Two of a Kind (American TV series)

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.

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 widower 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 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 As 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 babysitter for the girls, he is convinced she's nothing but trouble and is in favor of their next-door neighbor Mrs. Baker babysitting 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

 * Mary-Kate Olsen as Mary-Kate Burke – A 12-year-old tomboy who loves sports, horses, and modeling. She has two friends, Max and Brian. She also has a math tutor named Taylor. Mary-Kate suffers from Dyscalculia. Mary-Kate's favorite color is red.
 * Ashley Olsen as Ashley Burke – A 12-year-old girly girl who loves fashion, dancing, make up, cheerleading, and modeling. Ashley's a Straight A student. She's better at math than Mary-Kate. Ashley also has a first crush when Mary Kate's math tutor Taylor Donovan came over. She's friends with Nicole and the popular Jennifer Dilber. In "Carrie Moves In" Ashley joins Mary-Kate's karate class. Ashley's favorite color is green.
 * Christopher Sieber as Kevin Burke – The uptight father of Mary-Kate and Ashley. He is a strict, but loving parent who constantly worries about them. He is a widower; his wife Jan died three years prior to the series. With the encouragement of Carrie and Eddie, he reenters the dating scene. Kevin plays the saxophone.
 * Sally Wheeler as Carrie Moore – The bubbly, free-spirited babysitter of the twins, and a student of Kevin. Her confidence and ambition often drive Kevin crazy, but he sees that she is a good mother figure for the twins. She is an older student, having dropped out to explore the world for several years. Carrie eventually moves into the Burkes’ basement after Kevin accidentally causes her to get evicted from her apartment.
 * Martin Spanjers as Brian (episodes 1-13) – Mary-Kate and Ashley's friend and classmate. Although he is known to flirt with every girl at school, he has a crush on Ashley.
 * Orlando Brown as Max (episodes 1-13) – Mary-Kate and Ashley's friend and classmate. He seems to be very close with Brian.
 * Jesse Lee as Taylor Donovan (episodes 2-8) – Mary-Kate's math tutor and Ashley's first crush.
 * David Valcin as Edward "Eddie" Fairbanks (episodes 2-14) – Kevin's best friend since childhood, a flirty divorcee and professional plumber. He is known for constantly hitting on women and butting heads with Carrie.
 * Ernie Grunwald as Paul (episode 14-22; previously recurring) – Carrie's classmate. He is a computer whiz also has a Saturday job as a pizza delivery guy. He has a crush on Carrie, but is too afraid to admit it.

Recurring

 * Anastasia Emmons as Jennifer Dilber – Ashley's friend. Jennifer is the most popular girl in 7th Grade. Ashley invites Jennifer to a sleepover that she has in the hopes of becoming popular and getting to sit with her at lunch.
 * Samantha Smith as Nancy Carlson, Carrie's high school friend who dates Kevin. She is a botanist.
 * David Lascher as Matthew "Matt" Burke – Kevin's irresponsible younger brother. He briefly dated Carrie.

Notable guest stars

 * Jean Speegle Howard as Mrs. Baker, a neighbor of the Burkes who is Ashley and Mary-Kate's babysitter. She enjoys knitting and watching South Park. ("Putting Two 'N' Two Together", "Peeping Twins")
 * Rance Howard as Mr. Fillmore, a neighbor of the Burkes who becomes Mrs. Baker's boyfriend. ("Putting Two 'N' Two Together", "Peeping Twins")
 * David Sutcliffe as Rick, an arrogant student of Kevin ("First Crush")
 * Hallie Todd as Marci, Kevin's girlfriend ("Breaking Them Up Is Hard to Do")
 * Claire Stansfield as Tarrah James, a supermodel who asks Kevin on a date ("Model Behavior")
 * Kimberly J. Brown as Nicole, Ashley's friend ("You've Got a Friend", "My Boyfriend's Back")
 * Wayne Tippit as Father Conrad ("A Very Carrie Christmas")
 * Emile Hirsch as Jeremy ("Let's Date")
 * Patrick Fabian as Alex Reardon, Carrie's ex-boyfriend ("My Boyfriend's Back")

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 girls doing cartwheels and jumping around barefoot. It always slow-motion’s and freezes during certain parts and poses during the theme and the camera pans round, in a style/reference to The Matrix. 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.

Broadcast and 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 The Walt Disney Company until 2004. ABC Family separated the closing credits and the tag scene, in the manner that they originally aired on ABC.

In Italy, it aired on Disney Channel under the name Due gemelle e una tata (Two Twins and a Nanny) from January until February 2004.

In the United Kingdom, reruns of the series also aired on Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Pop Girl. The international networks ran 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.


 * 1) It's a Twin Thing
 * 2) How to Flunk Your First Date
 * 3) The Sleepover Secret
 * 4) One Twin Too Many
 * 5) To Snoop or Not to Snoop?
 * 6) My Sister the Super-model
 * 7) Two's a Crowd
 * 8) Let's Party!
 * 9) Calling All Boys (Diaries subseries, #1)
 * 10) Winner Take All (Diaries subseries, #2)
 * 11) P.S. Wish You Were Here (Diaries subseries, #3)
 * 12) The Cool Club
 * 13) War of the Wardrobes
 * 14) Bye-Bye Boyfriend
 * 15) It's Snow Problem
 * 16) Likes Me, Likes Me Not
 * 17) Shore Thing (Diaries subseries, #4)
 * 18) Two For The Road (Diaries subseries, #5)
 * 19) Surprise, Surprise
 * 20) Sealed With a Kiss
 * 21) Now You See Him, Now You Don't
 * 22) April Fools Rules
 * 23) Island Girls (Diaries subseries, #6)
 * 24) Surf, Sand & Secrets (Diaries subseries, #7)
 * 25) Closer Than Ever
 * 26) The Perfect Gift
 * 27) The Facts About Flirting
 * 28) The Dream Date Debate
 * 29) Love Set Match (Diaries subseries, #8)
 * 30) Making A Splash (Diaries subseries, #9)
 * 31) Dare To Scare (Diaries subseries, #10)
 * 32) Santa Girls (Diaries subseries, #11)
 * 33) Heart to Heart (Diaries subseries, #12)
 * 34) Prom Princess (Diaries subseries, #13)
 * 35) Camp Rock 'n' Roll (Diaries subseries, #14)
 * 36) Twist and Shout (Diaries subseries, #15)
 * 37) Hocus-pocus (Diaries subseries, #16)
 * 38) Holiday Magic (Diaries subseries, #17)
 * 39) Candles, Cake, Celebrate! (Diaries subseries, #18)
 * 40) Wish on a Star (Diaries subseries, #19)