SHOWS FOR YOUNGSTERS AND THEIR PARENTS TOO : Nick’s oddball brothers make Saturdays nights even quirkier than before

The Adventures of Pete & Pete. It’s like a sitcom in the “Twilight Zone.” Two brothers with the same name. Summer rituals of “beating up” waves. Defiant stands of staying up for 11 days. The quirky comedy has moved into Nickelodeon’s Saturday night programming block called “Snick” (as in Saturday Night Nickelodeon).

The addition of “Pete & Pete” pushes “Roundhouse” into the it’s-summer-so-kids-can-stay-up-later slot at 10 p.m.

Twisted tales and celebrity guests highlight the series, which focuses on the two Pete Wrigleys who live in a skewed suburbia with Dad and Mom Wrigley, who has a metal plate in her head. Big Pete is played by 16-year-old Michael Maronna; Little Pete is played by Danny Tamberelli, 12.

A three-way East Coast-West Coast conversation between Michael and Danny and an inquiring mind reveals how wry (Michael) and earnest (Danny) the two actors can get.

Mimicking Don Pardo, Michael booms, “The show’s well worth watching!”

“We get the best guest stars,” Danny says of the series, which has drawn popsters from Deborah Harry, Marshall Crenshaw, Julianna Hatfield and Syd Straw to R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe.

As bizarre as the show gets--and it can get out there--the TV siblings are confident the oddness accounts for the show’s popularity.

An outgrowth of some rather odd 60-second spots, “Pete & Pete” became a series last November. The spots were as offbeat as the series they spawned: teaching kids how to play stocking-head freeze tag; asking what they’d do for a dollar.

Michael may be best known to movie audiences as Macaulay Culkin’s tormenting older brother in “Home Alone.” “I’m the nasty one who says, ‘Kevin, you’re such a disease,’ ” Michael muses. In real-life, Michael’s the oldest to a brother, 14, and a sister, 13.

Meanwhile, Danny, who thinks of his on-screen brother as the real thing, went from commercials to the soap “Ryan’s Hope” before landing the role of Little Pete in 1989. Danny’s the oldest kid at home also. He has two little sisters, ages 7 and 3.

“We’re a little like our characters,” volunteers Danny, who, unlike Little Pete, is not tattooed. “I’m particularly like Little Pete because he’s very outgoing . . . “

“And he needs a beating,” Michael interjects in true brotherly fashion.

“No I don’t,” Danny says. “Don’t listen to him!”

Later, Danny confesses, “We get along really well and got close quick. I’d say he’s like a brother to me.”

“And he’s like a father to me,” Michael deadpans.

Actually, the two actors sound more like “normal” brothers than their characters.

“I’m bigger and older than he is, like my character,” jokes Michael. “But Big Pete’s more of a straight man than I am. He’s like the normal guy in the weird town. I’m more of the weird guy in a normal town.”

The Wrigley boys, Michael and Danny point out, are named Pete and Pete, “because it rhymes.”

“We can do stuff that regular kids can’t, like stay up all night, start a band in a day, be a big hit, have your own radio station,” Danny says.

Both actors attend regular school--Michael in Queens and Danny in New Jersey--every other week and are tutored when on the set.

Neither is particularly happy with this setup.

“You’re either ahead and then get bored when you are there . . . ,” Danny begins.

“Or you fall behind and then are given to sloth,” Michael finishes.

In real life, it’s often Danny who’s straight man to Michael.

Danny plays ice hockey and video games and collects comic books. “I’m just kind of like a regular kid. I want to be an actor or a rock-band bassist or I want to play professional hockey or football,” he says. To which Michael responds: “I skateboard and make fun of people. I want to be a professional groupie. Actually, I am totally unscrupulous; I just want to make money.”

Danny, in what seems a diversionary tactic, pipes in, “My favorite subject is social studies!”

“Mine,” Michael says, “is lunch.”

When it’s time for them to hang up, Danny, who announces he’s reading John Grisham’s “The Client,” adds he’s working on a script.

“Doh!” Michael says in a dead-on Homer Simpson impersonation. “You can’t get past the storyboard!”

“I’ve already done three pages!” Danny shoots a raspberry back.

Michael has his own production aspirations. After he finishes reading Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,” he hopes to make it into a short film. Eventually, there will be college in his future.

Meanwhile, both boys hope being added to the Snick block will draw even more of an audience to the show.

They don’t mind that school ends June 27 and that shooting for the fall season probably starts the day after. “That,” Michael says, more than a little tongue-in-cheek, “Is the price we pay for our art!”

“The Adventures of Pete & Pete” airs Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. and repeats Sunday at 12:30 p.m. on Nickelodeon. For ages 6 and up.