They Thought I Was You

Today, we conclude our conversation about Mary-Kate and Ashley's final direct to video film, The Challenge (2003).

And if you know this movie, you know that the ending is what makes this film a piece of magic. Both Lani and Becca had parts of the surprise ending spoiled for them, so we thought we were prepared, but we absolutely weren't. We even thought we were prepared to talk about the ending, but we absolutely were not. So we cry as we talk about how Mary-Kate and Ashley knew this was their final film just for their fans, and how they gave us the sweetest sendoff we could have ever imagined.

We HIGHLY recommend watching this nice warm hug of a film, so if you don't still have the DVD or VHS, you can watch by clicking the link in SimplyOlsen's Instagram bio (which we are forever grateful for).

You can also watch the video version of this ep by subscribing to our Patreon here.

Find us on Social Media!
Instagram: @theythoughtiwasyou
TikTok: @theythoughtiwasyou
Becca: @beccaroth
Lani: @laniharms
Our producer Camara Rauen: @camararollin

Email us: [email protected]

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On May 3rd, 2003, Mary-Kate and Ashley released their last direct-to-video film, The Challenge, marking the end of an era. Yes, the sisters would go on to star in New York Minute a year later, but that would get a theatrical release, have much higher stakes, and was generally completely different.

Starting with the release of Billboard Dad in 1998, Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, with their manager Robert Thorne and their company Dualstar, carved out a niche in low budget direct-to-video films for teen girls, which was then solidified by the massive success of their sophomore dtv film, Passport to Paris. Over the next 5 years, these movies would function as the anchor for their brand, creating a genre of teenage fantasy travel films, and endearing the twins and their style to girls (and some boys!) all around the world. Though the quality and success of these films waned towards the end of their 5 year run, they were still beloved by many and played a pivotal role in making Mary-Kate and Ashley the most powerful young women in Hollywood. And The Challenge, a film about two estranged twin sisters Shane and Lizzie competing on a Survior-esque reality game show in Mexico, was their last one (and they knew it would be).

Months ago, we promised that as soon as the SAG-AFTRA strike was over, we would review this film for the podcast. When we made that promise, we had no idea the strike still had so many months left, and how difficult and painful this year would be. Watching this film now that a tentative deal has been reached was the greatest gift we ever could have been given, and you'll see why.

And in typical Becca & Lani fashion, we had simply too much to talk about, so we had to break this episode up into two parts. So,  we present to you the first part of our conversation about Mary-Kate and Ashley's penultimate film. Their final Dualstar direct-to-video feature. Their love letter to us, their fans.

We HIGHLY recommend watching this film before listening to this ep, and if you don't still have the DVD or VHS, you can do so by clicking the link in SimplyOlsen's Instagram bio (which we are forever grateful for).

You can also watch the video version of this ep by subscribing to our Patreon here.

Find us on Social Media!
Instagram: @theythoughtiwasyou
TikTok: @theythoughtiwasyou
Becca: @beccaroth
Lani: @laniharms
Our producer Camara Rauen: @camararollin

Email us: [email protected]

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Happy Halloween! In celebration of our favorite holiday, we're playing for you the ENTIRE Halloween episode of Two of a Kind: Nightmare on Carrie Street (ep 6).

Yes, this show was meant to be watched, but we think it actually works quite well as a little audio drama. We hope you enjoy the flawless writing and impeccable performances in this timeless show that is actually the best sitcom ever made.

You can also watch the video version of this ep by subscribing to our Patreon here.

"Nightmare on Carrie Street" was written by Fred Rubin, directed by Richard Correll and aired for the first time on Oct 30, 1998.

Find us on Social Media!
Instagram: @theythoughtiwasyou
TikTok: @theythoughtiwasyou
Becca: @beccaroth
Lani: @laniharms
Our producer Camara Rauen: @camararollin

Questions/thoughts? Email us at [email protected]

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We are THRILLED to be talking this week about Mary-Kate and Ashley's appearance at MTV's 2003 Video Music Awards and subsequent Rolling Stone Cover (and never again about Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action).

On August 28th 2003, Mary-Kate and Ashley made their second appearance at the MTV VMAs. For anyone who doesn't remember, this was a big year for the VMAs. This was the VMAs that opened with the notorious Britney Spears, Madonna & Christina Aguilera performance, and a tidbit that the history books don't mention is that Mary-Kate and Ashley were also there! They presented best pop video with David Spade, and every joke Chris Rock makes about them is as cringey as you can imagine.

We also talk about their red carpet interview with SuChin Pak before the show, who asks them how they feel about Rolling Stone calling them "America's Fantasy," in their iconic cover that was coming out just a week later. In this interview and in the Rolling Stone article, Mary-Kate and Ashley walk the impossible tightrope of posing for a magazine with notoriously sexy covers while denying an awareness of their own sexuality amidst a barrage of reminders that America has started sexualizing them.

