Get Ready: Nickelodeon Gak is Back! Nickelodeon Floam Comes Home! NSI International & Nickelodeon Unveil Reformulated Floam & Gak To A New Generation

Below is a Nickelodeon Press Release from PR Newswire:

Get Ready Kids: Gak™ is Back! Floam® Comes Home!

NSI International and Nickelodeon Introduce Reformulated Floam and Gak to a New Generation of Kids

Innovative Reusable Compounds Encourage Endless Playtime Entertainment, Right at Your Fingertips!

NEW YORK, March 26, 2012 /Nickelodeon Press Release via PRNewswire/ -- NSI International and Nickelodeon today announced the launch of all-new Floam and Gak products. For kids growing up in the 1990's, Nickelodeon's Floam and Gak were two of the most popular playtime staples, beloved for their uncanny ability to entertain kids for hours on end. Available in stores now, Nickelodeon's Floam and Gak are back...and they're better than ever!

Completely reformulated to make playtime and cleanup a cinch for a new generation of families, Nickelodeon Floam and Gak are two unique reusable compounds,each designed to encourage creative expression and open-ended play. Perfect for both girls and boys ages 6+, new Nickelodeon Floam is a texturized molding compound; new Nickelodeon Gak is stretchy and squishy collectible goo.

"Nickelodeon's Floam and Gak were a phenomenon with kids in the 1990's and we are thrilled to reintroduce these toys to a whole new generation of kids," said Manuel Torres, Senior Vice President, Global Toys and Consumer Electronics, Nickelodeon. "Kids of all ages enjoy tactile, creative play and Floam and Gak provide imaginative and unique play experiences."

Today's Floam and Gak formulas have been completely revamped with new ingredients and new manufacturing technologies to make playtime more enjoyable and less messy than ever before. The results: hours of stress-free playtime that lets kids' imaginations run wild.

"Our new formulas have been redesigned to better meet the needs of both parents and kids, so the Floam and Gak experience can be enjoyed by the entire family," said Frank Landi, President, NSI International.

Both Floam and Gak are available in an assortment of eye-catching colors, are non-toxic and non-staining. Just one squeeze of these playtime compounds and kids will definitely be hooked!

Floam

Kids can mold, fold and roll new Floam into any creation! The possibilities are endless – Floam can be used to create free-form sculptures or molded onto common household items such as flowerpots or picture frames to transform them into colorful Floam masterpieces.

Available in Rockin' Red, Blazin' Blue, Electric Yellow, Glimmer Green, Posh Pink and Purple Power, Nickelodeon Floam can be squeezed, squashed and molded for hours of sculpting play. The innovative formula will keep kids engaged and allow them to create sculptures and finished projects they can be proud of.

When playtime is over, Floam can be squished back into its airtight container for reuse or kids can let their creations harden overnight so they can be kept forever as a work of art.

To play with Floam for the first time, simply remove the compound from its package and knead, stretch and fold it until it's soft, flexible and mixed well (for a few minutes). Floam will not stain; however, prepping a brand new package of Floam on a clean, dry surface and away from carpeting, fabrics and hair is recommended.

Suggested retail price: $5.99 each.

Gak

Once kids pick up Gak, they won't want to put it down! This squishy, rubbery compound can be stretched, squeezed, twisted, and more – Gak provides hours of silly amusement for kids, thanks to its unusual texture and elasticity, as well as its unique ability to be blown into giant Gak bubbles and make wacky Gak sounds.

Gak comes in an iconic splat-shaped, airtight container and is available in Rebel Red, You Blue It, Yakkity Yellow, Goo Green, Tickled Pink and Purple Panic. Once playtime is over, put Gak back into its container to keep it fresh.

Suggested retail price: $5.99 each.

Nickelodeon Floam and Gak are phthalate-, latex- and BPA-free. All products are available nationwide at Target, Toys 'R Us, www.toysrus.com, A.C. Moore, Bed Bath and Beyond and Walgreens. For more information on Floam and Gak, please visit www.floam.com and www.gak-is-back.com.

About Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon, now in its 32nd year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 100 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 17 consecutive years. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB).

About NSI International

NSI International is a global marketer and manufacturer of innovative toys and children's products under such established brands as Nickelodeon, Smithsonian, and Oglo. They are headquartered in New York City. www.nsi-int.com.

© 2012 Viacom International Inc. All rights reserved. Nickelodeon and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.

© 2012 NSI International, Inc. and NSI International Products (HK) Limited. All Rights Reserved.

© Floam is a registered trademark. Used under License.

