Boy Band Recruits Nick Carter and Baby Spice, Instantly Becomes a Must Watch Show

If you had plans for any Thursday night this summer after June 22, cancel them. Cancel them right. now.

Nick Carter's backstreet is back on TV alongside Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton. Together, they're going to spice up ABC's Boy Band, which is hosted by current pop singer (and Fifty Shades of Grey actress) Rita Ora. Give your '90s-loving heart a minute to let that sink in. I have reached peak, "I can't!!" levels here.

A Backstreet Boy and Baby Spice will be personally crafting boy bands on your television all summer long. This is not a trick, or a drill or a dream. This is real life, friends.

Here's how it works: At the start of the season, thousands of talented singers audition for one of 18 spots in three bands that will need to impress the architects in hopes of evading elimination. Each episode will feature a different theme, and the architects will shuffle contestants to find the best combination of voices to perform, live, for America.

Architects will critique each band's performance and collectively determine two contestants who are up for elimination. After performing solo "survival" songs, viewers at home will vote for their favorite to remain in the competition. In the finale, America's favorite five band members will be announced, and they will perform their brand-new single together for the first time.

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This is not ABC's first foray into the boy band making game. In the late spring of 2000, ABC launched the first season of Making the Band which tracked the genesis of O-Town -- the Lou Pearlman founded boy band that defined "dirty pop" with hits like "Liquid Dreams," "Every Six Seconds" and "We Fit Together." While no Backstreet Boys, O-Town sold over three million albums with their debut record and notched two Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 singles before disbanding in 2003.

Will the winner of Boy Band go on to such commercial success? If we are being bluntly honest, probably not (when was the last time the winner of The Voiceor American Idol did something you remember?), but you can bet a Tiger Beat Nick Carter centerfold that this show will be worth watching.

Boy Band -- a.k.a. the greatest singing competition you will ever see -- premieres Thursday, June 22 at 8/9c on ABC.