TVSquad

Has it really been 45 years since General Hospital started broadcasting? Four decades + five years of medical machinations, legendary love stories, action and intrigue. Yes, yes, it's true, on April 1, ABC's General Hospital will celebrate 45 years on the air. Current executive producer, Jill Farren Phelps, will cut the cake and members of the cast will blow out the candles, but we're the ones that probably should be smiling. Memories of the great years gone by are inevitable with any show that's run as long as GH. But there's something special about this ABC soap.

Late last week we reported that The Jackson family, sans Michael and Janet, were developing their own American Idol-style reality program titled Pop Dynasty. Now it turns out that another musical group is returning for an, um, American Idol-style reality program. Does anyone have an original thought in their minds out there?

The group is Menudo. You remember them, don't you? They were the 80's boy band that introduced the world to Ricky Martin. They were also famous for rotating their band members out when they got older or their voices changed. Kind of like a pop-rock Logan's Run. The old members of the band aren't reuniting. Instead, according to USA Today, seven boys are being picked from around the country to star in the new series The Road to Menudo. Hey, wasn't that the last Bing Crosby-Bob Hope road film?

Candidates are being judged by Johnny Wright, who managed the mega-boy bands New Kids on the Block, 'NSync and the Backstreet Boys, as well Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough. The show will begin airing next month on MTV Tr3s, MTV's bilingual Latin-American channel.