Recap / Kids Incorporated S 7 E 1 A Hard Dates Night

We now enter Season 7 of Kids Incorporated and the first episode sees Eric, one of three newcomers to the band, juggling his heartthrob role after making dates with three girls (played by Paula Cowan, Kimberly Volmer^note for whom this episode appears to be their only IMDb credit and Micki Duran^note the first of two appearances by a future cast member of the Nickelodeon series Roundhouse this season - which also shared directors in Gary Halvorson and Paul Hoen. Duran had indirect connections to the series; as for a time she had been a member of what eventually became Wild Orchid (at the time known as New Rhythm Generation); a Girl Group featuring former cast members Stacy Ferguson and Renee Sandstorm alongside mutual friend Stefanie Ridel

We kick off with a performance of “Romeo” - as we see three girls paying very close attention to the stage and Eric in particular. When the song ends, Haylie is working on the P*lace’s new computer and when Eric asks if it’s a homework problem, Robin responds that they’re counting the number of hearts Eric stole…as it seems Eric’s become quite popular with the young ladies, something he’s initially oblivious to (Ana - Robin's cousin - jokes that it’s a type of animal magnetism). Eric begins warming up to the concept when Flip walks in with fan mail…all for Eric (among them, letters from a Dorain, a Christine and a Victoria); causing Eric’s head to swell up with the attention as we move to “The Shoop Shoop Song”^note notably; we hear each of the girls scream frequently, specifically whenever Eric appears on screen. Also at once, we see Kenny have to pull Eric back from lingering where the girls were located during his guitar solo. Apparently, Eric was also getting a lot of autograph requests…enough that when the others return to the break room, Eric complains that he’s gotten writer’s cramp (Kenny jokes that he could use a rubber stamp, which Eric briefly considers before deciding against it on reasons of it not being personal…except as Robin notes Eric’s written “You’re the only one for me” on all the correspondence - 55 autographed pictures just that day. Later, Eric mentions his plans include walking home a Mary from school, and a date with a Michelle (Robin’s remark that she liked him better before he became a ladies’ man is dismissed by Eric as jealousy); setting up “It’s the Right Time”^note when the song starts, Kenny - who had been trying to bring Eric back to Earth - can be seen staring at one of the other girls.

Eric then arrives at the P*lace to tell Kenny that he was able to secure a date with Victoria for sodas at 4:00 when he realized he made three dates at 4:00. Kenny then turns down Eric begging him for help (when Eric says he’d help Kenny; the senior band member is quick to point out that he wouldn’t get himself in this fix); with Kenny then suggesting telling each of the girls the truth. Eric elects to use a potted plant to try to juggle the dates (“In the Heat of the Moment” - which includes shots of Kenny trying to ask out the blond girl at one point and Flip handing Eric a phone) before Eric trips over the potted plant…and is busted, as all three girls realize what happened and storm off. We next see the others jamming when Eric arrives from having apologized to the girls - who took it about as well as you’d expect (Dorain dumped her pie on him; Christine’s dog “mysteriously” got loose and Victoria turned the sprinklers on). Eric’s learned his lesson, vowing never to make all those dates again, even turning down an autograph request from an unidentified red-haired girl…who apparently wanted Kenny’s autograph (which Kenny appeared ready to give before the girls pull him away); setting up closing song “King of Wishful Thinking” - by which time the girls had forgiven Eric or at the very least weren’t taking their anger out on the rest of the band).

Season 7 launched with major changes; including Eric Balfour; Haylie Johnson^note whose younger sister Ashley was co-starring as an aged-up Chrissy Seaver during the final two seasons of ABC’s Growing Pains and Anastasia Horne along with an entirely new crew of dancers (Charon Aldredge; Brian Friedman; Jennifer King; Danielle Marcus-Janssen and Tony Perrin). Behind the scenes, Craig Sharmat takes over as music director, a position he would hold for the remainder of the series’ run. With RHI Entertainment replacing Qintex as a co-producer; Robert Halmi Jr. - who co-founded that company with his father - would be added as an executive producer; while production designer Jimmy Cuomo would be promoted to producer while retaining his design role. The third of the co-producers, Lynch-Biller Productions, would be renamed simply Lynch Entertainment after Gary P. Biller sold his interest to Thomas W. Lynch, though Biller would remain credited as an executive producer. MGM Television, of course, remained the show's overall co-producer.

Songs performed in this episode:

• “Romeo” (Dino Esposito {better known as Dino} with featured rap by UTFO’s Doctor Ice cover; lead vocals by Eric and Kenny)
• “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)” (Rudy Clark cover; also recorded by Betty Everett; Linda Ronstadt and most recently by Cher for her 1990 film “Mermaids”; lead vocals by Ana, Robin and Haylie)^note this is the only song where Eric doesn’t sing lead
• “It’s the Right Time” (Kids Incorporated original; lead vocals by Eric)
• “Heat of the Moment” (After 7 cover; lead vocals by Eric and Kenny)
• “King of Wishful Thinking” (Go West cover; lead vocals by Eric, Robin and Haylie)

Tropes associated with this episode:

• Evolving Credits: Minor version; as the credits for the dancers, Sean O’Riordian, guests and closing credits are now done with the titles in purple while white is the color of the names.
• Kidanova: Eric is depicted as this.
• Shout-Out:
  • The episode title is a spoof of “A Hard Day’s Night” by The Beatles.
  • One of the girls being named Dorain is one of two characters named after Kids Inc’s choreographer Dorain Grusman^note the other one is a dance instructor played by former Kids Inc. dancer Wendy Brainard in Season 8’s penultimate episode; “On Your Toes”
• Two-Timer Date: Eric ends up making dates with three girls simultaneously.
• Welcome Episode: For Eric Balfour; Haylie Johnson and Anastasia Horne along with all the dancers