User reviews

I just finished watching "The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries" Season One DVD set. I must admit that I had a great time with the series. Sure, this stuff is pretty simplistic, but it's fun. The show is really pretty tame and the mysteries aren't very involved. It would probably be a good watch for the whole family.

Highlights of the first season include - Richard Kiel in The Mystery of the Haunted House, Shaun Cassidy singing in a couple of the later Hardy Boys episodes, Jamie Lee Curtis and Robert Englund in The Mystery of the Fallen Angels, and the way a couple of the episodes, particularly The Mystery of the Whispering Walls and The Disappearing Floor, were put together. Good stuff!

I'm probably a little more biased in favor of "The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries" than some would be. In 1977, I was 13 and fit perfectly into the shows demographic. Back then, I thought this stuff was better than sliced bread. Ahh, the memories.

We watched this on the new cable as kids, and loved every moment. What prepubescent kid didn't. Parker Stevenson and teen-idol Shaun Cassidy in the boy-detective lead roles of Frank and younger brother Joe. Then soon introducing the Poseidon Adventures, Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew. It all worked and flowed brilliantly. Parker was already a seasoned young actor, and Shaun played his own role well. Not to mention the Powers included his vocal talents later into the series. The guys played well off each other. And when coupled with Nancy on certain episodes, the three truly meshed.

Watching it today as an adult, most of the episodes flow decently enough, though some scenes or dialogue appear to drag in certain places. But that may well have been the original editing. Overall, this classic '70s series has retained its original charm, and is well worth watching and re-watching.

Looking back at the Hardy Boys episodes, it is amazing that they could get by with such poor scripts and mediocre acting. But one has to remember that the entire success of these shows was based on the teen idol appeal of Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson. These boys weren't acting; they were performing acts of S & M (standing and modeling). As long as those blow-dried, pouffed-out hair don'ts were perfect with every hair in place, nothing else mattered. It is amusing to note that the boys still had perfect hair after deep sea diving, laying comatose in a hospital, and having the %$# kicked out of them. The vision of Shaun running through a fire engulfed room with soot on his face and perfect hair stretches credibility to the limit. What is even more ridiculous is how the Hardy Boys were crammed into very tight pants, leaving NOTHING to the viewers' imagination. Even the most brain-dead preteen could quickly figure out that Shaun dressed to the left and Parker dressed to the right. (And neither boy had anything to be ashamed of in that department.) The Nancy Drew episodes were less popular in their day, but the acting and writing was far superior to that of the Hardy Boys. Unable to play the teen idol card, Pamela Sue Martin actually had to act, and her talents in that department were almost as sizeable as what the Hardy Boys were not hiding in their pants. Pamela was also much less preoccupied with perfect appearance. She actually allowed her clothes to get dirty and her hair did occasionally get messed up. But Martin's most astounding feat was climbing up ladders, running down alleys, and jumping across rooftops in 3-inch heels. This makes her a much bigger super-heroine than Wonder Woman.

When I was eleven or twelve, I fell madly in love with The Hardy Boys! I was an avid fan of the television series starring Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy. Recently, I have been able to enjoy the series again on American video.

The series was based on the 'Hardy Boys' books by Franklin W. Dixon, although was largely updated for the 1970s. Frank and Joe Hardy were the eighteen- and seventeen-year-old sons of Detective Fenton Hardy (Edmund Gilbert). They lived in the fictional coastal town of Bayport in Massachusetts. Although both their parents featured in the books, in the t.v. series they had no mother and were cared for by their stern but loving Aunt Gertrude (Edith Atwater), their father's sister. In the first season of the series, the boys were still at school and most of the action took place in Bayport.(Also, their hair was shortest in this series and suited them best!) In the second season, the mysteries took them to more exotic locations such as Hong Kong, Acapulco and Africa. By the third series, the boys were in their early twenties and working for the F.B.I. They were joined on some mysteries by girl detective Nancy Drew (almost certainly the future Mrs. Frank Hardy), played first by Pamela Sue Martin, then by Janet Louise Johnson (whom I preferred).

The casting of Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy as Frank and Joe was near-perfect as they complemented each other handsomely (pun certainly intended!) Parker Stevenson as blue-eyed Frank was very much the leader, taking the initiative and making the decisions most of the time. He tended to be headstrong but was more reserved emotionally than his younger brother. Shaun Cassidy played Joe as tending to be in his elder brother's shadow and adopting a rather cynical view of matters. Although Joe generally conceded to Frank, he was more than capable of taking initiative and working independently (one example being his selfless rescue of a little girl from a fire in 'Arson and Old Lace'). He showed emotion more readily than Frank (such as in 'Dracula' when their father was seriously injured).

