History Series / TheHardyBoysNancyDrewMysteries

Nancy Drew (usually Pamela Sue Martin, but Janet Louise Johnson in her last few appearances) is the amateur sleuth — she insists on the term "part-time investigator" — daughter of attorney Carson Drew (William Callert). She lives with her father in the fictional River Heights, NY (not Illinois, as in the books). Her stories feature her close friend George (Georgia) Fayne (Jean Rasey and, later for three episodes, Susan Buckner) and Ned Nickerson (George O'Hanlon Jr., and later [[TeenIdol Rick Springfield]] in second season). Another prominent character from the Nancy Drew books, Bess Marvin (Ruth Cox), made only two appearances in two-part episodes.

* ScreamingWoman: "Voodoo Doll" has Nancy Drew. Dear Gods, it has Nancy Drew, who is reduced to screaming endlessly and uselessly...at the sight of a man in an obvious skull mask who is merely standing there. In a brightly lit room.

** "Life on the Line". Frank gets unwanted attention and harrassment by a psychotic motorbike racer, who is insanely jealous of Frank protecting one of her fellow racers. The psychotic woman invades Frank's trailer, spies on him as he's changing clothes, and tries to get him drunk, all of which make Frank very, very uncomfortable. But the show '''then''' shows Frank as feeling guilty that he had to turn the woman in for attempting to murder the other racer. Yeah. Right.

* BavarianFireDrill:
** In "The Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom," a character thinks Nancy is trying to steal his bags and doesn't believe her explanation that she was trying to prevent them from being stolen. To Nancy's irritation, Frank and Joe try to bail her out by pretending to arrest her.
-->'''Joe''': Airport police. Juvenile division. I thought we told you never to work in this airport again, Trixie.
** Subverted in the third season episode "Game Plan". Joe pretends to be a hotel maintenance man to get into a room where Frank and the BigBad are talking. Joe puts on a phony redneck accent, pushes right into the room past Frank and shoves his ballcap into Frank's hands, and proceeds to completely confuse TheVillain with pseudo-technical-babble about the AC being on the fritz and takes the thermostat apart with his screwdriver as he does so...until Frank blows it out of the water by showing TheVillain the warning note that was in the ballcap and then pulls a gun on Joe. The federal agents eventually find Joe [[BoundAndGagged tied up and gagged]] in the apartment's closet.

* AsHimself: Howard Cosell in "The Mystery of the Solid Gold Kicker."

* BavarianFireDrill: subverted in the third season episode "Game Plan". Joe pretends to be a hotel maintenance man to get into a room where Frank and the BigBad are talking. Joe puts on a phony redneck accent, pushes right into the room past Frank and shoves his ballcap into Frank's hands, and proceeds to completely confuse TheVillain with pseudo-technical-babble about the AC being on the fritz and takes the thermostat apart with his screwdriver as he does so...until Frank blows it out of the water by showing TheVillain the warning note that was in the ballcap and then pulls a gun on Joe. The federal agents eventually find Joe [[BoundAndGagged tied up and gagged]] in the apartment's closet.

* ToBeContinued: "The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula, Part 1" ends this way.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: "Last Kiss of Summer". We're introduced to Jamie, the love of Joe's life, the woman he's willing to marry & throw over his entire life and career for -- a woman that we haven't met before nor has there been any reference to her throughout the entire series to this point -- and 10 minutes into the episode, right after the wedding rehearsal where we're shown Joe & Jamie pledging the vows, Jamie's killed by a random drunk driver, as Joe is driving, followed by Joe weeping over her bloody body in the car. Jamie only existed to die and to fuel Joe's RoaringRampageOfRevenge for the rest of the episode.

* FlareGun: 3rd season episode "Dangerous Waters" not only has Frank firing a flare gun to signal the rescue boat to come in, but also fires directly at the bad guys with it to drive them off.

* TitleIn: "The Mystery of the Jade Kwan Yin" begins with one saying "HONG KONG," and then another saying "NEW ENGLAND COAST" a few minutes later.

* HandGagging: "Scorpion's Sting". Going undercover to trap a notorious international kidnapper, Frank ambushes the kidnapper's daughter in her apartment by sneaking up behind her, [[StandardFemaleGrabArea grabbing her arm]] and putting his hand over her mouth to silence her.

* SeventiesHair: For young Gen X'ers first introduced to the Hardy Boys through this show with their long, feathered-back hair, seeing the contemporary covers of the books with them with their short hair was a shock.

* YouWakeUpInARoom: "Sole Survivor", where Joe wakes up in a hospital room with no clue where he is or how he got there, only to be told that he's not only been in a coma for a year, but that his father and brother are dead. [[FakedRipVanWinkle Cue fake newspapers, fake newscasts, and forged letters from all his surviving relatives and friends.]] Of course, [[spoiler: Frank and Fenton are very much alive, and the whole thing is a MindScrew to get Joe to reveal information on a defection attempt.]]

* ScoobyDooHoax: In "The Mystery of Pirate's Cove," a man buys an abandoned lighthouse from Ned Nickerson's father, supposedly so he can investigate a local legend about a ghost. It turns out that he was really looking for treasure in a cave under the lighthouse, and only said he was looking for ghosts so he could buy it cheaply. [[spoiler:Then it turns out ''that'' was a hoax, too. He buried the treasure himself as part of an elaborate money-laundering scheme.]]

** "House On Possessed Hill", which features a demon-haunted house, uses the house from ''Psycho'', complete with a fast drive-by-glimpse of a boarded-up, one-story building that looks suspiciously like the Bates Motel, and Joe's comment seals it:

[[caption-width-right:350: How do we do it? How do we keep getting ourselves in these situations?[[note]]From left to right: Frank Hardy (Parker Stevenson), Nancy Drew (Pamela Sue Anderson), Joe Hardy (Shaun Cassidy)[[/note]]]]

Based on the two famous children's book series, ''Literature/TheHardyBoys'' and ''Literature/NancyDrew'', this [[TheSeventies 1970s]] TV show on Creator/{{ABC}} starred Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy as the [[AmateurSleuth amateur detective brothers]] Frank & Joe Hardy, and [[TheOtherDarrin Pamela Sue Martin and Janet Louise Johnson]] as the intrepid girl detective, Nancy Drew. At three seasons, it is far and away the most successful filmed adaptation of any property of the Creator/StratemeyerSyndicate.

