So Little Time
So Little Time is an American sitcom starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in their second television series since the short-lived Two of a Kind ended in 1999. It aired on Fox Family: the first half of the series aired from June 2 to August 15, 2001, and the series then went on a four-month hiatus owing to network management changes. By December 2001, Fox Family had become ABC Family, and the remaining episodes aired from December 1, 2001, until May 4, 2002. So Little Time reruns briefly aired on Nickelodeon in 2015.[1]
| So Little Time | |
|---|---|
 The main cast of So Little Time: The Carlsons and housekeeper Manuelo (far behind) | |
| Created by | Eric Cohen Tonya Hurley |
| Starring | Mary-Kate Olsen Ashley Olsen Clare Carey Eric Lutes Jesse Head Taylor Negron Natashia Williams |
| Theme music composer | Ollie Jacobs, James Barnett and Lalo Creme |
| Opening theme | "So Little Time" by Arkarna |
| Ending theme | "So Little Time" |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 26 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Eric Cohen Robert Thorne Mary-Kate Olsen Ashley Olsen Mark Blutman |
| Camera setup | Videotape; Single/Multi-camera |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Dualstar Productions |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | Fox Family (2001) ABC Family (2001–2002) |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
| Original release | June 2, 2001 – May 4, 2002 |
Cast and characters
Main cast
- Mary-Kate Olsen as Riley Carlson
- Ashley Olsen as Chloe Carlson
- Clare Carey as Macy Carlson
- Eric Lutes as Jake Carlson
- Jesse Head as Spartacus Lawrence “Larry” Slotnick
- Taylor Negron as Manuelo Del Valle
- Natashia Williams as Tedi
Recurring cast
- Amy Davidson as Cammie Morton
- Wendy Worthington as Ellen Westmore
- Ben Easter as Lennon Kincaid
Broadcasting
In Canada, Family Channel aired reruns of the series weekdays at 6:00pm until June 28, 2007, when they were replaced by Zoey 101. In the United Kingdom, the show aired on BBC One 22nd September 2001 and on the Children's Channel CBBC. Some episodes had a shorter running time than others because of the removal of the "behind the scenes" featurettes.
Later in the series, the show starts with the crew wandering around the set with the camera following them. They talk about today's events, such as the birthday of an actor on the set. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen usually appear in this segment.
A short "behind the scenes" featurette was sometimes included at the end of an episode as well. Although retained on the Warner Home Video VHS and DVD releases, these were always edited out of the U.K. terrestrial transmissions.
Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "A Dog Day Afternoon" | Rich Correll | Eric Cohen & Tonya Hurley | June 2, 2001 | 101 |
| Chloe comes up with a unique theory that boys are no different from dogs. While visiting her father, she then tests this theory in real life on Travis, a boy living in the trailer next door to her dad's. This results in her being humiliated. | |||||
| 2 | "Siblings in the City" | Rich Correll | Becky Southwell | June 9, 2001 | 103 |
| Chloe decides to write a dating column for the newspaper, using her family as a source of inspiration. Bad choice. | |||||
| 3 | "The Color of Money" | Rich Correll | Erik Shapiro & Patrick McCarthy | June 16, 2001 | 106 |
| While the girls raise money for school by selling clothes, Larry purchases tickets for a concert the girls really want to attend by taking the money from the school charity fund without telling them. | |||||
| 4 | "There's Something About Riley" | Mark Cendrowski | Eric Cohen | June 23, 2001 | 107 |
| Riley finds herself unknowingly in a romantic tug-of-war between Larry and Tony. Meanwhile, there is a bush fire and the whole family are thrown into panic as Macy tries to reach Jake on the phone to warn him about the fire, but he does not pick up. The family is made to evacuate to West Malibu High School. | |||||
| 5 | "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" | Mark Cendrowski | Michael S. Baser & Frank Dungan | June 30, 2001 | 108 |
| Riley reluctantly agrees to give history notes to the "baddest" girl in school in exchange for her and Chloe being invited to a wild late-night party, which they luckily sleep through. | |||||
