Backstreet Boys Head for Main Street

Sure, Ricky Martin is the man of the moment, but are the Backstreet Boys about to become a group for the ages? The heartthrob squad’s sophomore album, “Millennium,” is a lock to debut at No. 1 this week, knocking Martin out of the album chart’s top spot after a brief reign. In fact, early sales projections indicate that the first-week sales of “Millennium” could eclipse the single-week record held by Garth Brooks, whose “Double Live” sold 1.08 million copies in a single week last November. “Millennium” mania has not only been stoked by an intense hype campaign (which continues with the B-Boys’ performance tonight on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno”), but may also have gotten help from a less obvious force: “The ‘Star Wars’ movie,” said Scott Levin, an executive with the Musicland chain. “It has a lot of people in the malls with theaters, and while they’re there they say, ‘Let’s buy that Backstreet Boys album.’ ”

Jesse Ventura, for the Record

Will the real Jesse Ventura please proceed to the nearest talk show? Now that you’ve met the made-for-TV version of the Minnesota governor, check out the real thing Wednesday night when the wrestler formerly known as “The Body” will be a guest on “The Tonight Show” at 11:35 p.m. On Sunday, NBC broadcast the unauthorized biopic “The Jesse Ventura Story,” starring Nils Allen Stewart as Ventura, who came from nowhere to win the governor’s seat last year. The TV movie was widely panned for its woefully inaccurate and often dull portrayal of the mercurial politician. The real Ventura--who has a well-documented affinity for the selling of his own image, whether it be movies or action figures--vowed he wouldn’t watch it. Normally, talk show guests like to appear ahead of the movies they’re plugging; in this case, however, Ventura shows up after the film, no doubt to do some historical cleanup. “There’s been a lot written already here by political analysts and TV writers . . . that basically looked at the inaccuracies,” said John Wodele, Ventura’s press secretary. “They’ve actually sent us lists of things and asked us [to count] what was inaccurate.” In addition to Ventura, Jay Leno’s musical guest Wednesday is Ricky Martin, he of the “La Vida Loca” craze.

You, You Look Wonderful!

Just when you thought you had seen the season finale of Hollywood’s annual awards shows, here they come again. Although the dust has hardly had time to settle on this year’s Oscars, Grammys and Golden Globes, now the stars of film, television and music are going to be feted at more galas. On Tuesday, the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles will serve as the venue when taping gets underway for the fifth annual Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. The two-hour show will air June 16 at 8 p.m. on the Fox network. Among the performers on stage will be actress Jennifer Lopez, who is adding singing to her resume. What are the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards? “It’s all based on voting done at Blockbuster [video] stores,” said Ken Ehrlich, the show’s executive producer, who notes, “It’s really based on people who are, obviously, both movie and music fans.” Although there are nearly--gulp--60 categories in music and film, the show will pare them down for the broadcast. The show also has no host. “We try and give the presenters more to do than just say who the nominees are, but we try to stay away from what is kindly called ‘awards show banter,’ like, ‘Oh, I saw you! Boy, do you look beautiful tonight!’ ‘You look beautiful yourself!’ ” Meanwhile, the MTV Movie Awards will be taped June 5 at the Santa Monica Airport. Hosted by actress Lisa Kudrow, the show will be seen June 10 on MTV. And film and TV writers will be honored July 8 at the Sheraton Universal when the Humanitas prize is given to writers who, organizers say, “are communicating those values which most fully enrich the human person.” Which begs the question, are there too many awards shows? Ehrlich said TV has come to embrace awards shows because they are a throwback to the old variety shows. “I came out here sort of toward the end of ‘Sonny & Cher’ and ‘Carol Burnett’--all those great shows that gave the public a weekly dose of comedy and music and variety,” he said. “There aren’t any of those shows around anymore. [Awards shows] have taken their place and I think the public likes them. They always do well in the ratings.”

--Compiled by Times Staff Writers