** Frank Hardy. Once he latches onto a mystery, absolutely nothing stops him from pursuing it...not his brother Joe, especially not even the supposed victim:
*** "Mystery of the Flying Courier": Frank spots a woman who looks like someone he went to school with (someone who ran away and whom his father, Fenton, could not find). The woman denies being that person several times, tells him to shove off and leave her alone, tells him she neither wants nor needs his help, denies knowing him...and Frank continues to butt into her life and hound her until she finally confesses -- in a police station, in front of the chief -- that yes, she is that girl...and still wants nothing to do with the Hardys, especially Frank. It doesn't matter that she's a legal adult (with a job and is shown as being fully self-supported) and had a good reason to run away (the show implies controlling, abusive parents); Frank is going to hunt her down.

--->'''Joe:''' The answer is not on the top of that mountain. Is the answer on the top of that mountain? You tell me.

* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: "Last Kiss of Summer". Joe Hardy comes very close to this, though the girl in question is dead; he wrecks a federal undercover sting operation and throws over his father and brother, all in the name of vengeance.
* AmateurSleuth: No matter where the Hardy brothers go, they end up involved in a mystery, and at one point, Chief Collig dresses them down for doing such while being "unlicensed and underage". All through first & second seasons, the cops never accepted the Hardys' help without question and often gave them a good deal of scorn over being meddling bystanders, up to and including tossing them in jail. Nancy's amateur status is questionable, as she often implies that she's working for her father.

** "Silent Scream" has Joe Hardy calling the Bureau of Motor Vehicles for information on a license number...and the BMV tells him that the owners are staying in the same hotel as the Hardys. Aside from the fact that no BMV in the world could possible know that, they also would not release information over the phone to regular civilians, and there are strict paperwork procedures that the cops have to follow to get the information.

** "Mystery of King Tut's Tomb" states that the Hardy Boys are driving down to meet their father in Kenya -- from ''Cairo'', in Egypt, and the brothers talk about it as if it's just a small jaunt. That's a trip of over two thousand miles, at least an 8-day road trip, in a little beat-up VW microbus, through rather inhospitable terrain, little to no tourist facilities, and through countries that -- at the time -- were hostile towards the US.
** "Creatures Who Came On Sunday" has the Hardys ''driving'' from Massachusetts to New Mexico, just to help a friend, while supposedly en route to Las Vegas; that's at least a 5 day road trip -- but comments from Joe during the episode make it seem as if the Hardys have only been on the road a day or so. Then they start talking as if Las Vegas is just a short distance away...when it's easily a 10 hour drive. And we won't mention that Frank's using a map of Montana to get through New Mexico...

** "Mystery of the Flickering Torch" has Frank and Joe trapped inside a small closet while a fire rages outside; they break out and dodge through the flames to the outside without even a singe to their clothing.
** "Arson & Old Lace" has Frank, Joe, and Nancy all trying to escape a burning office building. To be fair, Joe nearly gets blown to kingdom come when he almost opens a door that has smoke pouring from under it (Frank knocks him out of the way), but then both Hardys are shown entering rooms with raging flames to rescue people, with no ill effects beyond a bit of smudge and coughing.

* HollywoodFire: Though the show presents fire as a huge danger to our heroes in several episodes, it's never shown to damage them. Frank & Joe Hardy dive through flames, duck explosions, and stay in fiery rooms without any damage to skin, lungs, or good looks.

* DeadpanSnarker: Both Frank and Joe did this, but Joe had the majority of the snark -- probably due to Shaun Cassidy taking a hand in rewriting the scripts.

* TheDeterminator: Frank Hardy. Once he latches onto a mystery, absolutely nothing stops him from pursuing it...not his brother Joe, especially not even the supposed victim:
** "Mystery of the Flying Courier": Frank spots a woman who looks like someone he went to school with (someone who ran away and whom his father, Fenton, could not find). The woman denies being that person several times, tells him to shove off and leave her alone, tells him she neither wants nor needs his help, denies knowing him...and Frank continues to butt into her life and hound her until she finally confesses -- in a police station, in front of the chief -- that yes, she is that girl...and still wants nothing to do with the Hardys, especially Frank. It doesn't matter that she's a legal adult (with a job and is shown as being fully self-supported) and had a good reason to run away (the show implies controlling, abusive parents); Frank is going to hunt her down.
** "Creatures Who Came On Sunday": Everyone is convinced that the missing man just ditched his girlfriend, even Joe, and offers reasonable, likely explanations for what's happened to the DamselInDistress, Sharon...except Frank, who obsesses on tracking Sharon's boyfriend down despite being warned off by the sheriff, so-called government agents, and even Sharon herself, to the point that Frank's determination is responsible for leading mob killers onto the boyfriend (who is in a witness protection program) and nearly getting himself, Joe, and Sharon killed. Joe has severe doubts and questions Frank's persistence throughout the episode, to the point of dragging Frank away when Frank tries to shout to the missing boyfriend despite being surrounded by armed guards with shoot-to-kill orders.

*** Not to mention "Death Surf", where Frank spends easily the first 10 minutes of the episode in swim trunks and no shirt.

* MysteryMagnet: Frank and Joe just can't seem to stay out of trouble. From diamond-laden jade statues landing on them in the middle of the ocean ("Secret of the Jade Kwan Yin") to accidentally renting a hotel room that the villains are trying to use to poison an ambassador ("Voodoo Doll"), no wonder they joined the Justice Department in Season Three -- at least then they're getting ''paid''.
** Lampshaded in the "Campus Terror" episode:

* NotAllowedToGrowUp: Averted for the Hardy Boys in the third season considering they became professional Justice Department detectives.

* TeenIdol: Shaun Cassidy, who used the show as a vehicle to promote his musical career at the time.