SOURCE NSI International

RELATED LINKS
http://www.nsi-intonline.com

As well as ordinary Nickelodeon GAK, Nickelodeon and toy company Mattel also produced various GAK spin-off's, including 'Gak-in-the-Dark', 'Solar Gak', 'Smell My Gak' (scents varied from pickles, flowers, vanilla ice cream, sunscreen, hot dog, pepperoni pizza, and baby powder), and various Gak Activity Sets, including 'Gak Pak', 'Gak Vac', 'Magnetic Gak', 'Gak Inflator', 'Gak Copier', and 'Gakoids'. Later, Nickelodeon and Mattel produced 'Floam' (originally called "bubble-gak") and 'Smud', 'Sqand' ("Magic sand"), and 'Zzand'.

Nickelodeon UK To Show Brand New Episodes Of "SpongeBob SquarePants" From 9th April 2012 As Part Of "SpongeBob SquarePants Premiere Week"

According to Nickelodeon UK's official "The SpongeBob Easter Eggstravaganza!" competition entry webpage on the official Nickelodeon UK and Ireland website, Nick.co.uk, Nickelodeon UK and Ireland and Nickelodeon HD UK will be premiering and showing the brand new episodes of the hit animated Nickelodeon show ("NickToon") "SpongeBob SquarePants" every day at 4.30pm (repeated at 5.30pm on Nick UK's plus one (+1) timeshift channel Nick Replay UK) from Monday 9th April 2012 as part of of Nickelodeon UK's upcoming "SpongeBob Premiere Week" programming stunt which will be part of Nickelodeon UK's "Easter On Nickelodeon" schedules:

Don’t forget to watch cracking new SpongeBob episodes every day at 4.30pm from 9th April only on Nickelodeon.

Below is a streaming video featuring Nickelodeon UK's new "The stage is set for brand new episodes that you'll never forget! SpongeBob Premiere Week, coming soon, only on Nickelodeon!" "SpongeBob Premier Week" promo, which Nickelodeon UK and Ireland and Nickelodeon UK HD is currently broadcasting on-air to promote Nickelodeon UK's upcoming "SpongeBob SquarePants Premiere Week" programming stunt:



Below is a streaming video featuring Nickelodeon UK's new "Grab your snails, unclog your bellybuttons, and see SpongeBob like never before! SpongeBob Premiere Week, all next week 4.30, on Nickelodeon!" promo/trailer, which Nickelodeon UK and Ireland and Nickelodeon UK HD is currently broadcasting on-air to promote Nickelodeon UK's upcoming "SpongeBob SquarePants Premiere Week" programming stunt:

Nickelodeon Closes The Voting For The UK-Specific Nominations Of The Nickelodeon 2012 Kids' Choice Awards

Nickelodeon UK have announced on their official Twitter profile page (@NickelodeonUK) that the voting for the 7 "Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards 2012" categories which are exclusive to Nickelodeon UK's version of "Kids' Choice Awards 2012" has now ended so that Nickelodeon UK can count up all the KCA votes in time for the "Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards 2012" ceremony. However, Nickelodeon UK and Ireland viewers can still vote for all their favourite nominees that are part of Nickelodeon USA's "Nick KCA 2012" voting categories on Nickelodeon UK and Ireland's official "Nickelodeon 2012 Kids' Choice Awards" website, kca.nick.co.uk/vote:

Since the UK voting for KCAs has now closed does that mean tweeting won't help either? Why did it close so

@NickelodeonUK: UK has closed (it did say on the page-we need a lil longer to count the votes!) but you can STILL vote for all other awards:)

Who will be able to say "I Am Victorious" on the big slimy night? Can Nickelodeon's hit live-action mystery series "House of Anubis" win the orange blimp award for Nick UK's Favourite Show for a second year in a row? The only rule is…there are no rules. It is the Kids' Choice Awards, after all! Find out who will be taking home orange blimps on the slimiest awards show on Earth (Planet Nickelodeon) by tuning in to the "Nickelodeon 2012 Kids' Choice Awards" on Nickelodeon UK and Ireland and Nickelodeon HD UK on Sunday 1st April 2012 at 5.30pm (repeated at 6.30pm on Nick Replay UK)!

Also, Tweeted (posted) by freelance Nickelodeon UK hairdresser and make-up artist Jo Adams on her official Twitter profile page (@make_up_jo):

Sooooo excited for LA tomorrow for the @NickelodeonUKPR KCA ceremony on Saturday!

Also, Tweeted by Nickelodeon UK and Ireland on their official Twitter profile page (@NickelodeonUK):

@bradkavanagh [Nickelodeon Star and actor Brad Kavanagh (House Of Anubis character Fabian Rutter)]: At heathrow, waiting to head out to LA, CA for the KCA's! I'm even accompanied by a special guest :) - 1.15pm Tuesday 27th March 2012

@NickelodeonUK: So excited! #KCAUK - 1.15pm Tuesday 27th March 2012

Also:

Whoa whoa wait what? Did the voting for KCA in the UK close?

