I don’t know if it’s just because I’m getting old, but every time I type out the episode number, I’m always shocked that it’s so low. I feel like Adam and I have been doing this show for years! I guess that’s a testament to how much fun we have, but each time I write one of these, I’m like “This is episode 86, right?” NOPE! Anyway, in what is “only” episode 34, we’re discussing the 2-season 80s sitcom Double Trouble. I had honestly never heard of this show before Adam excitedly suggested it, and you don’t say “No” to an excited Adam!
Debuting as a midseason NBC show in 1984, Double Trouble starred Katey Sagal’s younger twin sisters, Liz & Jean Sagal. The duo got up to “twin antics” while their widower dad started up a secret relationship with their mom’s best friend, future Jill Taylor Patricia Richardson. During its 8-episode, Iowa-set first season, it was week after week of typical Twin Shenanigans. “Twinanigans”? “Shenanitwins”? There’s something there. I’m gonna need to workshop that.
Anyway, when it was renewed for a second season, the setting was changed to New York City, and the girls were aged up from teenagers to young adults, trying to make it in the big city. After 15 episodes of avoiding being mugged in Times Square, and waving to the Statue of Liberty, NBC put the show out to pasture. Here’s where it gets interesting, though: it still ranked higher than a few other shows that would also be canceled, like AfterMASH, Charles in Charge (network run), and E/R. It also ranked higher than a lot of shows that would end up being renewed, like Moonlighting, Airwolf, and St. Elsewhere. Its ratings put it somewhere around 54th for the season, which isn’t terrible, leading me to wonder why it wasn’t shopped to first-run syndication after the NBC cancellation. Oh well, we talk about all that and more in this episode, which you can find here or wherever you get your podcasts!.