----
!! Episodes of this series provide examples of:
* AllAnimalsAreDomesticated: Averted in "Mystery of Witches Hollow", where a trained panther is guarding a missing man (Callie Shaw's uncle) that the Hardys are trying to find. A very, '''very''' nervous Joe Hardy tries to trap it (the cat decidedly NOT cooperating) by working a broom under its collar, but only succeeds in making it angry and attacking until the uncle distracts it with a piece of meat -- and the uncle warns both Frank and Joe the whole time to keep away and that it's not a house cat. Joe (ie, the actor [[TeenIdol Shaun Cassidy]]) looks far too relieved when he finally succeeds: EnforcedMethodActing, perhaps?
-->'''Joe:''' ''(picking up broom)'' I've got a way with animals...
-->'''Frank:''' ''(panicked)'' Yeah, so did Jonah!
-->'''Joe:''' Nice kitty...
-->'''Uncle:''' Careful, son, that's no house pet...
-->'''Joe:''' No need to tell me.
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: "Last Kiss of Summer". Joe Hardy comes very close to this, though the girl in question is dead; he wrecks a federal undercover sting operation and throws over his father and brother, all in the name of vengeance.
* ArtisticLicenseCars: "Silent Scream" has Joe Hardy calling the Bureau of Motor Vehicles for information on a license number...and the BMV tells him that the owners are staying in the same hotel as the Hardys. Aside from the fact that no BMV in the world could possible know that, they also would not release information over the phone to regular civilians, and there are strict paperwork procedures that the cops have to follow to get the information.
* ArtisticLicenseGeography:
** "Mystery of King Tut's Tomb" states that the Hardy Boys are driving down to meet their father in Kenya -- from ''Cairo'', in Egypt, and the brothers talk about it as if it's just a small jaunt. That's a trip of over two thousand miles, at least an 8-day road trip, in a little beat-up VW microbus, through rather inhospitable terrain, little to no tourist facilities, and through countries that -- at the time -- were hostile towards the US.
** "Creatures Who Came On Sunday" has the Hardys ''driving'' from Massachusetts to New Mexico, just to help a friend, while supposedly en route to Las Vegas; that's at least a 5 day road trip -- but comments from Joe during the episode make it seem as if the Hardys have only been on the road a day or so. Then they start talking as if Las Vegas is just a short distance away...when it's easily a 10 hour drive. And we won't mention that Frank's using a map of Montana to get through New Mexico...
* BadGuysPlayPool: in the "Campus Terror" episode -- how do we know that Wendy [[spoiler: aka "Gwen", who turns out to be a multiple personality,]] is actually a bad girl? She hangs out in pool halls with unwashed biker dudes and women who play pinball.
* BavarianFireDrill: subverted in the third season episode "Game Plan". Joe pretends to be a hotel maintenance man to get into a room where Frank and the BigBad are talking. Joe puts on a phony redneck accent, pushes right into the room past Frank and shoves his ballcap into Frank's hands (the ballcap containing a note warning Frank of a federal raid) and proceeds to completely confuse TheVillain with pseudo-technical-babble about the AC being on the fritz (taking the thermostat apart with his screwdriver as he does so)...until Frank blows it out of the water by showing TheVillain the note, then pulling a gun on Joe. The federal agents eventually find Joe [[BoundAndGagged tied up and gagged]] in the apartment's closet.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Frank Hardy and Nancy Drew. The first time the Hardys and Nancy Drew met, Nancy throws Frank to the floor. All episodes featuring the trio inevitably have Nancy and Frank getting ''seriously'' on each others' nerves -- until they finally share a kiss in "Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom".
-->'''Nancy:''' ARGH!!! Frank Hardy is the most exasperating... annoying... frustrating...
-->'''Bess:''' ...cute.
-->'''Nancy:''' ''NO!'' (pause) Well, maybe a little...
* BeneathSuspicion:
** "Campus Terror": Joe Hardy's old flame Wendy calls the brothers in to help solve a series of kidnappings and disappearances taking place in an East Coast women's college, as she's the next targeted victim. She barely escapes an attack as the Hardys rush in moments after the attacker has fled & both the Hardys & the police treat her as just another victim. While suspicion falls on various men around campus (a young man who's stalking one of the female students, a professor with a history of evil experiments, the school's male self-defense teacher), it turns out that [[spoiler: Wendy herself is the kidnapper, suffering from delusional split-personality episodes. Her "other personality" faked the attack to throw the police off and was staging the attacks in an attempt to get Joe back with her.]]
* BermudaTriangle: The episode "The Mysterious Fate of Flight 608" initially appears to play it straight, then averts it midway through. The Hardys board a plane that will be flying over the infamous area; Joe finds out about the flight path from a scared passenger and freaks out, though Frank scoffs at the idea, saying science has debunked the whole thing. But then the plane runs into trouble: a hurricane hits, the pilots collapse, Frank ends up crash-landing the plane into the ocean, and the passengers take refuge on a deserted island, with the scared passenger saying they're now in another dimension and lost for good. [[spoiler: Nothing mysterious about it -- the pilots were drugged by a diamond smuggler, and the island is within spitting-distance of Bermuda, with rescue crews heading their way.]]
* BoundAndGagged:
** "The Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom" has an extended sequence of Joe Hardy tied hand and foot and gagged in an abandoned backlot of a movie set. [[{{Fanservice}} Yeah. Exactly.]]
** "Game Plan" in third season also has Joe bound and gagged -- by Frank, no less -- and shoved in a closet.
* TheButlerDidIt: Played with in "Dangerous Waters" -- the kidnap victim doesn't recognize her mother's supposed "butler" when he greets Frank and Joe at the door, and said butler turns out to not be a butler at all, but [[spoiler: married to a woman pretending to be the victim's mother and the instigator of another plot to get the victim.]]
* CaptainObvious:
** "Voodoo Doll":
--->''(empty coffin has been open the whole time, in full view of the cops have been in crypt, with Hardys standing nearby)''
--->'''Frank:''' You can't rob a grave if there's nothing in it.
--->'''Obvious Cop:''' Coffin's empty, captain.
* ChekhovsSkill:
** "Acapulco Spies": Joe discovers a technique for planting fingerprints at the scene of the crime. Guess what the Hardys use to trick the BigBad into revealing where Fenton's being held prisoner?
* ChristmasEpisode: The Nancy Drew episode "Will The Real Santa Claus Please Stand Up?" See the entry under RealAfterAll for details.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: abused twice:
** "Mystery of the Flickering Torch" has Frank and Joe trapped inside a small closet while a fire rages outside; they break out and dodge through the flames to the outside without even a singe to their clothing.
** "Arson & Old Lace" has Frank, Joe, and Nancy all trying to escape a burning office building. To be fair, Joe nearly gets blown to kingdom come when he almost opens a door that has smoke pouring from under it (Frank knocks him out of the way), but then both Hardys are shown entering rooms with raging flames to rescue people, with no ill effects beyond a bit of smudge and coughing.
* CrashCourseLanding: "The Strange Fate of Flight 608" has all three pilots knocked out by some weird drug...leaving Frank and Joe to fly the plane. In a hurricane. In the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. Without any radio help, and the one semi-conscious pilot falls asleep mid-instruction. Guess who manages to crash-land in the middle of the ocean? Of course, they do make it to a deserted island and find themselves all alone with an ex-plane full of of young stewardesses, so I guess it wasn't too hard on them.