@NickelodeonUK: Votings open until Saturday! Dont worry! http://ow.ly/9UvjT

And:

UK has closed (it did say on the page-we need a lil longer to count the votes!) but u can STILL vote for all other awards:)

Also:

TWEEPS! Who do you think will be looking good on the orange carpet at #KCAUK ? Who's outfit are you looking forward to seeing the most?

And:

I'll b in the UK watching on Sunday like you! I have roving reporters in LA sending me all the news,pics & goss tho! #KCAUK

Also:

@katyperry !!!

@NickelodeonUK: Oh GREAT pick! I am almost as excited about seeing her outfit as I am to watch her amazing performance!

And:

Check out some #KCAUK nominees in their red carpet outfits- http://ow.ly/9VWBf [Best Dressed Kids' Choice Awards Stars] They look so nice its almost a shame to slime them... NOT!

Also:

Just seen the advert for @onedirection performing on the #KidsChoiceAwards2012! Ahhh can't wait #KCAUK

@NickelodeonUK: I know! Me toooo!

Also, Tweeted (posted) by Nickelodeon UK and Ireland's Press Office on their official Twitter profile page (@NickelodeonUKPR):

only a few more days till the nickelodeon #KCA's.. good luck to our team [Nickelodeon UK Team / Team Nickelodeon UK] working hard in sunny LA!

Also, Tweeted by Nickelodeon UK's Director of Original Production, David Kangas, on his official Twitter profile page (@kangas911):

Hangin' in LA with @JimmyHizzle [Nicklodeon UK producer Jimmy Hunt] @poolewill [Will Poole] getting ready for the Kids Choice Awards. Good times!!

And:

alright Mr D hav a good time at the KCAs dont't get slimed Lol and good luck for HOA to win.

@kangas911: thanks! Fingers crossed!!

Also:

@nathalia73: [Nickelodeon Star and actress Nathalia Ramos (House Of Anubis character Nina Martin)]: Look what I saw today @NickelodeonTV !!! #KCA http://pic.twitter.com/y5YQeYXj [photograph of a silver blimp] - 2.31am Sunday 25th April 2012

@kangas911: @nickelodeontv me too. We were in it!!! - 10.06am Sunday 25th April 2012

Nickelodeon UK Confirms Still No Current Plans To Launch A British Version Of "Nick @ Nite"

Nickelodeon UK have confirmed on their official Twitter profile page (@NickelodeonUK) that Nickelodeon UK has still no current plans to launch a "Nick at Nite" channel or programming block in the United Kingdom and Ireland:

any news for a launch of nick@nite here?

@NickelodeonUK: No current plans for nick@nite coming to the UK yet, but youll be the first to know if that changes :)

In the USA, Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is the nighttime cable television network that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon USA after Nickelodeon closes down for the night (closedown) that was launched on 1st July 1985. Though it shares channel space with Nickelodeon, The Nielsen Company rates Nick at Nite as a separate channel from Nickelodeon for ratings purposes, and since Nick at Nite and Nickelodeon are commonly considered as two individual channels that share the same channel space, the two services are sometimes referred to under the collective name "Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite". Nick at Nite is aimed towards adult and/or adolescent audiences and features a programming lineup of mainly live-action sitcom reruns.

Nickelodeon UK Unveils New ASDA's "SpongeBob SquarePants" Toy Line And "The SpongeBob Easter Eggstravaganza!" Competition

Nickelodeon UK has announced on their official Twitter profile page (@NickelodeonUK) that Nickelodeon Consumer Products UK and the British supermarkets ASDA has released a brand new range of "SpongeBob SquarePants" toys, which are now available to buy at branches of ASDA shops around the UK:

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea..? If you need to Spongify your Easter hols, theres tons of NEW SpongeBob toys now available at Asda!

To celebrate Easter on Nickelodeon UK and ASDA's brand new merchandise line based on the popular animated original Nickelodeon show "SpongeBob SquarePants", the official Nickelodeon UK website, Nick.co.uk, has launched an exclusive "SpongeBob SquarePants" competition called 'The SpongeBob Easter Eggstravaganza!':

THE SPONGEBOB EASTER EGGSTRAVAGANZA!

FILL YOUR POCKETS THIS EASTER, THANKS TO OUR FRIENDS AT ASDA!

We've got an eggscellent prize this Easter! We're offering one winner the chance to be the SpongeBob Magazine’s Guest Star for a day and the entire SpongeBob pocket money range, available at ASDA!

