Olsen Month continues! Mary-Kate and Ashley were everywhere in the 90s. Once they could start memorizing scripts, their career went beyond Full House. They formed the production company DualStar. And they started putting out videos which we girls gobbled up. I know I rushed out to the video store to pick up a new one—especially “The Mary-Kate and Ashley Mysteries.”
So, how do they hold up?
The premise is simple: Mary-Kate and Ashley run a detective agency from their attic. Every episode, they would receive a call from some colorful characters with cases clearly turned down by Scooby and the gang. Ghosts, monsters and the like are run-of-the-mill for these two. They bike to the location (always 15 minutes from their house—including Hawaii!) and start looking for clues. They then realize their “paranormal mystery” has a scientific explanation. Once everything is set right, they return home.
Upon a second watch, the writing doesn’t hold up. It’s actually pretty weak, even for a kid’s show. Characterization is non-existent. Mary-Kate and Ashley are essentially one person. No Mulder-Scully dynamic. One doesn’t rely on books while the other takes a hands-on approach. We don’t even have the tomboy vs. the girly-girl.
The plot has no tension. For a detective show, there’s a severe lack of clues. Usually the twins show up, find a clue or two and then go find the answer. There isn’t much guessing going on. And they always happen to know the right person to go talk to. In some ways, it’s insulting to the viewer and I’m surprised I didn’t pick up on this when I was younger. They don’t let the viewer try to guess what’s going on. Where’s the fun then?
Well, the fun seems to be watching Mary-Kate and Ashley solve problems adults can’t figure out (including the rocket scientists over at NASA). And when they get to go to cool locations like SeaWorld, Hawaii and space camp (a dream for the 90’s kid).
Speaking of SeaWorld…For a show with barely a plot and no characterization, it still had some continuity. Until they got to the SeaWorld adventure. In previous episodes, the Olsens were shown living in California. In the SeaWorld episode, it seems they are living in Florida. And are only children. But in other episodes, it is established they have a brother (played by the Olsens real life brother Trent) and a sister (played by their real life sister and now bigger movie star than them, Lizzie). The episode begins with them struggling to find a case and people putting down their detective agency. But in all the other episodes, they are “world famous.” There are many other issues—like how they suddenly couldn’t reach some place fifteen minutes away on their bikes despite going everywhere on them—but the main push is just to see both SeaWorld and later a cruise line.
The main reason for the series is to just serve as vehicles for the Olsens’ music career. Each episode had at least two songs in it (not including the theme song). What’s that? The Olsens had a music career? You bet! And we’ll discuss it next week.
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