* CreepyDoll: the episode "House on Possessed Hill" has Joe Hardy walking into a room of a cursed house...with a [[UncannyValley creepy-as-hell animated toy doll nodding its head in time to tinkly music box chimes.]]
* CryingWolf: This happened in "The Flickering Torch Mystery" when the Brothers suspect that their client is going to be killed with a bomb on stage. To prevent that, Frank and Joe storm the stage during the concert and rip up the equipment, but find nothing. After that fiasco, the Hardys have a much harder time convincing anyone of a real murder threat on the client's plane, especially since it was already searched and came up clean. Acting on instinct, the Hardy Boys stop the plane and the plane is discovered to be much more subtly sabotaged: with a special radio designed to interfere with the plane's navigational equipment to make sure it goes off course over water and crash when it runs out of fuel with no land in sight...not to mention a missing technician who discovered the plot and tried to warn of the problem is found tied up in the empty spare fuel tank.
* DefectorFromCommieLand:
** "Sole Survivor" revolved around East Germans trying to stop the defection of a Chinese scientist, using a MindScrew to get Joe Hardy to spill his guts.
** "Mystery On The Avalanche Express" had a side plot of a ski champion wanting to defect to the West, and dragging Joe into the matter.
** "Defection To Paradise" had the daughter of a top Russian Official being chased down by Russian assassins, and Frank and Joe trying to help her escape.
* DamselInDistress: Nancy Drew was reduced to this in second season, once Janet Louise Johnson took over the character, in cross-over episodes with the Hardys. Nancy was constantly being placed in situations that required Frank Hardy to rescue her:
** "Arson & Old Lace": Nancy gets kidnapped (see DistressBall entry below) and needs Frank to rescue her.
** "Voodoo Doll": Nancy wanders into the BigBad's lair, gets caught, and needs Frank and Joe to rescue her.
** "Mystery on the Avalanche Express": Nancy gets cornered on a train by two men -- a passenger train, in a hallway where there's plenty other passengers in compartments -- and can't simply push past them until Frank comes to her rescue.
* {{Disco}}:
** "Game Plan": 3rd season episode has Frank Hardy meeting the BigBad in an Atlantic City disco, complete with trippy flashing floor lights, disco ball, obnoxious muzak (not even real disco music!), and fashion victims that looked like rejects from Film/SaturdayNightFever.
* DisposableWoman:
** "Last Kiss of Summer": See the entry for StuffedIntoTheFridge below for full description. Jamie is introduced, only to be killed in the first 10 minutes, and is never mentioned in any other episode, despite supposedly being the love of Joe's life.
** "Dangerous Waters": Ria Thomas exists only to be kidnapped by pirates and a pair of greedy treasure hunters, then rescued twice by the Hardy Boys.
** "Arson & Old Lace": Nancy Drew became this. We never see her actually working on the case. She exists only as the pathetic, helpless victim to be rescued by her love interest, Frank Hardy. And after this episode, she disappeared from the series for good, save for a one-line mention in "Campus Terror".
* DistressBall: Nancy Drew. Dear GODS, Nancy Drew in 2nd Season.
** "Arson & Old Lace": Nancy goes off to solve an embezzlement case on her own, without the Hardys, and gets grabbed...then is held captive for six months. By an old man in his 70s. In a penthouse. With a phone and an intercom to a secretary who's not in on the plot. With an elevator that doesn't require any special code to operate, that leads right down to a very public and open office area. No, she's not tied up. She's not held under lock and key. And somehow the elderly gent is able to force her into an elaborate dress and hairstyle, too. She just passively waits for Frank Hardy to rescue her as the building is burning down.
** Ditto "Voodoo Doll". Nancy goes off on her own to investigate TheVillain. Yup, gets caught. Yup, is held captive (again, untied up) with two other women, similarly untied, in an open warehouse with tons of crates. The only door INTO the warehouse area is locked. On Nancy's side of the door. With the hinges on HER side, too. Her one attempt to escape involves her climbing UP crates to go through a window, and is promptly caught. It takes the Hardys breaking into the warehouse through said door before Nancy can escape. *sigh*
* TheDulcineaEffect: the show mostly avoided this by having the girls in question be friends from school or former girlfriends, but a couple eps stand out:
** "House on Possessed Hill", where Joe champions a supposedly psychic girl who's just flagged him down, jumped into his van, and gets him running for his life from a lynch mob...
** "Death Surf" -- this time ''Frank'' falls in love with a girl he's seen for only three or four seconds...and who's supposedly dead for most of the episode.
** Subverted in "The Mystery of King Tut's Tomb", where the brothers are trying to get ''out'' of helping the stranger-girl, but are finally forced into it because the Egyptian police hold their passports. Frank even threatens to kick said girl's teeth in, at one point. Subverted even further when it turns out that the girls don't want the Hardys' help at all, as [[spoiler: they're the ones who set up the initial con & purse-snatching to begin with.]]
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale:
** "Death Surf". An older waitress (Bernie) seriously hits on Joe, despite Joe being visibly and highly uncomfortable with this, and keeps hitting on him even though Joe puts her off several times; though the actor (Shaun Cassidy) is 19 at the time, in the show, Joe is supposed to be underage, which just heightens the creep factor, and Bernie is fully aware of this, making reference at a later point to Joe's "mom" saying it's okay for him to come out and play. The show tops this by having Joe ''going out with Bernie'' at the end of the episode! Gender-flip this -- if it'd been Nancy Drew getting highly unwanted advances from a male waiter, and we'd be rooting for Nancy to deck the guy.
** "Life on the Line". Frank gets unwanted attention and harrassment by a psychotic motorbike racer, who is insanely jealous of Frank protecting one of her fellow racers. The psychotic woman invades Frank's trailer, spies on him as he's changing clothes, and tries to get him drunk, all of which make Frank very, very uncomfortable. But the show '''then''' shows Frank as feeling guilty that he had to turn the woman in for attempting to murder the other racer. Yeah. Right.
* FakedRipVanWinkle: See the YouWakeUpInARoom entry below. "Sole Survivor". Joe Hardy.
* FlareGun: 3rd season episode "Dangerous Waters" not only has Frank firing a flare gun to signal the rescue boat to come in, but also fires directly at the bad guys with it to drive them off.
* FingertipDrugAnalysis: "Mystery on the Avalanche Express". Frank pulls this with a compact of makeup powder suspected of containing drugs.
* HandGagging: Frank Hardy does this in "Scorpion's Sting". Going undercover to trap a notorious international kidnapper, Frank ambushes the kidnapper's daughter in her apartment by sneaking up behind her, [[StandardFemaleGrabArea grabbing her arm]] and putting his hand over her mouth to silence her.