Edmund Gilbert's role as Fenton Hardy tends to be overlooked although he was a real sweetie. He was dedicated to his work but always found time for his sons. Firm but benevolent, he admonished Frank and Joe when necessary but was equally ready to console them. The Hardy men made a very close family unit and I think this is what I liked most about the series. Most of the adventures featured Frank and Joe becoming involved in one of their father's cases. The Hardys were intensely loyal and were always there for each other. This was perhaps best shown by their mutual devastation and subsequent joy in the episode 'Sole Survivor' from the second season. (It made me cry. Watch it to find out what happened!)

After 'The Hardy Boys', Edmund Gilbert tended to be heard rather than seen in his acting career. During the 1980s and 1990s, he voiced dozens of films and t.v. programmes. He died from lung cancer in May 1999 aged sixty-seven. Parker Stevenson has continued to appear in films and t.v. series, including as Craig Pomeroy in 'Baywatch'. He was married to Kirstie Alley and they had two children. Shaun Cassidy acted and sang for a while before turning to producing and writing. He has married three times and has four children.

Although it looks rather dated now, 'The Hardy Boys' is still a most enjoyable adventure series to watch. The plots were well thought out, combining action, mystery, emotion, a little romance, good supporting roles and, often, twists at the end. And - Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy had such lovely smiles and were just so CUTE!

As far as 1970s adventure tv for young people goes (most were really cheap and dumb), this was a fine series.

But the writes and producers really dropped the ball on the Nancy drew segments. The first Drew episode was a perfect modern adaptation - the characters were right (especially George) and the 'gothic lite' mystery was intriguing. But after that it seemed like the writers (all make, I'd guess) just didn't know how to come up with suitable stories. Nancy was almost immediately shifted to a secondary character in her own segment, the action carried by male guest stars. It was only a few episodes before the Hardy Boys took over entirely. Nancy just made guest appearances.

It's kind of sad.

I loved the show as a child. I purchased season one as soon as it came out on DVD. I want to know when seasons two and three will be out on DVD. I can't wait to purchase them. This show hasn't been available on any of our TV stations for years and years.If your interested in mysteries then this is the show for you. This show is safe for your children to watch with you. You'll love the way they dressed. They always seemed to be getting into some sort of trouble. It's a family show that still interests me today. Some of the episodes even started out a little on the scary side. I look at it as an early version of the X-files but they always had logical reasons for everything by the end. I can't say it any simpler. The show is fun. Give it a try.

I enjoyed the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew mystries when they were first released. I was very happy that Seasons 1 and 2 have been released on DVD. I would really love to see Season 3 be released very soon. Shows like these two are very far and few between when you look at a few of the shows in recent years. When do you actually sit down and watch a show that is entertaining and not over violent? I have seen on the net DVD's of the "Hardy Boys mysteries series 1-3" I wonder how authentic they really are? Or is this particular one a fraudulent copy. I would sincerely hope that the 3rd series would be released so that these particular DVD's do not be come popular (if they are not the real item). I feel that most people who have the first two DVD's would love to have the whole set. I am from Australia and do not know how the DVD releasing system works? But I hope that it is not one DVD a year, and am impatient and would prefer to have the 3rd series released before Christmas 2007? How about it? Cathie

That opening credit's theme and use of a maze, then later books, is most effective in introducing this series of updated adaptations of Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew books. Nancy Drew having been filmed before in the late 1930's with Bonita Granville in a series of four films. Parker Stevenson, Shaun Cassidy, and Pamela Sue Martin were effective choices for the title characters. The first season was quite good, especially Nancy Drew: 'The Mystery of Pirate's Cove' was best.

Second season was where things went wrong, especially for poor Nancy! First, the creators decided to team them up in a two-part pair of gimmick episodes; when Pamela Sue Martin abruptly quit/was fired from the show as a result, since she was credited as "guest star" on a series as much hers as theirs! (Wow!) She was then recast(!) with another younger actress, who tried, and was pretty, but looked nothing like Pamela, so that became a big mistake...Not to mention Nancy's friend George was recast, and not only was her other friend Ned recast, but he was also reintroduced as if he never had existed before! (Huh?) I hate it when producers think we viewers are dummies with no memories! Third season dropped Nancy altogether and didn't last long. Whole series is on DVD, and is worth watching for the first year, and nostalgic reasons.

