{"id":741,"date":"2015-07-15T07:31:16","date_gmt":"2015-07-15T15:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/?p=741"},"modified":"2023-03-06T13:40:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T21:40:42","slug":"kidd-video-ranking-videos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/kidd-video-ranking-videos\/","title":{"rendered":"Kidd Video: Ranking the Videos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fake television band alert! I\u2019m a sucker for a good fake television band, whether we\u2019re talking about The Monkees, or Jem and the Holograms, or today\u2019s raison d\u2019etre<\/em>, Kidd Video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A half-hour blend of live action and animation, Kidd Video<\/em> aired for two seasons on Saturday mornings on NBC from 1984 to 1985. It was produced by Haim Saban for Saban Entertainment, who would later go on to create the Power Rangers<\/em> mega-franchise. While Kidd Video<\/em> never reached anything approaching Power Rangers<\/em>-esque levels of enduring pop-culture impact\u2014for starters, it\u2019s never had a proper home entertainment release, most likely because securing the music rights would be prohibitively complex and expensive\u2014it\u2019s nonetheless remembered fondly by MTV-crazed kids from that era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plot of Kidd Video<\/em> centers around a garage band comprised of four teens\u2014Kidd (Bryan Scott), Carla (Gabriele Bennett-Rozzi), Ash (Steve Alterman), and Whiz (Robbie Rist)\u2014who get sucked into an alternate world known as the Flipside by the Master Blaster (no relation, alas, to the Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome<\/em> character of the same name), a powerful and villainous mogul. As the band members struggle to find their way back to their own reality, madcap adventures ensue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite being both attractive and talented, the actors\/musicians were and are fairly obscure. At the time of the show\u2019s airing, the most famous cast member was former child star Robbie Rist, who was best known as Cousin Oliver on\u00a0The Brady Bunch<\/em>; thirty years later, the most famous cast member is\u00a0still<\/em>\u00a0Rist, and he\u2019s\u00a0still<\/em>\u00a0best known as Cousin Oliver on\u00a0The Brady Bunch<\/em>. Nevertheless, the show minted a bona fide heartthrob in Bryan Scott, whose doe eyes and killer cheekbones briefly made him a teen-magazine staple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kidd Video<\/em>\u00a0is MTV with training wheels. The cartoon itself is frenetic, incomprehensible, surreal nonsense, but here\u2019s the thing: It had music, and it had videos. The episodes were peppered with snippets from Top 40 songs and clips from popular videos (hence the aforementioned nightmarish music rights issues). More importantly, each episode was capped by an original music video by the band. Unlike, say,\u00a0Jem and the Holograms<\/em>, whose original songs tended to be\u00a0ear-shreddingly terrible<\/a>, Kidd Video\u2019s videos and songs, many of which were penned by seasoned industry professionals, were really pretty good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over twenty-six episodes,\u00a0Kidd Video<\/em>\u00a0came out with eleven original music videos; I\u2019ve ranked them all from worst to best. Apologies for the blurry quality of the screengrabs (it\u2019s impossible to find clean copies of the episodes), and a big tip of the hat to\u00a0Kidd Video Flipside<\/a>, which is a treasure trove of all\u00a0Kidd Video<\/em>-related information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. \u201cTime\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Bryan Scott wrote this one, and he\u2019s very sensitive and cute, so I want to like it, but\u2026 it\u2019s just dreary. Ditto for the video, in which the band plays at a party while Kidd moodily serenades a cute blonde lady on the dance floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

10. \u201cEasy Love\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve heard this song many times over the years, but the tune always vanishes from my brain immediately after listening to it; the only way I can remember the title is by recalling that it\u2019s similar to the title of a Phil Collins hit from that era, and even then, it\u2019s a struggle (\u201c\u2018Against Some Odds\u2019? \u2018In the Air Last Night\u2019?\u201d). The video features the band staggering around a barren desert and collapsing from the heat. Think of it as a bargain-basement version of\u00a0Duran Duran\u2019s \u201cUnion of the Snake\u201d video<\/a>, minus the snake man and the underground temple and all the mysterious brunettes. It\u2019s a dud, but at least the ersatz French Foreign Legion uniforms are a nifty touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

9. \u201cWhere Did Our Love Go?\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

