Double Trouble (1984)

They peaked with Grease 2

Maxi-burger, Maxi-burger

Yum, yum, yum!

Maxi-burger, Maxi-burger

Makes you wanna hum

Hmmmmmm!

The Doublemint gum twins

Mostly what I remember about this show was the annoying Jamaican accent of the character played by Anne-Marie Johnson (a.k.a. the Designer Impostors version of Vanessa Williams).

OMG, totally remember this show, OP!

The twins are Katey Sagal's younger sisters.

I remember some business with a bear in the second season

In the second season they brought in Barbara Barrie as their aunt, hoping for a Mrs. Garrett type like they had on Facts of Life (as Double Trouble followed "Facts" on the network schedule)

It didn't work

Yes, I remember it. Thanks for asking.

The beginning of the end was the mistake of moving the girls from Iowa to NYC

Yeah that didn't seem very well thought out, r9. I think everyone assumed the two Lenny/Squiggy-ish guys living with the aunt were a gay couple until one of them revealed his crush on one of the twins. The main problem was the novelty of twin characters isn't really that entertaining once they're adults. You want to see them when they're kids or teens pulling switcheroo shenanigans.

It's like me momma always say...you nothing but a cut rate Vanessa Williiams!

Jean Sagal was the Associate Director for 2 Broke Girls and Two and a Half Men

Wow, had totally forgotten this!

I watched it every week as a kid. The last season was on Saturday nights.

Yes watched it faithfully. I liked Barbara Barrie but she should have moved to Des Moines instead of the girls going to NYC.

Post the tv intro

The dad was kinda hot

Theme song

I've always liked older guys, and after watching the opening intro I think it started with the twins Dad.

Jean Sagal was formerly Barbara and is a lesbian. She went through a lifestyle change and became Jean. Despite Paramount's claims that big names were the top contenders, Liz was actually the frontrunner for "Flashdance" and might have gotten Alex had she not gone to Japan to do some modeling. The lousy supporting role she played in the movie was her consolation prize.

I thought the two guys, James Vallely and Jonathan Schmock, pinged. You might remember Schmock as the snooty maitre d' in the fancy restaurant.

It premiered the same year that Miami Vice did.

The dad was Canadian actor Donnelly Rhodes, who also was a regular on "Soap," and was the lower-class suitor that Blanche dumped on GG. The mother was Patricia Richardson, who went on to greater fame and success as the wife on "Home Improvement."

Thank you r23! I just watched that GG and was trying to remember who he was, I knew he played the dad on an 80's show and kept thinking of "Gimme a Break" for some reason, don't know why I didn't just IMDB but thanks to you, I didn't have to.

The late Donnelly Rhodes was a sexy daddy.

Jonathan Schmock does anti-Trump political cartoons.

[quote]You might remember Schmock as the snooty maitre d' in the fancy restaurant.

R21, I think you forgot to add: in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

Yes. Yes I did.

R23 he was also Phillip Chancellor ii on “The Young and The Restless” in the mid-70’s.

Not sure which twin this is but she was not bad.

It really jumped the shark in that episode where the girls resorted to doing twin porn to save their dad’s dance studio.

Riding jet skis as the Doublemint Gum twins

That routine at r30 seems really basic and unimpressive for a professional dancer.

The show had a lot of potential.

I loved it

Yeah, I thought it was weird that it only went two seasons and died. It seemed very much a four-season NBC show of that period. And it actually ranked #43 in its second season, which would have gotten it renewed easily a year earlier.

If they'd kept it in Iowa but introduced the Lenny/Squiggy characters and paired it with Facts of Life, that might have worked better.

But I guess they figured that if the twins were 16 in the first season (and, honestly, looked more like 26), the show's future wasn't high school.

The twins and Katey have zero resemblance in the face.

“Iowa? Is that where the winds come sweeeeeping down the plains?”

When the show debuted, the twins were 23 and looked every minute of it.

The second-season credits showed that NBC had a bit more money to spend, post-Cosby.

But they were shown in Trump Tower, so the bitches deserve to be crushed for helping build his myth.

The first-season credits made it look like a CTV or public-access production.