The winner will get their picture and a shout-out in the SpongeBob magazine and be interviewed by the magazine team. They’ll be able to pick the Bikini Bottom photos and the Pants Post – and will even get to write a couple of captions!

Plus 25 runners up will win a SpongeBob Tub of Goo and a Water Squirter!

Don’t forget to watch cracking new SpongeBob episodes every day at 4.30pm from 9th April only on Nickelodeon.

All SpongeBob SquarePants pocket money prizes supplied by ASDA.

Find out more about the SpongeBob SquarePants Magazine.

To be in with the chance of winning, simply answer this question:

What noise does SpongeBob’s pet snail, Gary make?

Moo
Meow
Roar

Closing date for entries: 10am, Tuesday 10th April 2012.

Entrants must be aged between 5 and 15 years old to enter.

Nickelodeon UK's "The SpongeBob Easter Eggstravaganza!" Competition Prizes:

1st Prize:

Be the 'SpongeBob Magazine Guest Star!'

- Get your picture and a shout-out in the magazine

- Be interviewed by the 'SpongeBob Magazine' team

- Pick the issue's Bikini Bottom photos of your SpongeBob Collections

- You will even get to write a couple of captions!

PLUS... SpongeBob SquarePants merchandise (including a SpongeBob SquarePants sun hat/sun cap, SpongeBob SquarePants sunglasses, and a SpongeBob SquarePants water pistol).

25 runners up:

Win a SpongeBob SquarePants tub of goo and water squirter

SpongeBob SquarePants pocket money prizes supplied by ASDA.

You can enter Nickelodeon UK's "The SpongeBob Easter Eggstravaganza!" "SpongeBob SquarePants" contest here on the official Nickelodeon UK websites 'The SpongeBob Easter Eggstravaganza!' competition page.

It's Slime Time! Celebrities Preparing To Get Slimed At The Nickelodeon 2012 Kids' Choice Awards

From The New York Post:

Slime time!

Celebs score cool points by getting drenched at Kids’ Choice Awards

Forget the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys. In Hollywood there’s no greater honor than getting walloped with a slimy green substance of suspicious origin on the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards.

Nick Cannon stands by as Heidi Klum is slimed in 2011. Nickelodeon 2011 Kids' Choice Awards photograph credit: Getty Images
The show has blasted dozens of stars — and countless audience members — with more than 230,000 gallons of Day-Glo-colored goo since 1987.

“I’ve seen it become more prestigious and I’m able to book absolutely anybody,” says Marjorie Cohn, executive producer of the event, which marks its 25th anniversary on Saturday.

“What’s evolved over the years is celebrities’ willingness to be slimed. People call and ask to be,” says Cohn.

“Project Runway” host Heidi Klum, a presenter at last year’s show, treasures her moment in the, well, green. “I really love that I was chosen to be slimed,” she says. “I see it as an honor to be among all the great people slimed in the past!”

That list includes Johnny Depp, Tina Fey, Tom Cruise, Sandra Bullock, Justin Timberlake, Usher — even Donald Trump.

Potential targets are culled from award nominees and presenters. Celebrities know in advance that they at least could be hit, but never when. Whether streamed from hidden hoses or dumped from overhead, the actual sliming is glorious TV viewing.

“The shock and awe you see on peoples’ faces is very genuine,” says Cohn. “You haven’t experienced life until you’ve had that stuff running down into every pore of your body and in places where it shouldn’t be at all,” she jokes.

Klum agrees. “It’s a bit unexpected. I thought to myself: No way. I can’t believe this is happening, especially because you sit in hair and makeup for two hours before,” she says. “And when you walk off-stage, you’re covered in green.”

Fortunately, the slime is water-soluble and there are showers backstage so performers can wash it off. (The show also has towels for the hundreds of audience members who brave a stage-front “mosh pit.”)

But the goo has been known to resurface, so to speak.

“Some celebrities who have been totally doused have said it keeps emerging, days later, and in places they didn’t know it was,” says Cohn, laughing.

The show has recorded many memorable moments over the years, including Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen clutching each other in shock in 2004 and Pink getting a one-time-only dousing with — you guessed it — pink slime in 2002.

But one memorable spectacle was Katy Perry’s 2010 appearance, when a fast and furious blast of slime to the face sent her stumbling backwards, falling to her knees — and then triumphantly raising her arms.

“She was expecting it, but I think the force of it surprised her,” Cohn says. “She was such a good sport.” (Both [Katy] Perry and UK boy band One Direction will be among the musical performers on this year’s show.)

The slime's chemical makeup is a closely guarded secret. Insiders say the formula has changed over the years, admitting it’s much different today than in 1994 when James Earl Jones was slimed by a green liquid that was a cross between oatmeal and cement.

