While the New Kids on the Block were crooning for ratings over on ABC, rappers Kid 'N' Play were recruited by NBC for the same reason, freshening up their Saturday lineup while attracting music fans at the same time. NBC was hurting, having lost Alvin & the Chipmunks to Fox while The Smurfs had departed altogether.
Christopher "Kid" Reid & Christopher "Play" Martin only appeared in the predictable live-action bumpers, while other actors handled the voice overs. Brian Mitchell (ex-Trapper John, MD) voiced Play's animated self, and the cast otherwise included the likes of Martin Lawrence, Tommy Davidson (In Living Color), & Cree Summer (A Different World), who has long established herself as a top flight voice actress, whose credits prior to and after this series include Inspector Gadget, Rugrats, & Codename: Kids Next Door. Davidson would later return to toons, co-starring on The Proud Family more than a decade later.
Kid 'N' Play was spun off from the duo's success in the "House Party" feature film series, but lasted just one season. Unfortunately, the record sales didn't translate into television ratings because the viewers might've expected the rappers to voice their toon selves, and didn't. Hey, the same thing happened to the New Kids and, a year later, MC Hammer.........
TheWizardTME uploaded this clip to YouTube:
Rating: None. Never saw the show.
2 comments:
Never saw this in my life, but I just had to post when I saw the mention of "Brian Mitchell".
He is now best known for his work on Broadway and has been called "Broadway's last leading man". He is also a baritone GOD. Here he is in the concert version of South Pacific:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQmxLr5IYLk
And here he is in the Man of la Mancha revival:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsNJtTKdUec
He's come a looooooong way, hasn't he? Probably doesn't have this toon on his resume to save himself from embarrassment. Thanks.
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