I had heard of this show, but there was no way to watch. It was before my time, but this would've been so up my alley as a kid. While many episodes are spooky, it's really a mystery series. The actors work well together, and this period of time was just so good for tv. I added many episodes to my Halloween watchlist.

This is one of my favorite detective shows of all time. "The Hardy Boys" is another of my childhood gems as I read most of the series when I was about ten years old, I mainly got into the series because I was into the action tv shows of the 80's and 90's like my favorite one "MacGyver" (classic version); whenever I read a volume of the series I really felt like I was tuning into an episode of an action TV show. But this was more than a book series it was also a phenomenon as the book series still goes on but also its influence and legacy from shows like "Scooby Doo", "Gravity Falls" and many more have lived on to this day.

But this series also was what got me into the detective/mystery genre because even though the Boys kick some ass, they also had to do a lot of thinking as well. When I heard about this show and saw some reruns of it on the "TV Land" channel (when it actually still showed classic programs), I thought it was a dream come true because I always felt the book series could make a good TV show.

This show really was something not just in adapting the series successfully and is still my favorite adaptation for now anyway. It was also something different for the young adult audience as there really weren't any at the time having young adults/teens engage in detective work and action. I always thought that was cool because despite all the action TV shows there really weren't any and still not many with young adults. To me it's a breath of fresh air as we see detectives/action heroes of a young age demographic but also a break from the usual tiresome teen drama formula.

I really like the theme song and that into which is one of my favorite themes and intros to a TV show. The song just has sort of that tone that just sings mystery and adventure. Really liked the images we see on the intro with that model labyrinth we see, the numerous books of both mystery series "The Hardy Boys" and "Nancy Drew", and of course the characters themselves whom are in the darkness running from danger or pursuing the truth. I even like that the show is in episodic format, just like with both book series you just never know what the next case or adventure for these young Sleuth's was going to be.

I like the actors that have been cast Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew, Parker Jameson as Frank Hardy and Shawn Cassidy as Joe Hardy are just spot on, to me they really are the character from the books. Though how the heck the teens find the time to solve the mysteries from high school, how they can afford to go off to certain far off locations, let alone how long their vacation times really are is really up in the air and anyone's guess. And personally I was never concerned about because that part of the charm of those series, like with most pulp adventures, logic, reason, and specific details were always shelved as the stories were always concerned more about the adventures, action and what the character did.

The Hardy Boys and even Nancy Drew are one of my favorite pulp heroes and fictional heroes. Despite how young they are, they are wise beyond their years. They all have that right amount of youthful energeticness and charisma, they're not annoying stereotypical teens/young adults as their not people that are looking to be popular or even on that list. All three don't waste time with that crap, their concerned only about one thing doing their jobs and doing them well but most importantly doing the right thing when it's vitally needed because no one else will or can.

The dynamics are intact and good as usual but also their personas which I can emphasize with as I'm easily in real life all these things. From Nancy Drew with her nice girl charisma, passive aggressive ness but intuitiveness and sharpness. Along with a few of her friends from the book along the way like George whom I actually found cute, is sort of her number two whom is on the reluctant side but does help out Nancy whether she wants to or not, but does it because she's her friend and probably also because she's bored and deep down really does crave the excitement as Nancy made her life anything but boring.

The brotherly dynamic from Frank who is somewhat the brainy one as he's kind of like Leonardo from "TMNT" (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), sort of on the passive aggressive side as he's one that looks before he leaps but is one to take the lead. Joe whom is my favorite character I love because he's a doer a man of action, he's pretty much like Raphael from "TMNT", he's on the aggressive side as he's not afraid to act on what his instincts say which most of the time is correct, take and jump into action immediately. I really can emphasize with both of them as I sort of share those same persona traits, though I'm more like Frank in reality.

There are plenty of good mysteries I like the fact the show is episodic because each episode/mystery is always something different you just never know where these characters were going to next making things all the more colorful. Like one episode a haunted house mystery for the Hardy Boys and my favorite the crossover episode which is one of my favorite crossovers of all time on Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew versus Dracula. I thought those were cool as they play out like live action "Scooby Doo" mysteries. Or even a few of those treasure hunting episodes which in a way somewhat predate "Tomb Raider" and "Uncharted" well kind of.

These young hot blood sleuths have plenty of energy for action and mystery and are timeless even now.

Rating: 4 stars

My memories of this show when it was on in the late 70's is vague. LOVED Shaun Cassidy back in the day. Not my type anymore though. Too pretty boy. But as a show it is fun. More of a Saturday morning view of detective work than say even Charlie's Angels but it is fun.