But don’t ask for specific details. “There’s only five guys that know the formula in the last 20 years, and I’m one of ’em,” says Scott Heger, president of Los Angeles-based Blair Adhesive Products, which makes special effects materials, including the 8,000-15,000 gallons of slime used by the show each year.

“It’s the Coke recipe of Nickelodeon, I guess,” says Heger, the show’s unofficial “slime-meister.”

Heger says slime has no odor; Cohn describes it as only having a “kind of cold smell.”

However, one point that remains debatable is slime’s flavor.

In 2007 Nicole Kidman said it tasted “like applesauce,” but Heger says it “has no real taste to it; it’s just a cold liquid.”

Yet that’s not the impression left by a bug-eyed Klum last year when she licked her lips, raised her eyebrows and frowned after a deluge hit her mouth.

Reflecting back a year later, Klum offers a suitably child-like assessment of the flavor.

“The slime takes like slime,” she says. “Yucky slime. Yuck!”

25TH ANNUAL KIDS’ CHOICE AWARDS

Saturday, 8 p.m., Nickelodeon

The Boys Are Back In Town

From The Stony Brook Press:

The Boys are Back in Town

The high-pitched screams echo off the walls of Radio City Music Hall. Bright beams of light illuminate the dark stage, followed by explosions and a line of flames that materialize from the floor. Four silhouettes appear behind a rising screen as the sold-out concert hall bursts with shrieks and camera flashes. But this act isn’t Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber—it’s Big Time Rush, the band with a Nickelodeon show of the same name.

Boy bands Big Time Rush and British pop group One Direction attend Nickelodeon Hosts Orange Carpet Premiere For Original TV Movie Big Time Movie starring Big Time Rush in New York - Larry Busacca/News services file photo
Boy bands such as Big Time Rush are becoming sensations in the American music industry again. After the popularity of New Kids on the Block in the 1980s and ’N Sync and Backstreet Boys in the ’90s and early 2000s, the allure of male vocal groups vanished the same time Justin Timberlake said “Bye, Bye, Bye” to his band and went solo. Such bands have tried to make it big in the U.S. since then, but they typically saw mediocre record sales and little to no success.

The term “boy band” typically refers to a group of young, eye-candy-status-worthy men who dance and sing, and whose music is written, played and produced by other people. They usually form through audition processes, or are “manufactured,” and mostly appeal to pre-teen audiences. Boy bands have been around since the early 19th century in the form of a capella Barbershop quartets, but the concept has since evolved.

Sociologists David Croteau, William Hoynes and Stefania Milan challenge the existence of boy bands in today’s music scene in the book Media/Society. “In the absence of any major boy band hits in recent years, a group of young men wanting to sing together today would have considerable difficulty in getting a major record deal,” they write. Big Time Rush, along with British-Irish band One Direction, however, rose to incredible yet unexpected fame over the last two years.

The groups are constant presences on music charts, they’ve acquired huge fan bases around the world and they both sold out headlining tours. Mainstream radio stations also play their songs, and invite them to their studios for meet-and-greet opportunities and live acoustic performances.

“I think that things go in waves,” Big Time Rush member Kendall Schmidt, said in an interview with PopStar Magazine. “I think it’s different than it used to be. I think we’re kind of recreating it, almost. I’m glad that it’s coming back because it’s a lot of fun.”

Big Time Rush—James Maslow, 21, Logan Henderson and Carlos Pena, both 22, and Schmidt, 21—is first known for its show, which bears a fictional plotline about four hockey players from Minnesota who try to make it big as a band in Los Angeles. The show premiered on Nickelodeon in November 2009 to 3.5 million viewers, making it the most successful live-action debut in Nickelodeon’s history. Today the show yields about 4 million per episode. The feature-length film Big Time Movie, for which the band received permission from Apple to cover six of The Beatles’ songs to release on a soundtrack, premiered earlier this month with 13.1 million viewers.

Almost all of the show’s episodes include songs from the band’s two studio albums, BTR and Elevate. BTR was released in October 2010 and spent 26 weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at number three. The Recording Industry Association of America gave the album a Gold certification in April 2011. Elevate, released in November, debuted at number 12 on Billboard 200 and sold over 70,000 copies its first week. As of March 1, it has sold over 208,000 copies in the U.S.

While the band is not as popular as the Backstreet Boys and ’N Sync were, the guys of Big Time Rush are seeing more success than they and their producers at Nickelodeon expected.

“Nobody had any idea we’d be this big,” Maslow told reporters at a press conference in Mexico City.

Europe has always had a taste for boy bands. When the Backstreet Boys first started out, the group found more fame overseas than here in the U.S. Now, England is the producer of the biggest boy band phenomenon since The Beatles—One Direction.