| 6 | "You've Got Mail" | Mark Cendrowski | Michael S. Baser & Frank Dungan | June 29, 2001 | 109 |
| Chloe attempts to make friends with a grumpy senior citizen, while Riley kisses Larry, and then spends the rest of the day denying it. Macy and her high school crush plan to meet, and once Jake learns of this, he attempts to interrupt them during their "get-together". | |||||
| 7 | "Manuelo in the Middle (Part 1)" | Rich Correll | Michael S. Baser & Frank Dungan | July 7, 2001 | 104 |
| When the girls' male nanny, Manuelo, is upset about not being included in the family photo, he quits. Riley and Chloe try to come up with a plan to lure him back. To be continued... | |||||
| 8 | "Manuelo in the Middle (Part 2)" | Rich Correll | Michael S. Baser & Frank Dungan | July 14, 2001 | 105 |
| Riley and Chloe continue their plan to try to get "The Missing Manuelo" back. | |||||
| 9 | "True Lies" | Mark Cendrowski | Marcy Vosburgh | July 21, 2001 | 110 |
| Rather than admit they're having a tough time, the twins try to cheat their way through classes, only to have it backfire. | |||||
| 10 | "Tedi's Burnout" | Rich Correll | Eric Cohen | July 28, 2001 | 111 |
| Rather than being honest, Riley tries to avoid getting into a fight with Chloe. Meanwhile, Tedi decides to "take a break" from modeling. | |||||
| 11 | "Teacher's Pet" | Rich Correll | Matt Martin & Jody Milks | August 11, 2001 | 112 |
| The girls are shocked when their father starts dating their teacher. | |||||
| 12 | "Rules of Engagement" | Rich Correll | Michael S. Baser & Frank Dungan | August 18, 2001 | 114 |
| The girls try to live their own separate lives, but they start driving everyone around them crazy. | |||||
| 13 | "Outbreak" | Rich Correll | Joshua Keene | December 1, 2001 | 115 |
| A lie becomes reality when Chloe covers for Riley's fake sickness but then gets sick herself and infects the whole family. | |||||
| 14 | "The Breakfast Club" | Rich Correll | Michael S. Baser & Frank Dungan | December 15, 2001 | 102 |
| Chloe tries desperately to get detention for herself so she can spend time with a student named Travis. This causes all of her schoolmates to get detention when her teachers do not believe that "sweet, innocent Chloe" would be so bad. | |||||
| 15 | "The New Guy" | Jean Sagal | Mark Blutman | January 12, 2002 | 122 |
| Chloe meets a new guy named Lennon, who tends to make her everyday routine something of a mess. Meanwhile, Riley hurts Larry's feelings by forgetting his birthday. | |||||
| 16 | "The Massage" | Jean Sagal | Becky Southwell | January 19, 2002 | 117 |
| Riley becomes addicted to massage therapy, while Chloe tries to work up the nerve to ask Lennon out on a date. | |||||
| 17 | "Riley's New Guy" | Jean Sagal | Michael S. Baser & Frank Dungan | January 26, 2002 | 120 |
| While Riley has to fight off rumors about a recent date, Chloe finally lets Lennon know that she likes him. | |||||
| 18 | "The Wheelchair" | Jean Sagal | Randi Barnes | February 2, 2002 | 121 |
| When Riley goofs around in a wheelchair, a student named Rob (Billy Aaron Brown), who uses a wheelchair full time, gets the wrong idea. Riley continues her charade, not thinking of the truth's eventual impact on Rob. | |||||
| 19 | "The Job" | Jean Sagal | Randi Barnes & Jeny Quine | February 9, 2002 | 126 |
| To save money for a car, the girls get jobs as waitresses, but they quickly discover that it is not their ideal job. | |||||
| 20 | "The Flat Tire" | Jean Sagal | Barry Safchik | February 16, 2002 | 124 |
| During a driving lesson with a family friend, Riley and Chloe end up stranded on the side of the road when the car gets a flat tire. A passing motorist very kindly offers to help, but the twins' gratitude is short-lived when the guy turns out to be a car thief who steals the car. Meanwhile, Cammie and Larry think that a real estate agent is an acting agent, and Cammie pretends to be a famous celebrity, with Larry as her pretend stalker. In the end, the real estate agent has Larry arrested so that Cammie will be safe. | |||||
| 21 | "The Volunteer" | Jean Sagal | Jeny Quine | March 2, 2002 | 123 |
| Riley and Chloe must cope with the death of an elderly woman named Dolores, whom Riley "adopts". Meanwhile, Cammie is freaking out when there's no entertainment for the coffeehouse. Larry tells Cammie that he will gladly sing at the coffeehouse. The crowd hates his songs, so he sings a song about Cammie's personal life. He becomes a success, but his songs hurt Cammie's feelings. So, Cammie sings a song about Larry's personal life. She and Larry have a fight and break up. After they break up, Larry immediately goes onto the stage and starts singing a song, and Cammie soon joins in, ultimately getting them back together. | |||||
