there's a healthy distance."
Small wonder the boy groups themselves haven't taken any offense. "We liked it, because we've seen some of these things happen before," says Lance Bass of 'N Sync.
In fact, during an appearance by 'N Sync on MTV's "Total Request Live" last week, the members good-naturedly mimicked 2Gether's moves when the network played their "Calculus" clip.
So far, the video has done the most to promote 2Gether's new album. The label hadn't even made a push at radio when the full album debuted at No. 71, then leaped the next week to 35 with a bullet.
Beginning Friday, however, 2Gether faces new competition. At 9 p.m., ABC starts airing its own teen-idol show, "Making the Band," which features real singers fighting for a place in a group to be cast by Backstreet/'N Sync svengali Louis Pearlman. The difference? That show features a "Real World" scenario, forgoing formal scripts for real-life encounters between the potential band members. Graden says 2Gether's series will stick with scripted satire.
Now that 2Gether has crossed the line into reality, how far can it go? A tour isn't out of the question, although right now the guys are only being groomed for select promotional appearances, like the "MTV Movie Awards" show. According to Graden, "I don't see this as a wildly longterm proposition. It's an of-the-moment thing."
And right now, that moment couldn't seem more surreal. By JIM FARBER

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