* HeroicBSOD: "Last Kiss of Summer". Joe Hardy's fiance is killed in a car wreck; she dies in his arms. Next scene is Joe sitting in a police waiting area, staring into space, fighting not to cry, trying to process what just happened, and not snapping out of it until Frank comes in and very, very gently talks his brother down.
* HollywoodFire: See ConvectionSchmonvection entry above.
* HollywoodVoodoo: "Voodoo Doll", an episode that has to be seen to be believed:
** An old white English professor is somehow a Voodoo High Priest, with the Haitian (Black) Voodoo Priest stated to be his "protege".
** Tarot cards are called "Voodoo cards" [[spoiler: though their accuracy is actually a MindScrew used by the villain to psych the Hardys out]]. Voodoo-themed Tarot did not exist at that point & no tarot uses the symbology or images shown; modern "Voodoo Tarot" is a CanonImmigrant incorporated from European-based Neo-Paganism.
** Obvious stage magic presented as proof of "Voodoo powers".
** The episode does have one point in its favor, in an small aversion: Baron Samedi is not mentioned at all, and during a fake Voodoo ceremony, the practitioners summon "Papa Legba" instead. Point taken away, though: [[ArtisticLicenseReligion Papa Legba is the guardian of the crossroads]], and would hardly be the one invoked for the apparent death curse that the villains are trying to lay on the Hardys.
** TheVillain owns a Voodoo-themed bar called "Club Damballah". Damballah is a Haitian Voodoo loa whose worship strictly forbids the consumption of alcohol.
** Voodoo is presented solely as evil magic, not the path of healing & sincere worship that it is.
** To top everything off, all the Voodoo references in this New-Orleans-based episode are ''Haitian Voodoo''. New Orleans and Haitian Voodoo are two entirely different things. The episode does state that both villains are Haitian Voodoo practitioners, but that doesn't explain their circle of NOLA worshippers, and Haitian-style Voodoo is the only Voodoo presented in the episode.
* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: "Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom". The Hardy Boys see Nancy Drew unsuccessfully trying to talk her way out of trouble at an airport, and go over to help. On the spur of the moment, Joe pretends to be undercover airport security, and the brothers "apprehend" Nancy:
-->'''Nancy:''' ''(to another traveler)'' I'm telling you there was another man here trying to get into your suitcase!
-->'''Frank:''' Excuse me, what seems to be the trouble here?
-->'''Traveler''': ''(suspicious)'' Is she with you?
-->'''Joe''' ''(flipping open his wallet and flashing an ID too quick to see)'': Airport police. Juvenile Division. I thought we told you to never work this airport, Trixie.
-->'''Frank''': We'll take care of this, sir. I'm sorry there's been any inconvenience to you. ''(grabbing Nancy by the shoulder)'' Come with me, thank you very much...
-->'''Traveler''': You're probably all in this together!
* TheInfiltration: "Game Plan", in Season 3, has Frank going deep undercover and joining with a criminal organization. At one point, he seems to have gone totally over and sold out the Feds, to the point of pulling a gun on Joe.
* MagicPlasticSurgery: "Creatures Who Came On Sunday" (aired in 1978, mind) has its whole plot revolve around a secret installation of the Federal Witness Protection Program, where protected folks get plastic surgery to totally change their looks. All the folks in said camp are swathed in bandages ''while playing baseball'' with no apparent pain or lack of agility.
* MomentKiller: "Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom" has Frank Hardy and Nancy Drew ''finally'' sharing a kiss and making plans to go see the sights together... only for an [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling Annoying Younger Brother Detective]] to ruin it:
-->'''Nancy:''' What I'd ''like'' to do is thank you... for saving my life. ''(kisses Frank)''
-->'''Joe:''' ''(butting in out of nowhere)'' Hi there! Where we off to?
* MythologyGag: the show itself gets referenced in the book series:
** "Last Kiss of Summer" gets myth-gagged in spades by the books in the Casefiles debut, "Dead on Target". In "Last Kiss", Joe Hardy's fiance is killed in a car wreck by a drunk driver, and Joe goes on a RoaringRampageofRevenge to bring the killer to justice. In "Dead on Target", they not only kill off Joe Hardy's longtime girlfriend in the series, Iola Morton, but do so in a car...and Joe subsequently goes on a revenge kick to bring down the Assassins who did it.
** "The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew Meet Dracula" is myth-gagged in the Super Mysteries book series, "Terror on Tour", where Nancy and the Hardys meet at a rock show -- and in the episode, the Hardys and Nancy meet while following a rock tour, and join forces to solve a series of art thefts. This is also the episode that started Frank and Nancy's romance in the show...a relationship that continues through the Super Mysteries series.
** The first season episode "Wipe Out" does this to the books. In the books, Frank is a black belt in karate. In the episode, Frank and Joe are ambushed by a pair of tough hotel thieves; Joe bluffs them by saying that Frank is a "black belt, a master of the martial arts". The thieves believe it and leave, but then we get this exchange:
-->'''Frank:''' What made you think of that black belt business?
-->'''Joe:''' I thought it was a pretty good bluff.
-->'''Frank:''' Some bluff. He would've chewed me up in little pieces.
-->'''Joe:''' It was a chance I had to take...
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** "Creatures Who Came on Sunday". [[TheDeterminator Frank Hardy]] is so determined to find out what happened to Sharon's missing boyfriend that he not only ignores three back-off warnings from the local sheriff, [[TheVillain supposed government agents]], and Sharon herself, he then ends up leading mob killers (masquerading as those government agents) onto the boyfriend, who is in the Witness Protection Program and in hiding in a facility up on the mountain. This results in the mob killers taking Frank, Joe, and Sharon hostage, then forcing Joe at gunpoint to lead them back to the facility to point the boyfriend out so they can shoot him.
** "Death Surf". Once more, [[TheDeterminator Frank Hardy]] starts asking questions to find out more about a woman who's been killed in a drowning accident while he was wind-surfing nearby. Granted, he's doing so at the behest of the woman's father, but only to find out what the woman was like. Frank receives two back-off speeches that he's going too far, one from the owner of a bar where the woman worked and the second from ''his brother Joe'', but Frank is so obsessed with finding out about the woman that he not only ignores the warnings and finds the woman is still alive...but has led a criminal who is trying to find her to kill her directly to her. Nice job, hero!
* NoGuyWantsToBeChased: "Death Surf". The older waitress Bernie seriously hits on Joe, who is shown to be highly uncomfortable and not interested -- then the trope gets averted at the end, with Joe and Bernie going out on a date. Also see the DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale entry above.
-->'''Joe:''' ''(trying to get information on a missing girl)'' Can I talk to you for a second?
-->'''Bernie:''' Suuuurrre!!! ''(sitting down eagerly)'' You've got beautiful eyes. Has anyone ever told you that?
-->'''Joe:''' ''(uncomfortable)'' Not today.
-->'''Bernie:''' They're kinda melty...so warm and green. You're so nice and handsome...
-->'''Joe:''' ''(seriously at a loss for words, visibly backing away in his chair)'': Ah...