Zayn Malik, 19, Louis Tomlinson, 20, and Harry Styles, Liam Payne and Niall Horan, all 18, competed on the British talent show The X Factor as individual acts in 2010. After each boy made it through several rounds of the competition, the judges, Simon Cowell amongst them, did not think any would have successful solo careers. Guest judge Nicole Scherzinger suggested they compete as group, which led to the creation of One Direction, also known as 1D. The band finished third in the competition and signed a deal with Cowell’s Syco Records shortly after.

One Direction’s fame blew up with the release of its first single, “What Makes You Beautiful,” which debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart in August 2011. Up All Night, the band’s debut album, peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart when it released in November. The band sold out its first headlining tour in seconds and even won a BRIT, the UK equivalent of a Grammy, for best British single last month.

But One Direction did not expect tremendous fame in the U.S. The band went viral on the Internet, especially the blogging site Tumblr, and “Directioners” anxiously awaited the boys’ arrival to the states. Nickelodeon was quick to take them under its wing late last year, perhaps to prevent the group from overshadowing Big Time Rush, but also because of 1D’s outstanding popularity in England.

Nickelodeon introduced the group to commercial success here, pairing the Brits with Big Time Rush on the American band’s three-week long sold-out Better With U Tour. In February, the network broadcasted the U.S. premiere of the music video for “What Makes You Beautiful,” and the band guest-starred on an episode of iCarly that will air on Nickelodeon this spring. One Direction is hosting the network’s lineup of popular live-action shows every Saturday night this month leading up to the Kids’ Choice Awards on March 31, where the group will perform. This month Nickelodeon also announced that plans for One Direction’s own show are currently in the works.

Up All Night, along with a deluxe edition of the album, released in the U.S. on March 13 and took the top two spots on iTunes. One Direction spent that weekend in New York after wrapping up the Better With U Tour with Big Time Rush, holding CD signings at malls in the metropolitan area, including Long Island, and performing on the Today Show for thousands of fans crowded outside Rockefeller Center. In addition to the band’s booked performance at the Kid’s Choice Awards, the boys will perform on Saturday Night Live in April and tour the U.S. this summer. Newsday called the band’s explosive fame “another British invasion.”

Big Time Rush and One Direction are no doubt still growing, but their achievements show that the boy band has come back strong. Other bands such as The Wanted are gaining popularity, too, and the different images and styles of music these groups convey satisfy the varied tastes of millions of fans.

This time, the boy band might just stay around for good.

Also, from the Los Angeles Times via the Bellingham Herald:

Boy bands are back, and they're doing big business

LOS ANGELES - Hundreds of glow sticks luminesced over the sold-out crowd at Gibson Amphitheatre on a recent Friday night. Prepubescent girls snapped cellphone pictures and out-screamed one another as younger kids were hoisted onto parents' shoulders for better views.

The cheers morphed into hysteria as Big Time Rush emerged.

The scene onstage is familiar: five seemingly interchangeable young guys linked by one band name and an ability to dance with military precision, deliver harmonies and exude boy-next-door charm.

Big Time Rush is at the crest of a new boy band wave, yet the L.A.-made group hearkens to an era when Backstreet Boys, 'NSync and 98 Degrees ruled the charts.

Judging from recent sold-out shows for other young groups such as multicultural British heartthrobs the Wanted and R&B teen sensations Mindless Behavior, as well as the buzz surrounding reality show magnate Simon Cowell's creation One Direction, the reemergence of the boy band has only just begun.

In what seems to be as predictably cyclical as the stock market, bubble gum bands are back and trying to fill a void left by the maturation of Justin Bieber and other precursors. And as always, they're working extra hard in competing with one another to stand out.

Mindless Behavior's Jacob "Princeton" Perez, who's from L.A., said he's aware their popularity could fade as fast as it arrived. "In this camp, they really believe in working hard. Our manager always told us to never get comfortable because it can all go away really fast," he said. "A lot of people think it came out of nowhere, but we've been at it for three years."

Though Mindless Behavior is geared more for the urban market, their music - like that of their dreamy boy peers - is loaded with enough sugary pop, dance and R&B melodies to charm tweens across America until at least the end of summer break.

Since Big Time Rush was assembled for the Nickelodeon show of the same name in 2009 the band's TV series has become a hit and it's now behind two albums, blockbuster tours and a slew of made-for-TV films, including the Beatles-themed "Big Time Movie," which attracted 13 million total viewers when it aired this month, according to Nielsen. After dates on the group's current tour sold out in minutes, it announced an extensive summer trek.

