The Hardy Boys on Television

𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙃𝘼𝙍𝘿𝙔 𝘽𝙊𝙔𝙎 originally exploded onto the book scene in 1927. Published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, the Hardy Boys followed the formula that had been established over the prior 22 years with book series such as The Rover Boys, Tom Swift, the Motorcycle Chums, the Speedwell Boys, the Boy Aviators, the Racer Boys, the Motion Picture Chums, the Radio Boys, and the list went on, totaling some 70 different book series.

The strong, athletic, brave, and resourceful Frank Hardy, 16, and Joe Hardy, 15, attended the same grade at Bayport high school and investigated the numerous mysteries that inexplicably presented themselves in their small seaside town. Throughout the depression, the Hardy Boys – with their access to motor cars, motorbikes, boats and airplanes – not only offered young readers an escapist story to lose themselves in, but would also present a fantasy that was a far cry from the ‘brother, can you spare a dime’ reality of breadlines and soup kitchens much of working America found themselves in.

30 years after their debut, the Hardy Boys were adapted into 15-minute serialized episodes that aired on The Mickey Mouse Club. The segments featured 15-year-old Tim Considine as Frank Hardy and 14-year-old Tommy Kirk as Joe Hardy. Keeping in line with the young audience, here the rather rambunctious Hardy Boys were portrayed as being much younger than in the books, likely intended to be as young as 11-13 years old. 

The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure adapted the original book, The Tower Treasure, into 19 episodes. The following year’s The Mystery of Ghost Farm presented the clearly older boys investigating a 'haunted' farm while Joe is greatly irritated at Frank's discovery of girls.

The Mystery of the Chinese Junk 1967 NBC TV pilot starred Rick Gates as Frank Hardy and Tim Matheson as Joe. Based on the 1960 Hardy Boys book of the same title, it was sort of old-school Hardy Boys meets 60s beach movies. The pilot did not sell but was aired as a special.

The Hardy Boys 1969 animated series had the boys be members of a rock band that also includes Chubby Morton, Pete Jones, and Wanda Kay Breckenridge. The band travels around the country in a mod Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. Notable for featuring the first animated black character on US television, Pete Jones was voiced by Filmation regular Dallas McKennon, who unfortunately was not black.

By 1976, the Hardy Boys books were still strong sellers, moving some 2 million copies per year. Producing partners Arlene Sidaris and Joyce Brotman pitched a modernized version first to Paramount, then to Universal, who encouraged them to also obtain the rights to detective counterpart Nancy Drew. Glen Larson hopped on the project, and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries aired on ABC from 1977-1979.

Look for a podcast on The Hardy Boys coming soon from Forgotten TV.

Whiz Kids Debuts Oct 5, 1983

 

𝙒𝙃𝙄𝙕 𝙆𝙄𝘿𝙎 debuted on this day 41 years ago! Featuring Matthew Laborteaux, Todd Porter, Jeffrey Jacquet and Andrea Elson as the titular “whiz kids”, 9th graders who became amateur detectives using computer technology to solve mysteries. The show also starred Max Gail as newspaper reporter and A Martinez as the sometimes-friendly police detective. 

The series was notable for its early depiction of home computer technology, including the use of modems, speech synthesizers, laptop computers, etc. The main character Richie had an ad-hoc patchwork computer system he called RALF. Concepts such as wardialing, password brute-forcing, man-in-the-middle and denial of service attacks, and the dangers of talking to strangers online were all presented to viewers many years before any of this became mainstream.

As originally envisioned by co-creator Bob Shayne (who was working on Simon & Simon at the time), he intended it to be a modern take on the Hardy Boys featuring junior high aged kids investigating mysteries. He specifically envisioned it for the early Sunday evening timeslot for either NBC or ABC to compete against 60 Minutes. Meanwhile, Phil DeGuere (creator of Simon & Simon) had long been interested in computer technology and had already presented what likely was the first instance of "computer hacking" on television in a Simon & Simon episode featuring Robbie Rist. 

DeGuere took Shayne to pitch the idea to Universal Television, who was producing Simon & Simon. In the pitch meeting, once Shayne had related the concept, DeGuere added "and they'll do it all with computers!" and came up with the title on the spot. The two concepts were combined, and Whiz Kids was born. However, the series was unexpectedly sold to CBS who slotted Whiz Kids on Wednesdays as a lead-in show against Real People and The Fall Guy. The show was never able to do well in the ratings, and a January move to Saturday night did not help matters. The series was canceled early, and episodes were burned off in random airings over the next few months. 

The fact that the series debuted in the fall after WarGames had been released that June, as well as Newsweek using the term 'hacking' for the first time exactly one month previously, bringing kids and computer 'hacking' to nationwide attention, was entirely coincidental. DeGuere had envisioned a 'computer kids' series by the summer of 1981, and what became Whiz Kids was pitched to Universal in late 1982, some 8 months before WarGames was released.

A series of documentary podcasts is available from Forgotten TV here on this website which thoroughly covers the series and features interviews with several actors from the show as well as co-creator Bob Shayne.

Voyagers! Debuts Oct 3, 1982

 

𝑽𝑶𝒀𝑨𝑮𝑬𝑹𝑺! debuted on this day in 1982!

"We travel through time to help history along...give it a push where it's needed. When the Omni's red, it means history's wrong. Our jobs to get everything back on track."

With a protagonist name sounding suspiciously like a character from a Jules Verne novel, voyager Phineas Bogg teams up with perhaps the unlikeliest of partners – 11-year-old orphan Jeffrey Jones – to use his knowledge of world history as Bogg’s time travel device, the Omni, facilitates travel through both time and space, depositing them in one situation after another where some historical detail has not played out correctly.

Created by James D. Parriott specifically for NBC's early Sunday evening timeslot, Voyagers offered an enjoyable romp through history with an eye to young viewers. Unfortunately, the series faced challenges in the form of the hand-wringing National Coalition on Television Violence that named it the most violent show on television; and CBS stalwart 60 Minutes which simply could not be budged in the ratings. Ultimately, NBC chose to cancel Voyagers and try to challenge CBS at their own game with news program Monitor but failed miserably.

A documentary podcast is streaming from Forgotten TV (just scroll down) that covers the full story of the creation, production, public and critical reactions, casting, locations, and the legacy of 𝑽𝑶𝒀𝑨𝑮𝑬𝑹𝑺! Available wherever you listen to podcasts.