* ReadingLips: In the episode "Silent Scream", a deaf girl finds out about a Las Vegas bomb plot by reading the lips of a man in a phone booth. Of course, the woman, the Hardys, the villains and the casino owners then spend the rest of the episode passing around the IdiotBall, but no one's perfect.
* {{Revenge}}:
** "Last Kiss of Summer" has Joe Hardy going after the criminals who killed his fiancee' in a drunk-driving accident, stating that he's not going to leave L.A. until he gets them arrested.
** "Search for Atlantis". Despite being told that once they found a missing undercover agent, their job was over, Joe convinces Frank to stay to revenge the agent when said agent is found dead, as the agent had been close to the Hardy family as the boys were growing up and "was a very important part of our lives."
* TheRunaway: "Mystery of the Fallen Angels" referenced the "Circus Runaway" trope. Nancy tries to get a job at a travelling carnival to investigate a lead on a burglary ring. The carnival's owner exasperatedly says that she has to deal with "runaways" asking for work at every town the carnival visits, and tells Nancy to go home and try to work things out with her family instead.
* RuthlessModernPirates: Third season episode "Dangerous Waters" features modern day pirates who lure in victims by pretending to be a boat in trouble, then either killing or kidnapping the people who stop to help. The plot kicks off with the Hardys trying to find a woman grabbed by the pirates, as she inadvertently stumbles over clues to the pirates' identity. The pirates state they not only intend to sell the woman into sex-slavery in China, but will kill Joe, as well.
* ScreamingWoman: "Voodoo Doll" has Nancy Drew. Dear Gods, it has Nancy Drew, who is reduced to screaming endlessly and uselessly...at the sight of a man in an obvious skull mask who is merely standing there. In a brightly lit room.
* ShirtlessScene: Hoo, brother, where to ''start?''
** "Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom": Frank Hardy walks into the room fresh from the shower, clad only in a towel.
** "Life on the Line": Frank strips off his shirt inside his trailer.
** "Sole Survivor": [[PrettyBoy Joe Hardy]] spends most of the episode in a sweat-jacket unzipped halfway down.
** "Wipe Out": for some odd reason, Frank (the so-called surfing champion who spends most of the ep on the surfboard) is always shown with a shirt on, even in the water. But Joe gets a glorious, shirtless, wet-chest scene, shortly after saving Frank from two feet of water.
** "Mystery of the Jade Kwan Yin": Ditto on the Joe-Hardy-In-Halfway-Zipped-Sweats.
* ShoutOut:
** "House On Possessed Hill", which features a demon-haunted house, uses the house from ''Psycho'', complete with a fast drive-by-glimpse of a boarded-up, one-story building that looks suspiciously like the Bates Motel:
--->''(the Hardys are walking up to the house on a stormy night, to investigate the "ghosts")''
--->'''Joe:''' Wonder if Hitchcock's seen this place?
** "Mystery on the Avalanche Express": The title is a shout to Creator/AgathaChristie's "Mystery on the Orient Express", complete with an avalanche threatening the train.
** "Mystery of the Haunted House" (which features the above ''Psycho'' house as the titular haunted house): the "haunted house" is a restaurant...complete with waiters dressed as [[Series/TheMunsters Hermann and Lily Munster.]] And the Hermann Munster also pulls a convincing [[Series/TheAddamsFamily Lurch]] imitation, right as the Hardys are entering the restaurant.
* StalkingIsLove: "Oh Say Can You Sing" has the female lead singer of a rock band being stalked by her ex-husband and has a court order of protection against him -- the Hardys initially think the man is out to hurt the woman, but when he says "I'm her husband" and ''admits'' to having the restraining order, the Hardys still treat him as an okay guy and immediately take him off their suspect list, believing his explanation of following her around because he still loves her.
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: "Last Kiss of Summer". We're introduced to Jamie, the love of Joe's life, the woman he's willing to marry & throw over his entire life and career for -- a woman that we haven't met before nor has there been any reference to her throughout the entire series to this point -- and 10 minutes into the episode, right after the wedding rehearsal where we're shown Joe & Jamie pledging the vows, Jamie's killed by a random drunk driver, as Joe is driving, followed by Joe weeping over her bloody body in the car. Jamie only existed to die and to fuel Joe's RoaringRampageOfRevenge for the rest of the episode.
* TechnoBabble: "Search for Atlantis" has a really painful example, when the Hardys are introduced to university archeologists on a dig to find Atlantis. At one point, the site manager asks Frank and Joe how much they know about archeology. Frank starts off innocently enough with a reference to "Petrie's system of excavation", a reference to William Petrie, who set exacting standards for archeological work in the 1900s, but has no specific system attached to his name. Then Frank goes on to babble about the lack of "pulse induction readings" and "flux gates", with the site manager commenting that the "volcanic activity" in the area has ruled them out. Considering that "pulse induction" is a metal detector and a "flux gate" a magnetometer (used to measure magnetism on objects), nothing volcanic would prevent the use of that equipment. The site manager also babbles about "plate activity" jumbling the readings...which wouldn't stop any decent archeological team, who would know how to read soil & rock levels. About the only thing Frank gets right is a reference to "Fiorelli's technique", used at Pompeii to make molds of corpses under the volcanic rock.
* TelevisionGeography:
** The episode "Voodoo Doll" is just ''painful''. Despite having a stock footage opening shot of the real Bourbon Street in New Orleans during Mardi Gras...the Hollywood backlot not only didn't bother to make buildings that looked like New Orleans, but the ep also refers to addresses that don't exist and has the Hardys wandering through a wide, spacious, bury-them-below-ground cemetery...never mind that cemeteries in NOLA in the Quarter are all bury-them-above-ground due to the high water table and jammed-packed. And we won't go into the total lack of any believable accents (What are LAPD doing in NOLA?) and black people in general.
** "Creatures Who Came On Sunday" has the hills of southern California substituting for the "mountains" of New Mexico. Um...
** "The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew Meet Dracula" shows the correct stock footage shots of Dracula's Castle (there's actually several, but they use Poenari Castle in Romania)...but then show people driving cars right up to the castle entrance for a major rock festival. In reality, the castle is only accessible by climbing a long, narrow, zig-zaggy staircase up the wooded mountain.
** "Mystery of the African Safari" has Kenya, Africa looking amazingly like the San Diego Zoo; the episode was shot in the zoo, uses the zoo's boat ride, and even uses stock footage of the monkey exhibit as "wild monkeys".
* ThreateningShark: "Last Kiss of Summer" has one of the bad guys trying to kill off Frank Hardy by taking him surfing at a university breeding area for great whites.
* ThrillerOnTheExpress: "Mystery on the Avalanche Express". ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
* {{Uberwald}}: "The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew Meet Dracula" had the plucky detectives going into Transylvania for a Halloween music festival — cue the old spooky castle and villagers who still wear medieval peasant folk costumes who give the warnings about the vampire in the castle...
* VirtualRealityInterrogation: "Sole Survivor". See entry for YouWakeUpInARoom below.

