Brothers and Sisters a Relative Delight

By: Michelle Greppi

Before there was "The Truman Show," there were the Olsen Twins, literally growing up before the nation's very eyes as Michelle Tanner, the baby in "Full House."

Over eight TV years, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen blossomed into a mini-entertainment industry, spinning off TV movies, home videos and hit CDs on which they warbled songs that you couldn't help but like about which twin was the cute one and which was the smart one.

Now, three years after ABC shuttered their popular sitcom as too expensive, the cute one and the smart one are back where they started - in a house built by producers Miller-Boyett to be less full and but bursting with the old appeal that eludes many adults but not young girls.

Now the Olsens are "Two of a Kind," identical twins with Suzanne Somers hair, but individual wardrobes (all the better to appeal to little shoppers) and different personalities (Mary-Kate's the tomboy and Ashley's the mall girl).

They play 11-year-olds whose mother died three years ago and who convince their professor father they need more of a femme confidante than a babysitter.

Against his beter judgment, he hires a free-spirit student (Sally Wheeler) who understands baseball and girl stuff.

"Two of a Kind" is not going to win any Emmys, but it will win hearts, which makes it the perfect starter for a lineup that's safely back in the TGIF groove. The evening ends with "Brother's Keeper," which actually could become a guilty pleasure for adults.

"Keeper" is another variation on the "Full House" model: One fussbudget single father (William Ragsdale) is pushing his son (Justin Cooper) to be an over-and-overachiever. And he's rather successful at it until his party-hearty pro football palyer brother (Sean O'Bryan) moves in because he's in need of adult supervision if he is to live up to the terms of his last chance team contract.

O'Bryan and Ragsdale and Cooper play very nicely together. Dad looks on in horr as his brother teaches his son how to blow marbles out of his nose. Of course, when he lets his hair down, the marble gets stuck in his nose and has to be removed by an adorable nurse at the hospital.

But all's well that ends, well, with dad in possession of the nurse's phone number and the understanding that his son now has a role model.

We can hardly wait for the first crossover visit between "Kind" and "Keeper".

O'Bryan and Wheeler are sleepover material.