Shaun & Parker (who has not aged a bit I must say as seen recently at school events with his children) had great chemistry. Though Frank sometimes comes off as a know it all and Joe comes off a bumbling idiot. Through it all it's campy fun. The pilot episode for the boys has Parker riding a motorcycle in his boxers. Cheeky fun!! Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew was nice. I really liked her stories. But reading that the producers backed off from Nancy stories as the boys proved more popular- she had an uphill battle. Shaun was THE teen idol of the day. Hit records and this show- no one could have equaled that level of popularity. The girls were more interested in Shaun & Parker. Duh!! In all honesty the shows and the supporting characters were one note performances. 99% of all of the cops/sheriffs were beyond stupid. It was the 70's after all and they never set out to make a serious drama/action show. This was not "The Streets of San Francisco" ya know. But if you were once fans of either show or the actors- check it out. It's lighthearted, campy fun for the most part.

I love reading "The Hardy Boys" books and I really enjoy the series, not so much of "Nancy Drew" though but then again, I never liked reading Nancy Drew in the first place. The series is very much like the books with similar plots. My favourite episode is the 2-part "The Last Kiss of Summer" as it was very touching. I enjoy Shaun Cassidy's music and it was great that he belted out some songs in the show as well. Many celebrity stars guested in the show like Melanie Griffith, Marj Dusay, Jamie Lee Curtis, Robert Englund, Stuart Whitman, June Lockhart, Terry Kiser, Lorne Greene and Ricky Nelson. The plots in this show is very similar to other shows during this era like "The Six Million Dollar Man", "Bionic Woman", "Starsky & Hutch", "Charlie's Angels" and "Rockford Files" I'd recommend this show to anyone who likes the shows I mentioned.

I own both S1 and S2 of the hardy boys mysteries. I also read the books as a kid and like the show. The Nancy Drew segments are not my cup of tea, so, i will not review those episode. However, the hardy boys episode has some great co-stars like Melanie Griffith, Valerie Bertanelli, Anne Lockhart, Lisa Eilcbacher, etc. There is only one episode that has Chet Morton and Callie Shaw is not refer as Frank Hardy's girlfriend. The is no Iola Morton and/or rest of their gang.

The episode themselves are well written and have an excellent flow. Shaun Cassiday singing was highlighted in a few episodes and i believe the girls my age at the time had Shaun cassiday's photos in their room. Parker Stevenson did admirable job as frank hardy. There is no Mrs Hardy, but Aunt Gertrude. So, there are some huge differences between the show and the books.

If you are hardy boy fan then you will like this show on DVD.

I had already read many of the HB books as a kid. Two brothers, Frank and Joe Hardy, work on solving mysteries. Good, wholesome, books. As a kid, who wouldn't want to be like them?

This TV series has the same characters, Frank, Joe, Fenton (father), and Gertrude (aunt). But now it is many years later.

Frank was a bit smarter than Joe, Joe was more rambunctious, he loved chatting with the ladies. Both actors had their fan base. The girls would go nuts when Cassidy would sing.

The interaction between ND and HB didn't appear to be smooth. The addition of Nancy Drew's character/scripting with the HBs was a mistake, IMO. Her female character, possibly because of the feminist movement in the 70s, had to be rough, tough, argumentative, a control-freak, and her inter-personal skills were minimal. She had few good qualities, except for her "intelligence". Where the HBs would be good role models, ND was not. ND's team was ridiculous, Ned telling ND's father that he would "straighten her out" ... what misogynistic statement ... and in the 70s. Ned was a nit .. I have never read the ND books, so I have no idea of how consistent the books/series were.

I read the HB stories to my kids every night. They loved them. Sure, the books were unrealistic, but that is part of their charm.

I remember seeing this on TV in the early 90`s. This is a great show. In the beginning they where just hobby detectives, but in the last season they worked full time as detectives. I love the stories, the clothes and hair, and most of all the title theme. This show should be made into a complete dvd collection! One of the best shows of the 70`s! I give this 9 out of 10!

Finally! Quite nearly three decades after this show appeared, it's BACK! This series starred Shaun Cassidy, Pamela Sue Martin/Janet Louise Johnson, and Parker Stevenson, and was shown on ABC from January 1977 to to January 1979. The Hardys alternated with Nancy Drew once a week in the first season. By 1978 the Nancy Drew series was failing. In a last ditch attempt to save the series, ABC combined the Hardys and Nancy for a few episodes. This didn't work and Ms. Drew was canceled in the fall of '78. The Hardys followed this fate early in 1979. Thus season two is the only FULL season out there.