* YouWakeUpInARoom: "Sole Survivor", where Joe wakes up in a hospital room with no clue where he is or how he got there, only to be told that he's not only been in a coma for a year, but that his father and brother are dead. [[FakedRipVanWinkle Cue fake newspapers, fake newscasts, and forged letters from all his surviving relatives and friends.]] Of course, [[spoiler: Frank and Fenton are very much alive, and the whole thing is a MindScrew to get Joe to reveal information on a defection attempt.]]
-

** "House on Possessed Hill" features a psychiatrist hypnotizing a young psychic woman so she can wander an old house like she was four years old.

** A third episode, "The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew Meet Dracula", may count as well, though the supernatural aspect is met with skepticism, is suspected of being only due to TheVillain's delusions, and, when shown to be real at the very end, [[RealAfterAll is only seen by Joe Hardy.]]

* BermudaTriangle: The episode "The Mysterious Fate of Flight 608" subverts this to pieces. The Hardys board a plane that will be flying over the infamous area; Joe finds out about the flight path from a scared passenger and freaks out, though Frank scoffs at the idea, saying science has debunked the whole thing. But then the plane runs into trouble: a hurricane hits, the pilots collapse, Frank ends up crash-landing the plane into the ocean, and the passengers take refuge on a deserted island, with the scared passenger saying they're now in another dimension and lost for good. [[spoiler: Nothing mysterious about it -- the pilots were drugged by a diamond smuggler, and the island is within spitting-distance of Bermuda, with rescue crews heading their way.]]