We do our best to unpack this strange and unsettling time in pop culture history, and buckle up for the rollercoaster that is about to be our coverage of Mary-Kate and Ashley in 2003 & '04. We hope you enjoy this first chapter!

You can also watch the video version of this ep by subscribing to our Patreon here.

You can watch the full video of the 2003 VMAS here and read their Rolling Stone Article here.

Find us on Social Media!
Instagram: @theythoughtiwasyou
TikTok: @theythoughtiwasyou
Becca: @beccaroth
Lani: @laniharms
Our producer Camara Rauen: @camararollin

Questions/thoughts? Email us at [email protected]

Support the show

We can't believe we're finally here. Over the course of the last two months, we've done something we never thought we'd do, something no one asked us to do, something we  were maybe never *supposed* to do. We watched every single episode of Mary-Kate and Ashley's 2001 cartoon, Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action.

Today we talk about the last three surviving episodes of the series: episode 23 "Bad Hair Day, episode 24 "Horsing Around," and episode 26 "Tourist Traps." Since we only had three episodes left,  both Lani & Becca watch every episode and lovingly explain their ridiculously incoherent premises to you, so you don't have to watch them yourself. While describing Bad Hair Day, with probably the dumbest premise of them all, we get a bit melancholy. We realize we'll never see a new wacky and idiotic Mary-Kate and Ashley cartoon again (unless the abortion episode ever resurfaces from the ether), and that is a unique kind of sadness.

We sincerely hope you enjoyed this brave & unpredictable journey we went on together. We truly had a blast, and we cannot WAIT to talk about something, anything else.

Again, we INSIST, you don't have to watch this cartoon, but if you must, you can do so by clicking the link in SimplyOlsen's Instagram bio (which we are forever grateful for).

And here's the link to the Two of a Kind interview we reference in the ep.

You can also watch the video version of this ep by subscribing to our Patreon here.

Find us on Social Media!
Instagram: @theythoughtiwasyou
TikTok: @theythoughtiwasyou
Becca: @beccaroth
Lani: @laniharms

Email us: [email protected]

P.S. We will be going back to our bi-weekly schedule after this ep, so we will be back with a new episode on Oct 17!

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This is our FOURTH episode about Mary-Kate and Ashley's cartoon, Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action. We're completely out of control!!

Today we talk about episodes 12-15, 19, and 21, and we follow last week's format of taking turns telling each other what each episode was about. Admittedly, our brains start to bust a bit in this episode because hearing these bizarre plots over and over again made us start to lose our grip on reality. At least we can always know what to expect from on our favorite villains: Clive will eat cheese and abuse his butler, Rommy will make a technology to atone for her trauma as a repressed lesbian, and Rene La Rouge will concoct some cockamamy scheme for the sake of world beauty.

Again, we really don't think you need to watch this cartoon series, but if you'd like to, you can do so by clicking the link in SimplyOlsen's Instagram bio (which we are forever grateful for).

And you WILL want to watch our links to every Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action intro on our Instagram here and here.

You can also watch the video version of this ep by subscribing to our Patreon here.

Find us on Social Media!
Instagram: @theythoughtiwasyou
TikTok: @theythoughtiwasyou
Becca: @beccaroth
Lani: @laniharms

Do you want us to talk about Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action MORE? Email us: [email protected]

P.S. Yes, we are still planning on keeping our bi-weekly schedule, but we simply couldn't let this MKA in Action series go on for months, so we're going to back to every week until it's done. We hope you enjoy!

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Yes, we are still on our journey through Mary-Kate and Ashley's 2001 cartoon, Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action. We did not intend to do more than a single episode on this show. This is what Mary-Kate and Ashley do to us.

Today, we talk about episodes 7-12, but instead of us both watching every episode, we decided to tag-team it. Lani took the odd numbers and Becca took the even, and we take turns describing each episode to each other. We ended up having WAY more fun telling the stories of these episodes to each other than we did actually watching the show, and only get through four of the ten episodes we had planned on talking about. This has been the most bizarre turn in our Mary-Kate and Ashley deep dive, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

We are also joined by our "producer*" Celey Schumer who listens from the peanut gallery and adds incredibly valuable information, like informing us that New Zealand actually gets cold, and the title of Lindsay Lohan's 2002 spy movie.

We hope you enjoy listening to these bizarre cartoon plots SO much more than we enjoyed watching them. If you still insist on watching the full MK&A in Action series, you can do so by clicking the link in SimplyOlsen's Instagram bio (which we are forever grateful for).

You can also watch the video version of this ep by subscribing to our Patreon here.

