Hulu Developing Hardy Boys series

[Bigfootman]

https://observer.com/2019/09/disney-hulu-shows-hardy-boys-in-development-details/
"The over-the-top platform is developing a one-hour Hardy Boys series based on the beloved source material created by Edward Stratemeyer, Observer has exclusively learned. The show will be a young adult and teen-oriented drama co-executive produced by Joan Lambur and Steve Cochrane. Jason Stone is set to direct. Hulu did not immediately respond to Observer's request for comment.

Specific plot details for the series are unknown at this time.

The original iteration of the characters, Frank and Joe Hardy, debuted in 1927 as teenage crime-solvers handling cases that stumped the adults in their lives. Since then, the characters have been reimagined several times while remaining successful staples of pop culture. Their books sell more than one million copies annually, per the New York Times, and the characters have appeared in five different television series as well as video games and merchandise. Their most recent small screen appearance came in the short-lived 1995 series The Hardy Boys.

The young adult and teen genre is an increasingly popular target demographic thanks to the success of hit series such as The CW's Riverdale and Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. The CW is actually set to debut a Nancy Drew TV series in October. The character was also created by Stratemeyer as the female counterpart to the Hardy Boys."

[Raven]

Thanks for the info. I also found similar news here.

[MacGyver]

I know this sounds bad but I honestly groaned as soon as I saw this. At least it's not being done by The CW. After seeing what they're doing with Nancy Drew and what they've done with Archie Comics (and DC Comics for that matter), I don't really trust them to do right by established properties. Of course, I feel that way about all the networks today.
   Still, I'll see how this goes. Maybe Hulu will do a good job. I don't think any show made will ever eclipse my love for The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries or be as good as that show.
    I hope this show will be true to the original series of Hardy Boys books and not based off of more modern takes. A period piece set in the '50s or '60s (about when the revisions took place) and based on the plots of the books would be pretty cool to me. Unfortunately, I highly doubt that's what this show will be.
   Well, I guess we'll just have to see how it goes and if it even goes to a pilot and gets picked up.

   

[MacGyver]

Okay- I read further and saw that Disney will oversee this after having taken ownership of Hulu. I don't know if I feel much better about that but maybe it will be somewhat decent then. At least it's fitting that the company that made the first Hardy Boys series take another crack at it almost 70 years later.

[Raven]

I hope it's decent too, but I can't help noticing previous co-director of Riverdale will be involved.  Still, one of the Ransom co-producers will also co-produce this project. I haven't seen Ransom, and reading the synopsis it sounds like an interesting show. 

[SkyWarp]

Is this report accurate?

https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/news-story/9623118-the-hardy-boys-hulu-television-series-filming-in-port-hope-this-week/

I would have thought we would get some casting news before we got actual filming updates.   

[SkyWarp]

So this says the show is set in the 80s?  https://www.cambridge.ca/Modules/News/index.aspx?page=2&newsId=76804826-092e-43ac-8472-a9eae33c3987

[Raven]

Is this a typo? Big difference in age.

Each episode will feature 12 and 16 year old brothers Joe and Frank Hardy

[MacGyver]

Wow! Interesting. Frank and Joe are only 1 year apart in the books. I believe they were originally 16 and 15 in the original text books. After the revisions, they were 18 and 17.
   Also- set in the '80s? Hmm.... I LOVE the '80s so I'm cool with that. I wonder if they're going for a Stranger Things deal though.

[MacGyver]

Oh, wait- I just saw this. Bridgeport? If you're going to use a fictional city anyway, what happened to Bayport? Maybe this is supposed to be before they moved to Bayport and eventually the show will lead into that?....

[SkyWarp]

https://worldscreen.com/tvkids/the-hardy-boys-live-action-series-in-the-works-for-ytv-hulu/

Bridgeport is supposedly the hometown of Laura Hardy (assuming her name is Laura in this series).

But it may not matter as she is reportedly dead and that death seems to be the starting point of this series.

They stay at an "aunt's" house while their father goes to figure out the case. 

Anyway, here are some of the cast (all Canadian perhaps).

James Tupper (Big Little Lies) as Hardy boys' father Fenton Hardy
Rohan Campbell (Mech-X4) as Frank Hardy
Alexander Elliot (Detention Adventure) as Joe Hardy.

The pictures of the actors would lead one to believe that one brother is significantly younger than the other. 

[SkyWarp]

I believe this is the official press release:
https://www.corusent.com/news/nelvana-and-lambur-productions/

[tomswift2002]

So the boys are 16 and 12 in this series, which is odd, since the boys have never been that far apart.  And Laura Hardy is Fenton's wife.  It's hard to believe that Nelvana still had the rights to the series after all these years.

Also it looks like 13 episodes at a broadcast length of 60 minutes has been ordered.  So the series will run longer than the 1995 series which had 13 episodes at 30 minutes.

[MacGyver]

Wow! I guess this is The Hardy Boys series Nelvana was talking about making a few years back until things fell silent on that front. I had kinda assumed that project was dead. Oh well. Despite the changes, this still sounds like it will be WAY better than what the CW is doing to Nancy Drew.

[Raven]

At least it's not on CW.