Twice as Nice

Twice As Nice

By: Jacquelyn Mitchard

I wanted to hate them. I truly, honestly tried to hate them. Like many people who think that having good taste means ordering the vinaigrette instead of the Thousand Island, I really believed that the Michelle character on the long-running ABC series Full House almost succeeded in making cute a four-letter word. I mean, as precociously played by the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley, little Michelle was a sappy kid to the fourth power.

So I figured that if they were sappy at 3, these little girls must have gone utterly to seed by the age of 10, in spite of the near-hysterical popularity they still inspire among kids nearly two years after the series ended.

In May, the pair shared the best actress honor in the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards for their 1995 feature, "It Takes Two," even beating Alicia Silverstone of "Clueless." Their TV-movie, How the West Was Fun, just out on video and going through the roof, proves nothing, except that kids like them. Kids also like Chee-tos.

But after taking the time to view another part of the Olsen twins' cottage industry, a direct-to-video series of detective stories, I should probably break open a bag myself -- before criticizing what I don't understand. Now nine in number, these videos -- "The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley" -- are charming, smart, well-produced, and appeal to a wide age range.

It just shows what the power of good writing can do with a pair of little comic naturals, exploited for years as the "Awww, how sweet" factor in a sitcom.

Oh, well. While I scrape the egg off my face, let me let you in on just what makes this series go beyond cute. In it, the detective pair ("Will Solve Every Crime by Dinner Time") go on the trail of such fishy phenomena as "The Case of the Shark Encounter," in which the girls track down the truth behind a trio of sharks that can apparently sing.

The Olsens sing too (with more will than melody, just like real kids), and the tunes in these "musical mysteries" are sharp and funny, as are the loads of natural-science facts and problem-solving skills laced into the plots.

After watching a neighbor's daughters, ages 2 and 4, mesmerized by the adventures, I tested them on my own manly 7 and 9 year-old sons. The boys were just as captivated by the effects and jokes, and angled for an encore.

So, OK, these videos are knocking down the competition in the kid-vid market, second only to Disney, and for a very sound reason, one a jaded old critic might not suspect.

They're good. Now, please pass the Chee-tos.