7.6 /10 1 Votes
8.2/10 TV Original language(s) English | 7/10 IMDb Country of origin United States First episode date 25 September 1998 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Created by Howard Adler
Robert Griffard Developed by Robert L. Boyett
Thomas L. Miller
Michael Warren Starring Mary-Kate Olsen
Ashley Olsen
Christopher Sieber
Sally Wheeler
Orlando Brown
Martin Spanjers
Ernie Grunwald Theme music composer Jesse Frederick &
Bennett Salvay Network American Broadcasting Company Program creators Howard Adler, Robert Griffard Cast Mary‑Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, Christopher Sieber, Sally Wheeler, David Valcin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Two of a Kind is an American sitcom that aired on ABC as part of the network's TGIF line-up, starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in their first television series since Full House ended in 1995. The show aired from September 25, 1998 to July 9, 1999.
Contents
The series was produced by Griffard/Adler Productions, Dualstar Productions, and Miller-Boyett-Warren Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television. It was the last series to be produced by Miller-Boyett Productions prior to the company's initial shutdown in 1999.
Premise
Kevin Burke (Christopher Sieber) is a college professor and widowed father living in Chicago, Illinois, who believes there is a scientific explanation for everything except how to control his scheming 12 year old daughters. Mary-Kate and Ashley Burke (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) are fraternal twin sisters, who are complete opposites. Mary-Kate is a tomboy whose biggest interest is perfecting her jumpshot and curveball and whose worst subject in school is math. Ashley is a girly girl who makes straight A's and dreams of a modeling career and dancing. Kevin's wife died prior to the series.
The other main character is Carrie (Sally Wheeler), a 26-year-old woman in Kevin's class, who has come late to college after exploring the world. Carrie is quirky, difficult, beautiful, and quick to speak her mind, so when she answers Kevin's ad for a part-time baby sitter for the girls, he is convinced she's nothing but trouble and is in favor of their next door neighbor Mrs. Baker baby sitting Mary-Kate and Ashley. The girls think she is a dream-sitter come true, and agree to put their differences aside to join forces to make a little chemistry between their by-the-book father and the beautiful woman who seems to drive him crazy in all the right ways.
Main cast
Recurring cast
Theme music and opening sequence
The theme music which accompanied the opening title sequence was composed by Jesse Frederick and Bennett Salvay, and was the second theme composed by Frederick and Salvay that does not include lyrics, coming after The Family Man, which was also produced by Miller-Boyett.
The opening sequence varied slightly from week to week, featured clips of Kevin, Carrie and the girls playing in the park. The scenes, which always slightly vary include, the girls rollerblading, the girls on the swing with Carrie, the girls playing frisbee with Kevin, Carrie and Kevin playing basketball, Carrie, Kevin and the girls playing a very large beach ball. The opening sequence only includes the show title and the executive producers' names, unlike previous Miller-Boyett series, whose opening sequences featured the cast and producers names in the sequence. The names of the show's cast members were instead shown in the opening teaser, prior to the opening credits.
Syndication
After its cancellation, the show gained more of an audience when reruns began airing on ABC Family in the United States. It ran on the network starting in 1999 (a few months after its cancellation), when the network was Fox Family, and continued after the channel's purchase by Disney until 2004. ABC Family separated the closing credits and the tag scene, in the manner that they originally aired on ABC.
In the United Kingdom, reruns of the series also aired on Nickelodeon UK and Disney Channel UK. The international networks run the closing credits over the tag scene.
Books
Some episodes were written and released as books. Some other Two of a Kind novels were just made up by the authors. As of December 16, 2006, 40 books have been released. Some of the books are in the "Two of a Kind Diaries" subseries, where they are written in the girls' perspectives, as if they are writing in a diary. The first book is "It's a Twin Thing". Initially, the books are actually simplified versions of the episode scripts, while currently, they just feature its main characters.
Despite the lack of success for the television series, the books are more successful towards children and pre-teens.