TV Episode Review: The Hardy Boys - The Mystery of the Flying Courier

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Shaun Cassidy singing, decent mystery

Cons: Underused recurring characters; 70's show

The Bottom Line: 

Shaun Cassidy sings!

And a good mystery, too

Enjoyable show

Face from the Past at Joe's Singing Debut

What do you do when you cast a singer in your TV show?  Well, if you are the producers of the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, you make his character a singer, too.  And that's just what they did, first showing off Shaun Cassidy's voice in The Mystery of the Flying Courier.

This episode of the show is part of the first season when the show alternated each week, focusing on one then the other of the famous teen detectives.  These were all new adventures but based loosely on the characters from the well-loved books.

This episode finds Frank Hardy (Parker Stevenson) and some of his friends at the local hang out spot.  It's talent night, and his brother Joe (Shaun Cassidy) is making his singing debut.  But instead of sitting back and enjoying the music, Frank is distracted by a woman in the corner booth (Penny Peyser).  She looks like his classmate Suzie who disappeared three years ago.  Fenton Hardy (Edmund Gilbert) was hired to find her, but all the leads have long since run cold.

When Frank goes over to talk to this young woman, she denies being Suzie or knowing Frank.  He follows her outside to see her arrested by two cops, but the local police don't have any record of her being arrested.  Is that Suzie?  What kind of danger is the woman in?

The mysteries seem to be getting stronger as we go along.  (This is the ninth overall and fifth to feature the Hardy Boys.)  While I figured one part out early, I had no clue what else might be going on until it was explained to us.

This episode first aired in 1977 and was aimed at the pre-teen audience, the same audience as the books.  As a result, it features some 70's cheese and lots of 70's styles.  Honestly, it's not that big a drawback, although the climax definitely plays for laughs more than anything you'd find in the books.  Those looking for life and death suspense will find that earlier in the episode when Frank has a near miss.

It's already obvious the constrains that TV time constraints and budget have on the production.  Edith Atwater is credited at Aunt Gertrude, but she doesn't actually show up in the episode.  Granted, she has rarely had much to do when she does show up.  This is Gary Springer's second appearance as the Hardys' friend Chet.  Sadly, he has little to do other than listen to Joe sing.  Of course, if the result is the better plot, I'll take it.

The acting on these shows is always fine, but not outstanding, and that's the case again here.  The 70's cheese shows up here as well, but once you get in the rhythm, it's actually fun.  (Yes, I actually said that.)

Individually, this episode is available on VHS.  My recommendation is to skip that and get the first season on DVD.

Either way, fans of these characters or 70's pop culture will certainly want to catch The Mystery of the Flying Courier.  Shaun Cassidy singing and a decent mystery - what's not to enjoy?