If you enjoy Hart to Hart, Magnum PI, or even Murder She Wrote, this classic DVD set is for you -- and they'll even throw in a poster of Shaun!

I have really enjoyed reliving my early and mid teen years through this wonderful show.I had forgotten what a crush that I had/have on Parker Stevenson!! I'm so glad that it has been released on DVD and hope that the other two seasons won't be far behind. It's great for teens to have a chance to watch some of the great programs that we grew up with, especially with the shows that they have to watch today. If you haven't bought the first season DVD yet, I strongly recommend it. If you have kids they will love it, if not and you grew up in the 70's it's great to watch and go back just for a while. Not that we're old by any means, we just had good taste !!! Also, it couldn't hurt to let Universal know how much you would like to see the other seasons. Lisa

It is difficult to introduce the concepts of mystery and investigation to a youngster through television today. Most current detective shows offer up unnecessarily gruesome storylines to paint a bleak portrait of the lives of cops chasing criminals. That is where 'The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries' proves to be so different- as do other detective shows of that era, like 'Murder, She Wrote', - except that THB/NDM was tailored to appeal to teenaged audiences. Every episode presents an intriguing, yet innocent mystery that is solved by the respective young detective (or 'part-time investigator') using logical deduction and the occassional gut feeling. The sequence of investigation depicted is exactly as described in the books, thus making it the perfect show for Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys fans. The actors play the eternally-beloved title characters well, and there are only a few fairly negligible departures from the original storylines that in my opinion, only increase the viewers' enjoyment. There is also a certain quality to the writing of the dialogues that can induce a wave of nostalgia in anyone familiar with the books. Every episode in the entire series focuses mainly on the case at hand, and never dwells too long on the characters' personal lives. Their eccentricities and quirks come out while they work, therefore making them all the more real and relatable.

Teenagers track down mysterious dangers.

Glen A. Larson dreamed this up. Over the years Larson was connected to a few science fiction TV shows (Buck Rogers, Galactica, etc) so I felt duty bound to track down some of The Hardy Boys on Youtube.

I was child of the 70s and never warmed to this series back then but decided to give it another chance 45 years later - I still do not like it.

Today, I can still proudly watch another clean cut youth dominated 70s series - Shazam! - but the appeal of Hardy Boys is still a mystery to me??

From what little I saw, there were a few fantastical things going on in the plots but not enough to keep me hooked. And did they really need to begin the series by using the Universal "Psycho house" in that way?? It was just so distracting. I guess the director decided it was okay to use the house because Hardy Boys was a kid's show and kids would not know Psycho (1960)??

Young Shaun Cassidy would do better work in the very short lived series: Breaking Away (1980-81). Fans of him should turn to that instead.

I am still watching some of them and now I am into Season 2.

I find that the mystery parts are good and so is the suspense.

They looked wide eyed and innocent and talk smart like they know it all. They are all skinny with just about the same shape. No matter what they do or if they get beat up all the actors and their clothes are clean, no wrinkles, just too hard to believe.

Nancy is like a feminist. She takes chances when nobody will and talks like a know it all with big wide eyes. After a few episodes the front of her clothing is very low and revealing. I find this very tacky for a lady that is supposed to be smart and a little older than a teen.

I have not seen her friend George is Season 2 and I am going to watch "The Mystery of the African Safari". In Season 1 the odd number episodes the Hardy Boys star in them and the even numbered ones are Nancy Drew and George.

In Season 2 some episodes are in 2 parts and the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew work together.

Actors amaze me. They try hard to get a part, then, so they tell me, they study the call sheets to see when they get their first day off.

Pamela Sue Martin ("The Poseidon Adventure") beat out other actresses for the part of Nancy Drew, then started whining about it. She wanted it to be more adult. Didn't she ever read any of the books?

Being an adolescent at the time, I loved "Nancy Drew" and stopped when she left. I can't say she embodied the character because I never read the books. I read Hardy Boys but never watched them. I had a low tolerance for Sean Cassidy. But leave she did, and did what all young/child actors did at the time in an attempt to divorce themselves from their kid image: she posed for Playboy. I've seen it. Big yawn.

Anyway, reviewing the episodes recently (not having seen them for 40 years) I think the late-1970s ambience feels ridiculous. But the stories aren't bad. And William Schallert privides a comforting presence as her father. And Martin is still beautiful.

I doubt kids today would care. It's too "current" (for 1977/1978, that is). And kids don't seem to care much for history. When I was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s I was obsessed with the 1920s. I thought the 1970s were dreadful. Good, if minor, guest stars. For the time. If you remember the likes of Monte Markham.