| 22 | "Trading Places" | Jeff Meyer | Erik Shapiro | March 9, 2002 | 116 |
| Things go terribly wrong when Riley, Chloe, and Larry collaborate on a science project. | |||||
| 23 | "Larrypalooza" | Rich Correll | Michael S. Baser & Frank Dungan | March 16, 2002 | 118 |
| Chloe, Riley, and Larry decide to create a band to participate in the school's "War of the Bands". Meanwhile, Larry catches the eye of a popular girl named Tanya, which surprisingly makes Riley jealous. | |||||
| 24 | "Look Who's Talking" | Rich Correll | Eric Cohen | March 23, 2002 | 119 |
| When the Carlsons' cable is turned off, they all have to find a way to get along without television. | |||||
| 25 | "Waiting for Gibson" | Rich Correll | Marcy Vosburgh | April 27, 2002 | 113 |
|
A case of mistaken identity leads to Chloe losing the affection of her secret admirer. Meanwhile, a security guard frantically chases Manuelo around a television studio. Guest star: Drake Bell as Himself with his band | |||||
| 26 | "Sweet 16" | Jean Sagal | Eric Cohen | May 4, 2002 | 125 |
| In the series finale, misunderstanding what they overheard, Riley and Chloe show up for their surprise 16th birthday party on the wrong night. Meanwhile, Cammie and Larry make a documentary for Riley and Chloe. At the end of the episode, everyone watches the documentary. After that, Riley and Chloe ask where their car is. The series ends when Cammie announces that she and Larry have got to go but they will see them tomorrow. | |||||
Home Media
From 2002 to 2003, Warner Bros. and DualStar released 4 separate volumes of the show on DVD and VHS. Each volume contained 6 episodes each for a total of 24 episodes. In 2005, those 4 volumes were packaged together as one box set containing a fifth DVD with the only two episodes that had not yet been released to DVD ("Outbreak" and "Look Who's Talking"). This box set was titled So Little Time: 5 DVD Gift Set. The episodes on the gift set are not presented in air date or production order, because it is simply a repackaging of the individual DVD releases and each release had its own theme.
Although the gift set and individual releases for volumes 1 - 4 have since gone out of print, volumes 1 - 4 were re-released in 2017 as two 2-disc "double feature" sets, the first containing volumes 1 and 2 and the second containing volumes 3 and 4. The bonus disc containing "Outbreak" and "Look Who's Talking" has not been re-released and those two episodes remain only available as part of the 5 DVD Gift Set package.
- So Little Time, Volume 1: School's Cool (August 13, 2002)
- So Little Time, Volume 2: Boy Crazy (August 13, 2002)
- So Little Time, Volume 3: About A Family (August 13, 2002)
- So Little Time, Volume 4: Hangin' Out (June 3, 2003)
- So Little Time: 5 DVD Gift Set (September 6, 2005)
Books
Several episodes of So Little Time were novelized and published in book form by HarperCollins Entertainment. The series also featured new original stories based on the show, which were written by the same authors. As of the spring of 2008, 17 So Little Time books have been released, following the lives of Chloe and Riley.
- How to Train a Boy
- Instant Boyfriend
- Too Good To Be True
- Just Between Us
- Tell Me About It
- Secret Crush
- Girl Talk
- The Love Factor
- Dating Game
- A Girl's Guide to Guys
- Boy Crazy
- Best Friends Forever
- Love is in the Air
- Spring Breakup
- Get Real
- Surf Holiday
- The Makeover Experiment
Soundtrack
A soundtrack album featuring the show's theme song as well as other music featured in the series was released by Trauma Records and Dualstar Records in June 2001, and was made available on iTunes, Amazon MP3 and Spotify on June 5, 2010 by Kirtland Records.
- Arkarna - "So Little Time"
- Noogie - "Mr. Fabulous"
- Jason Feddy - "The Beautiful Few"
- Joey Kingpin - "Rock It"
- Vienna - "Where I Wanna Be"
- Ritalin - "Stuck Like Glue"
- George Tenen III and James Pennington - "You Make Me Love You More"
- Lovepie - "Thoughts of You"
- The Getaway People - "Superstar"
- Chad Hollister - "Leavin' Home"
- Crashpalace - "Brickwall"
- The Weekend - "Punk Rock Show"