Big Time Rush follows a mold, once perfected by the Monkees, in which a fictional artist-based sitcom extends to profitable tours, music and merchandise. Its current album, "Elevate," has debuted at No.12 on the Billboard 200, it has sold more than 3 million digital tracks, and its self-titled TV show, now in its second season, averages a respectable 3.6 million viewers.

The Wanted, managed by the man behind Justin Bieber, Scott "Scooter" Braun, hit No. 1 on the iTunes pop chart with its U.S. single, "Glad You Came." The song (on the Def Jam label, just like Bieber) was bolstered in part when the cast of "Glee" covered it. It's now sold more than 1 million copies in the U.S. since its release in January.

BTR member Kendall Schmidt says its latest success proves it's more than a novelty. "We'd all be lying if we said the first thing we planned to do was sing in a boy band. We all knew we were signing up for an opportunity of a lifetime," said Schmidt, 21, who's based in L.A. "We are trying our best to make it our band and not something we signed up for."

Not all the up-and-coming boy bands are Svengalied, but the majority are the product of industry masterminds looking to capitalize on the budding hormones of juveniles.

Mindless Behavior's co-manager, Keisha Gamble of Conjunction Entertainment, and the company's chief executive, Walter W. Millsap III, saw a void in the R&B market after B2K (a disciple of the 1980s sensation New Edition) fell out of fashion more than a decade ago. So along with Streamline Records head Vincent Herbert, they auditioned teens for the new group. "It had been 10 years since there had been a boy band that catered to the urban community," said Gamble. "Little girls want something to latch on to. There's only been Justin Bieber, so it was perfect timing for something like this to come along." Mindless Behavior, whose debut came out in September, is the only band of the bunch whose members are all African American.

Herbert said the goal was to calculate a "bulletproof" strategy for the band of 15-year-olds. Since he has a joint venture with Interscope and clout from signing Lady Gaga, he was able to fast-track them into a deal and secured plum opening slots on tours with the Backstreet Boys, Justin Bieber and Janet Jackson. The band's debut, "#1 Girl," bowed at No.2 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop albums last fall.

Late last year the boys quickly amassed more than $100,000 in merchandise sales on Interscope's online store and were second behind Gaga in terms of sales. "We took our time thinking about the marketing," said Herbert. "I don't believe in losing. You look at their album and every song is about girls. Girls at 14 and 15 years old are excited about boys."

Not everyone is buying in. Carson Daly, who was host of MTV's "Total Request Live" during the boom of boy bands in the late 1990s, is skeptical that this new wave of cute groups will rise to the heights of their predecessors. "We moved further away from the produced pop bands. The Spice Girls, 'NSyncs and Backstreet Boys - that was an era that I think is over.

"How many pop groups are you hearing on the radio?" asked Daly, who hosts "The Voice" and co-anchors a morning show on KAMP-FM. "I play Top 40 every day. You just don't see these young boy bands or girl groups. It's not the thing that's working right now."

Unless, of course, you're a fan who posts about these band members' every move on blogs like Oh No They Didn't, where a blogger recently referred to One Direction as "flawfree angels." The group, like the Wanted and Mindless Behavior, include all the requisite boy band archetypes needed to attract starry-eyed fans (i.e. the rebellious one, the sensitive one, the shy one, and so on.)

As a result, the Wanted was forced to make an 11th-hour venue swap from L.A.'s Roxy to El Rey to accommodate the demand for tickets, and this is before its stateside album release date of April 24.

"We got put in a house together to write music and see if we could form as a band. In a way, we didn't really know what we were jumping into," the Wanted's Max George recalls. "We could all play instruments and we got to write our own music, which a lot (of boy bands) don't normally do."

The quintet One Direction (ages 18 to 20) was pieced together by Cowell and former Pussycat Dolls frontwoman Nicole Scherzinger after its members auditioned as solo singers on the U.K. edition of "X Factor" in 2010 and then collectively placed third.

The group recently wrapped an opening slot for Big Time Rush - often receiving better reviews than the headliner. It is set to perform at Saturday's Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and "Saturday Night Live."

To add to the hype, it just announced its first U.S. headlining tour, and there is buzz that Nickelodeon is in talks to have the group anchor a show similar to Big Time Rush's.

"We all know how hard it is to crack America," member Liam Payne, 18, said before its U.S. debut "Up All Night" interrupted Adele's chart-topping run by knocking her out of the No.1 spot (it is only the second disc of 2012 to do so and the first time a British group has debuted at No.1 in the U.S.). "When you come over here, you're one of four or five New Kids on the Block out there."

George is certain his band will ultimately come out on top. "I see (One Direction) as more a Jonas Brothers, they are very young, very TV-based sort of thing. With us people are buying into our music, more than they buy into us," he said. "People just like our music, which is what we want. We're much more into selling our music than we are posters."