A serviceable cover of the Supremes classic. Kidd Video is not the Supremes (nor is it Soft Cell, which scored an enduring club hit in 1981 with their\u00a0\u201cTainted Love\u201d\/\u201cWhere Did Our Love Go?\u201d<\/a>\u00a0combination), but the song is a good match for Bryan Scott\u2019s soft, poppy vocals. There\u2019s not much to say about the performance video, apart from mentioning that the eighties fashions are\u00a0outstanding<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

8. \u201cA Little TLC\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Kidd, Ash, and Whiz dress up as singularly unconvincing medical professionals and bop their way around a hospital before nursing an ailing Carla back to health with a whopping dose of, yep, TLC. Silly stuff, sure, but I\u2019m inclined to think well of any hospital where the doctors don New Wave novelty sunglasses and the patient gowns are made of shiny blue mylar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

7. \u201cCome Back To Me\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

After Carla quits the band following a squabble with Kidd, she takes off on a road trip of self-discovery, only to have Kidd, Whiz and Ash stalk her relentlessly across the country until she agrees to return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cool disguise, Kidd. Carla will never know it\u2019s you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

6. \u201cWhen the Phone Stops Ringing\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Carla\u2019s having a slumber party! During the party, one of her friends glumly waits for a phone call from Kidd, her boyfriend\/improbable auto mechanic. Unbeknownst to her, Kidd\u2019s calls are repeatedly intercepted by her jerkface friends, who keep hanging up on him. Meanwhile, Carla prances around in a lace teddy while singing this lively number about how Kidd probably doesn\u2019t love her anymore. Teen girls are the worst<\/em>. This song has an impeccable pedigree: It\u2019s co-written by longtime Elton John collaborator Bernie Taupin and prolific songwriter Holly Knight, who brought us \u201cLove is a Battlefield\u201d and \u201cOne of the Living\u201d among many other hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

5. \u201cTurn Me Up\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Carla cavorts around a dusty playroom filled with creepy toys. Said toys include life-sized mannequins of Kidd, Whiz and Ash, which she brings to life for her own nefarious purposes (i.e. singing and dancing). I can dig it, Carla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

4. \u201cYou Better Run\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

This is a great song. It\u2019d rank even higher on this list, but the video\u2014basic performance footage\u2014is uninspired. Still, it\u2019s nice to see the kids having an obvious blast with this one. Kidd and Whiz trade off on lead vocals, and while Bryan Scott brings his usual soft, pleasant sound to the occasion, Robbie Rist absolutely slays it. He\u2019s putting everyone on notice: Cousin Oliver can rock<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

3. \u201cWe Should Be Together\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Fashion photographer Kidd makes meaningful eye contact with a cute blonde model. While she seems to be unattached, and indeed is clearly hot for him, for some damn reason he refuses to ask her out, opting instead to slice her image out of photos with an X-Acto knife and glue her into photos with him (life was tough for obsessed stalkers in the days before Photoshop). Because Kidd is beautiful and sensitive and looks perpetually alarmed by the outside world, this comes across as more sweet than deeply disturbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

2. \u201cVideo To Radio\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The rousing, fist-pumping theme song, which plays at the start of every episode. The video, which shows the band members heading off to rehearsal (Kidd and Carla zip around on a moped; Ash chucks his keytar in the back of Whiz\u2019s pickup), is so great that it\u2019s always a crushing disappointment when the damn animated footage kicks in halfway through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Kidd<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1. \u201cVideo Romeo\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Yep, it\u2019s a video where Ash and Whiz stare at images of Kidd on monitors and sing about how he\u2019s totally hot. Fair enough. A reflection on the possible dangers of electronic idols, it\u2019s the only Kidd Video song where the lyrics have some bite (Beamed into the homes and the hearts of a hungry nation\/A dream come true for every lonely girl\/It may not be love, but what a sensation\/Switch the dial and step into his world). <\/em>It\u2019s also just a damn good song, and a damn good video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kidd<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fake television band alert! I\u2019m a sucker for a good fake television band, whether we\u2019re talking about The Monkees, or Jem and the Holograms, or today\u2019s raison d\u2019etre, Kidd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eighties"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1560,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741\/revisions\/1560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}