** "Last Kiss of Summer": See the entry for StuffedIntoTheFridge below.

* HollywoodVoodoo: "Voodoo Doll", an episode that has to be seen to be believed. A white stuffy English professor is somehow a Voodoo High Priest (with the Haitian Voodoo Priest stated to be his "protoge"), tarot cards called "Voodoo cards" (though their apparent accuracy is actually a MindScrew used by the villain to psych the Hardys out), and stage magic presented as the real thing. Though the episode does have one point in its favor: Baron Samedi is not mentioned at all, and during a fake Voodoo ceremony, the practitioners summon "Papa Legba" instead.
** Point taken away: [[ArtisticLicenseReligion Papa Legba is the guardian of the crossroads]], and would hardly be the one invoked for the apparent death curse that the villains are trying to lay on the Hardys.
** Point ''doubly'' taken away: TheVillain owns a Voodoo-themed bar called "Club Damballah". Damballah is a ''Haitian'' Voodoo loa whose worship strictly forbids the consumption of alcohol.
** Points triply taken away as all the Voodoo references in this New-Orleans-based episode are Haitian. New Orleans and Haitian Voodoo are two entirely different things. The episode does state that both villains are Haitian Voodoo practitioners, but that doesn't explain their circle of NOLA worshippers.

* {{Revenge}}: ''Last Kiss of Summer'' has Joe Hardy going after the criminals who killed his fiancee' in a drunk-driving accident.

* RuthlessModernPirates: Third season episode ''Dangerous Waters'' features modern day pirates who lure in victims by pretending to be a boat in trouble, then either killing or kidnapping the people who stop to help. The plot kicks off with the Hardys trying to find a woman grabbed by the pirates, as she inadvertently stumbles over clues to the pirates' identity. The pirates state they not only intend to sell the woman into sex-slavery in China, but will kill Joe, as well.

* CatchPhrase: See the page quote.

** ''The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew Meet Dracula'' has Frank & Joe investigating their dad's disappearance in Europe, which opens with them identifying corpses in a morgue. They eventually discover Fenton was attacked and has been unconscious for days in a monastery/hospital, with his recovery uncertain. The scene ends with Joe breaking down in tears at his father's bedside.
** ''Sole Survivor'' has Fenton being told his son Joe is missing and likely dead in a car wreck, with his body believed to have been washed out to sea.
** ''Assault on the Tower'': Fenton breaks down after Frank is caught by TheVillain and imprisoned with him, with Fenton believing that it's his fault that his son is now in danger of losing his life.
** ''Last Kiss of Summer'': after finding out that Joe is attempting a reckless sting on a pair of ruthless thieves who have already killed two people, Fenton tries to order his son to stop, to the point of trumping up charges so the feds will pick Joe up, as Fenton is scared that Joe will be killed, too.

** A third episode, "The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew Meet Dracula'', may count as well, though the supernatural aspect is met with skepticism, is suspected of being only due to the BigBad's delusions, and when shown to be real at the very end, [[RealAfterAll is only seen by Joe Hardy.]]

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Almost right down to a T: Frank Hardy, Manly (Parker Stevenson being the muscled prep-school jock into surfing), aggressive, and likely to get into a fight. Younger Brother Joe, Sensitive (Shaun Cassidy, slender teen-idol musician) who tries to avoid trouble at all costs. Though the show occasionally subverted it by having Frank shove Joe out front in dangerous situations. See CasualDangerDialog entry for example.
** Season Three really subverted it. Joe Hardy went from Sensitive Guy to the guy most likely to chase down the villain and get into a fight. This might just have been CharacterDevelopment, but still...
** Ironically, the later Casefiles novels had Frank as the sensitive intellectual and Joe as manly and impulsive.
* SeventiesHair: For young Gen X'ers first introduced to the Hardy Boys through this show with their long hair, seeing the contemporary covers of the books with them with their short hair was a shock.

* SpecialGuest: the show is FULL of these. "Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom", in particular, seemed to be just an excuse for Creator/{{ABC}} to work in as many of their B-list stars as possible.

* BermudaTriangle: The episode ''The Mysterious Fate of Flight 608'' subverts this to pieces. The Hardys board a plane that will be flying over the infamous area; Joe finds out about the flight path from a scared passenger and freaks out, though Frank scoffs at the idea, saying science has debunked the whole thing. But then the plane runs into trouble: a hurricane hits, the pilots collapse, Frank ends up crash-landing the plane into the ocean, and the passengers take refuge on a deserted island, with the scared passenger saying they're now in another dimension and lost for good. [[spoiler: Nothing mysterious about it -- the pilots were drugged by a diamond smuggler, and the island is within spitting-distance of Bermuda, with rescue crews heading their way.]]

** Point taken away: [[CriticalResearchFailure Papa Legba is the guardian of the crossroads]], and would hardly be the one invoked for the apparent death curse that the villains are trying to lay on the Hardys.

* AdaptationDyeJob: In the books, Frank's hair is dark. TV Show, inexplicably blonde.
** The eye colors of both brothers also fall into this. In the books, Joe is the blue-eyed blonde. Here, Frank has the blue eyes, Joe's hazel. Not that anyone's complaining, mind...
* {{Adorkable}}: The show ''tried'' to do this to Joe Hardy in 1st season: nerdy argyle sweater, check. Heavily into forensics and fingerprints and likely to start expounding on fingerprints at the drop of a hat, check. Portrayed as socially awkward younger brother, check. But then the writers realized they were up against [[TeenIdol Shaun Cassidy]] and gave it up as a lost cause.
* AdultFear: There are quite a few cases where one of the brothers and/or their dad is attacked or kidnapped, leaving the ones left terrified for their well-being. One episode has them investigating their dad's disappearance in Europe, which opens with them identifying corpses in a morgue. [[spoiler:They find out he was beaten severely and has been unconscious for four days, although fortunately he was being given medical attention, at least.]]
* AlternateContinuity: the show is considered this in regards to [[TheHardyBoys the book series.]] Woe betide any {{Fanfic}} writers who use these versions of the Hardys and don't flag their tale as such up front!
* AmateurSleuth: No matter where the Hardy brothers go, they end up involved in a mystery...though the show sometimes plays with it by having the cops or others get real suspicious about the Hardys' involvement, up to and including tossing them in jail. Nancy's amateur status is questionable, as she often implies that she's working for her father.
* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Many of the bad guys throughout the show are shown carrying guns without holsters and simply tuck the guns into their waistbands. A couple even have the gun tucked into the front of their pants...