WHO'S THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL?

There's a new wave of boy bands vying for chart dominance and the hearts of teenage girls. Here's a handy guide to the top four ensembles.

-The Wanted

These British heartthrobs have chiseled good looks, a bad-boy edge and multicultural appeal. They are aiming for the same type of chart and pop culture domination as labelmate Justin Bieber. No surprise, considering they share a manager.

Fun fact: Member Max George was previously a member of Avenue, which was disqualified from U.K.'s "The X Factor" after it was revealed the boy band was engineered for the show.

-Big Time Rush

Created to anchor a Nickelodeon series, Big Time Rush has won over dedicated "Rushers" with two hit albums, blockbuster tours and made-for-TV films, including the Beatles-themed "Big Time Movie," which attracted 13 million total viewers when it aired this month.

Fun fact: Before their self-titled show, members of the quartet had acting credits on series such as "iCarly," "Friday Night Lights," "ER" and "Gilmore Girls."

-Mindless Behavior

A void in the R&B boy band market led tothe creation of teen act Mindless Behavior. The 15-year-olds went through a rigorous two-year training period before it released its debut record, "#1 Girl," which bowed at No. 2 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop album chart.

Fun fact: It was handpicked by Janet Jackson to be the sole opener for dates on the North American leg of her "Number Ones: Up Close and Personal" tour.

-One Direction

Pieced together by reality show magnate Simon Cowell and Nicole Scherzinger after auditioning as solo acts on the U.K. edition of "The X Factor" in 2010, One Direction are wooing girls with their British charm, poster boy faces and syrupy sweet pop lyrics about teenage love.

Fun fact: Kelly Clarkson helped pen the track "Tell Me a Lie" off of its debut, "Up All Night."

Also, from UWeekly:

Boy Bands are Back!

The giddy 15-year-old in me quickly came back as I was assigned this article. As someone who previously kicked a friend out of my home for doubting my future with Justin Timberlake, you could say I was a crazed boy band fanatic. I’m still confident I have a chance with Timberlake, sorry to my boyfriend Joey when he reads that, but I digress.

I feel like I’m 13 again. But now Lou Perlman is replaced with Simon Cowell and Scooter Braun and the boys have upgraded from bleached blond curls to Beiber sideswept bangs.

The music industry has again embraced the young, teen heartthrob boy band. Three standout bands, two from the UK, have climbed the charts and are making the girls scream.

One Direction

The group was made famous on season seven of Britain’s “The X Factor.” The five members auditioned separately, but Pussycat Doll Nichole Scherzinger suggested they sing together. They finished third in the competition.

After reality success, the group signed a contract with Syco Records. Their hit single, “What Makes You Beautiful,” was only released last September. The band has become the first UK group to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard charts with their album, “Up All Night.”

Now, you can’t change the channel without seeing these five cuties everywhere. They’ve recently appeared on “Saturday Night Live,” “iCarly” and “The Disney Channel.“

Big Time Rush

Across the pond here in America we find Big Time Rush. The group’s claim to fame is their Nickelodeon television show. It’s cute, it’s corny and the girls love it!

The show is actually about how many of these groups formed! Five guys are joined together from auditions to make a boy band.

In total they have starred in three specials, five movies, released two studio albums, two soundtracks and countless episodes. Now their music career seems bigger then their series. The group is selling out shows all over the country and yes, they dance!

For all you BTR fans out there, the group will be in Columbus this July.

The Wanted

Earlier in March, The Wanted had the UK bragging rights with their single, “Glad You Came,” debuting at No. 5. The song was even featured in an episode of “Glee.” The British and Irish group has an older, sexier image.

Member Jay McGuiness, 21, told MTV, “I just think now there’s a big gap and ‘boy band’ is back, but it’s just a different meaning ... essentially [it’s] just a genre of music.” Their debut U.S. album was released April 24.

The group is rumored to have a walk-on role in the “Entourage” movie.

I love the upbeat sounds of, “Glad You Came,” and “What Makes You Beautiful,” but I find it amazing that their performances are choreographed to a tee, but there is no dancing! When these groups come up with a “Bye, Bye, Bye,” stomp or that classic move from “Everybody (Backstreets back),” then I might give them some credit.

One thing these guys have that set them apart from past groups — accents. But there is still a group from the U.S. embracing the genre.

Will these groups ever be as good as NSYNC or Backstreet Boys? It’s too early to tell, but it is exciting to see that history seems to be repeating itself.

With music now moving toward pop sounds and electronic beats, I can only imagine more groups emerging sometime in the near future. Who knows, maybe we could even see a country boy band!