Find us on Social Media!
Instagram: @theythoughtiwasyou
TikTok: @theythoughtiwasyou
Becca: @beccaroth
Lani: @laniharms

Did you work on this show and want to tell us some hot BTS goss? Email us: [email protected]

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Today we continue our journey watching Mary-Kate and Ashley’s fourth and final television series, Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action.

In this episode, we review episodes 2-6, and we also give a brief history of the cartoon series. We go over the myriad merchandise Dualstar created before it knew that the cartoon was a failure (including action figures, bed spreads, birthday party favors, etc), and the original pitch for the show as Mary-Kate and Ashley as crime fighting movie stars.

Then we dive into our review of the first quarter of this show to see if our predictions from the pilot were true. We discuss the surprisingly complicated themes of the episodes, including the shaming of women who want to wear makeup, the consequences of having a stolen childhood, the importance of diversity, and not letting your insecurities create bad behavior towards others. Despite these deep & interesting topics, these episodes were not very good at all. Except for maybe the beginning of Episode 6, which Lani forgot to watch.

Watch the video version of this ep by subscribing to our Patreon here.

Watch the full MK&A in Action series by clicking the link in SimplyOlsen's Instagram bio (which we are forever grateful for).

Find us on Social Media!
Instagram: @theythoughtiwasyou
TikTok: @theythoughtiwasyou
Becca: @beccaroth
Lani: @laniharms

Did you work on this show and want to tell us some hot BTS goss? Email us: [email protected]

Support the show

Incredible news!!! Ashley Olsen and her husband Louis Eisner had a BABY!! His name is Otto Mozart Eisner, and we are absolutely thrilled for them and Mary-Kate (AND Lizzie!!) for becoming aunts. We also think Otto is the cutest name ever, and will referring to him as Otto Olsen whether that’s his full name or not.

But also, the biggest story here is how Ashley managed to keep an entire pregnancy and birth completely hidden from the public until months after her baby was born. Though she is mostly out of the spotlight now, she is still an incredibly famous woman with many people still invested in her every move (including the paparazzi). Even rumors of a pregnancy would’ve caused a frenzy, but Ashley somehow managed to circumvent all of that. She moved into this new phase of life in complete privacy, which is something she was never given while she was growing up, and something she (and everyone) deserves so, so much.

Most importantly, she was able to escape the impossible scrutiny that emerges when celebrities go through pregnancy in the public eye. We discuss how Kim Kardashian basically had to apologize for having a human body when she was going through her first pregnancy, and how Jessica Simpson faced similar criticism with her last.

We really had no idea how we would make an entire episode out Ashley’s secret pregnancy, but it turns out, we had A LOT to say. We hope you enjoy, and most of all— congrats to the Olsen/Eisner family!

Watch the video version of this ep by subscribing to our Patreon here.

Ashley Olsen and the Power of Perfect Silence by Raven Smith: https://www.vogue.com/article/ashley-olsen-pregnancy-perfect-silence

Find us on Social Media!
Instagram: @theythoughtiwasyou
TikTok: @theythoughtiwasyou
Becca: @beccaroth
Lani: @laniharms

Are you a publicist and want to be on the pod?? Email us: [email protected]

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Come on, let's save the world-- AGAIN!

On October 20, 2001, Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action premiered on the ABC block Disney's One Saturday Morning (according to Wikipedia, but we know it from ABC Family). The show was the first and only animated television series starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and featured the twins fighting crime around the world with their robot dog, Quincy.  Neither Becca nor Lani ever watched this show, mainly because it was marketed towards little children, but also because it didn't seem very good. Now, we see if we were right.

Today we talk about the pilot episode, "SPF 5000," which we both watched for the very first time.  And let's just say... we had some disagreements. Becca came at this review more level headed and Lani, being overworked and sleep deprived, was way more amused by the entire episode than any 30-something watching a Mary-Kate and Ashley cartoon should be.

We discuss our initial impressions, our hopes and fears for future episodes, and even figure out this cartoon's place in the greater Mary-Kate and Ashley Universe. We also share our recent experiences at the Taylor Swift and Beyonce concerts, and explain why this episode isn't about the Barbie movie.

So strap into your government funded airboat and pack your stinky ass cheese, because we're going on a cartoon ride for the next few weeks, and its gonna get weird!

Watch the video version of this ep by subscribing to our Patreon here.

Watch the full MK&A in Action series by clicking the link in SimplyOlsen's Instagram bio (which we are forever grateful for).

Get the Mary-Kate and Ashley mugs we use in the podcast at EZinkDESIGNS's Etsy store

Find us on Social Media!
Instagram: @theythoughtiwasyou
TikTok: @theythoughtiwasyou
Becca: @beccaroth
Lani: @laniharms

Was this cartoon your favorite thing Mary-Kate and Ashley did??? Email us: [email protected]

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