Liz referring to Jean as "full-figured" and Jean saying she's a little cuter to Johnny Carson in 1984.

WHET?

They were cute and still look pretty good for 57.

R30 I agree with R33. It's aerobic, cheerleader-esque and robotic, but not passable dancing for a network television show positioning her as an excellent dancer. I always found this show a bit cringe-worthy and the twins to not be good actresses.

She wasn't supposed to be a professional, R30/R33/R45. She was a high-school kid performing on local Iowa television.

Making even more money shilling for McDonalds

They should have made them identical cousins , a girly one and one that loses control over hot dogs.

I forgot this one! i loved this show but I can’t remember why. Maybe because I loved Grease 2. I watched both seasons too.

Wasn’t Double Trouble on around the same time as Square Pegs? I watched that show because I loved Girls Just Want to Have Fun. I was very loyal.

So weird. I just watched Grease 2 on TV a couple of nights ago. Horrible movie.

What I remember most about them, besides their sitcom, is that Lorna Left said she and Michelle dressed as twins for the cast wrap party so they could make fun of them. Michelle thought they were a pain in the ass on set because they were always bitching that they didn't get enough lines.

*Luft

Katy hates them

I was a ten-year-old gaybo in 1984 and *obsessed* with this show during its second season. The opening credits sequence, all fun and colorful NYC locations shot through a beautiful autumn duskiness, was everything I dreamed my future life would be.

Yeah, I ended up in more of a season-one-Boise kind of a life but this show still brings back sweet memories.

Bravo to whomever remembered the Maxi Burger jingle above.

R52 tell us the scoop!

R50 you’re on to something with Lorna Left. It feels right.

[quote] I thought the two guys, James Vallely and Jonathan Schmock, pinged.

Vallely definitely did. His daughter Tannis starred on ABC's "Head of the Class". She later went into casting and worked on "Arrested Development".

Jonathan Schmock is also the one playing cards with Mary Stuart Masterson when she waits with the limo when she drives Eric Stoltz and Lea Thompson on a date in "Some Kind of Wonderful."

I was a dancer back then and remember the “happy-go-lucky” twin being by far the better dancer.

While I remember this show, I never really watched it. Which is shocking, because I thought the only television show I didn't watch in the early to mid-80s was "The Lucie Arnaz Show".

But I recall they were two sisters who at the time were best known as the Doublemint Gum twins. Then a couple of years later, when Kathy Sagal starred on "Married With Children", I somehow became aware that she was their older sister. I can't be certain, but I'll blame People magazine. There was probably an article next to a Jim Palmer Jockey underwear ad.

I don't think I noticed at the time, but it's odd looking back to realize they looked more like mid-30s housewives than high school teens. I blame their hairdresser.

Kathy Sagal = Katey Sagal. Thank you, autocorrect.

R59 loves chiming in about something he admits knowing absolutely nothing of.

Wouldn't be surprised to see a Netflix all Latina reboot.

R62, considering the size of the Latin audience, that's actually not a bad idea. You could sell it to Central America as well.

Don't recall Double Trouble at all, not even as just the title.

Looking it up I see in 1983 it was opposite Night Court, CBS Wednesday Movie, and Dynasty. So I'd have been watching either the movie or Night Court.

In 1984 it was opposite TJ Hooker, Airwolf, and Gimme a Break. So I was probably reading a book.

R64 cool story.

Did The Go-Go's sing the theme song?

R66 They did not but it's a reasonable facsimile.

The girls' bedroom wall had a poster of the cover of Stevie Nicks' 1983 album, 'The Wild Heart.'

[quote]Looking it up I see in 1983 it was opposite Night Court,

Weren't they both NBC shows?

R69, correct.

So how did it run opposite Night Court?

[quote] Weren't they both NBC shows?

True, they shared the same time slot in different portions of the season.

Double Trouble wasn't on in 1983. It debuted in April 1984.

I just remember those chins

Was Linda Kaye Henning ever on it or am I thinking of a different show?

Jean and Liz talking about the Grease 2 casting process at 18:40

r75 Yes.

I prefer "Seein' Double".

Singing "Brad" in Grease 2

I loved this show.

Barbara Barrie has killed more than me

This could be rebooted as a modern-day drama.