HBs on TV

[Olivia]

Is the reason they stopped after Season 3 because they (for lack of a better term), went overboard? Like James Bond-ish, and viewers didn't respond well or something?

[tomswift2002]

I've never seen season 3, but from what I've been told it was because the series broke away too much from the books and became more like Charlie's Angels and James Bond.  Plus the fact that Joe is engaged to a totally unknown girl in the first episode didn't sit well either.

And just so that people know, in case they are wondering why it is taking so long to get the whole series on DVD, you have to remember that back in the 1970's Universal and the producers would've only made contracts with the actors, music houses, and other people involved in making a TV show, where they agreed to let their image or their works be broadcast over the air to TV sets at home.  Home Video was still far off, so no one thought about getting permission to distribute the music, videos and actor's images. 

Now, fast forward to the DVD-era.  People want to see the show on DVD.  Universal, back in 1985, already cleared the rights for 8 episodes from Seasons 1 & 2 (5 episodes from Season 1, 3 episodes from Season 2, and 2 or 3 episodes from the Nancy Drew series), so they would just have to inform the proper people and companies that they are releasing the series on DVD.  But they have to renegotiate the rights for the pilot, since the pilot appeared on Laserdisc back in 1980, but had been out of print since about 1981.  Plus, one episode from Season 1 had never had its rights cleared.  So that is the main stalling point for Season 1.

Season 2, while 3 Hardy Boys episodes had been released on VHS and Beta in 1985, none of the other 19 episodes from that season had been released.  All of a sudden, the problem has grown 19 times from the first season.  Plus, since the series aired, some of the actors have passed away, so Universal needs to deal with the Estates, while some music houses have gone out of business etc.

And this goes for Season 3 as well. 

[Olivia]

At least we know it's not a lost cause. Most likely it will come out, even if it takes a while. Hopefully.

[SDLagent]

I've only seen the first two seasons of the '77 show.

On the why did the show get canceled topic, I think a lot of people were not to happy with the change of Nancy Drew, and lost some of their fans through that.

[tomswift2002]

Not really, considering that for the first two seasons Nancy Drew was not that popular.  That's why in the second season you saw a lot of episodes with the 3 characters together.

[SDLagent]

Among other things, though. It may have had something to do with it.

[Lola]

Well, Shaun Cassidy's first two LP's (Shaun Cassidy, Born To Late) could be considered the soundtrack LP's to the 1977 TV series since a lot of the songs that you hear on the show are on those two LP's.

LOLOL!!! That is soo true, Tom!!

[Olivia]

I really like your avatar, Lola!

Anyways, Pamela Sue Martin was the best for Nancy Drew! Same with that guy who played Carson Drew.

They made a major error with Ned and George, in my opinion. Ned was turned into some kind of geek until they tried to reprimand him near the end of Season 1. George was supposedly a combination of Bess/George, but that didn't work at all. They tried to fix her too.

Then, they got Rick Springfield as Ned in that Christmas episode.

[Lola]

I really like your avatar, Lola!

Thanks Olivia, a friend of mine made it for me!

[tomswift2002]

Then, they got Rick Springfield as Ned in that Christmas episode.

And just the way that episode (Will The Real Santa Claus...) was written, it was like that episode was a prequel to the series.

[Olivia]

And just the way that episode (Will The Real Santa Claus...) was written, it was like that episode was a prequel to the series.

I actually got that impression.

A good number they pulled on Ned then

[thehardyboysrock]

I have only seen the 70's and the 95 series. I want to see the others but don't know how.

[MacGyver]

Well, The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure serial from The Mickey Mouse Club version of The Hardy Boys is available on DVD. Unfortunately, The Mystery of Ghost Farm has yet to come to DVD. (That's the other Hardy Boys serial from that show.)
     As for the cartoon series......nothing official has been released for Beta, VHS, DVD, etc. that I know of- except for 16mm film reels that have surfaced here and there. I'm still hopeful that The Hardy Boys cartoon series will one day get a full series DVD release. You never know.

[tomswift2002]

Well, right now no one really knows where the rights or even the original film or master videotape copies are for the cartoon.  But, hopefully, if the cartoon is ever released, they are able to find a higher quality source than the syndicated 16mm reduction prints-transferred-to-U-Matic-masters that were used for the VHS and DVD releases of the 70's show season 3.