Susan Buckner Movies

Nancy Drew, teenage crime-solver, found mysteries to unravel in all of her adventures on her 1977 Sunday-evening series, which was based on a children's novel series of the same name. In "Mystery of the Diamond Triangle," Nancy, while soaring on a glider, witnesses a car sliding off the road. However, when she reaches the ground, she discovers that the police can't find the vehicle. ~ Sarah Sloboda, All Movie Guide

Several major changes occur during the second season of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. Whereas in season one the series maintained a alternating-week format -- with teenaged detective Joe and Frank Hardy (Shaun Cassidy, Parker Stevenson) appearing in their own Hardy Boys Mysteries episode one week, followed the next week by 18-year-old sleuth Nancy Drew (Pamela Sue Martin) headlining her own Nancy Drew Mysteries installment -- beginning with the two-part season-two opener "The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula," all three leading characters would occasionally appear together, solving the same mystery. Thus, while Joe and Frank soloed in such efforts as "The Mystery of the African Safari" and "The Acapulco Story," and Nancy would go it alone in the likes of "Nancy Drew's Love Match" and "The Lady on Thursday at Ten," the Hardy Boys and Miss Drew would combine forces in such capers as the two-part "The Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom" -- which incidentally, featured cameo appearances by Robert Wagner, Jaclyn Smith, and Dennis Weaver. With the episode titled "Voodoo Doll," the two rotating series The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew officially merged into one, with the three major characters appearing together ever afterward. However, the series would do without the services of Pamela Sue Martin, who left the property in protest over having her separate series eliminated. Janet Louise Johnson takes over as Nancy in the aforementioned "Voodoo Doll," remaining with the series until Nancy Drew is completely written out at the end of season two. ~ All Movie Guide

Although the Hardy Boys books are credited to Franklin W. Dixon and the Nancy Drew mysteries are signed by Carolyn Keene, both of these children's literature properties were created by one man -- Edward R. Stratemeyer -- who, using a wide variety of pen names and a huge staff of ghost writers, churned out hundreds of "Hardy," "Drew," and similar book series from the WWI years onward. Curiously, while both The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew had been adapted for films and television, the two properties never "merged" until ABC got the bright idea of creating the Sunday-evening TV series The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries in late 1976. In this incarnation, teen heartthrobs Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson were respectively cast as Joe and Frank Hardy, the amateur-sleuth sons of celebrated private investigator Fenton Hardy (Edmund Gilbert), while Pamela Sue Martin was seen as Nancy Drew, the bright, insatiably inquisitive daughter of criminal lawyer Carson Drew (William Schallert). In keeping with their common "parentage," The Hardy Boys Mysteries and The Nancy Drew Mysteries both found their young protagonists seeking out clues and risking their lives in order to solve baffling cases, much to the dismay and disapproval of their respective parents -- not to mention the Hardy kids' aunt Gertrude (Edith Atwater) and the Drew family's maid Bess (Ruth Cox). Joe and Frank Hardy were occasionally assisted by their school friend Callie Shaw (Lisa Eilbacher), while Nancy Drew's partners in deducing were her erstwhile beau Ned Nickerson (George O'Hanlon Jr.) and her tomboyish gal pal George Fayne (played first by Jean Rasey, then by Susan Buckner).

Debuting January 30, 1977, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries was during its first season a "rotating" series, with a Hardy Boys episode one week, followed by a Nancy Drew installment the next. Beginning with season two, the Hardys and Nancy would occasionally appear in the same episode; in February of 1978, the two shows became one (albeit under the same "blanket" title), with Joe, Frank, and Nancy appearing together in every episode. At that time, Pamela Sue Martin left the series, balking at the notion of her "separate" vehicle being eliminated. Janet Louise Johnson then stepped into the role of Nancy Drew, remaining with the property until it was decided to drop Nancy altogether. Thus, though The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries officially ended in the fall of 1978, the series hung on as simply The Hardy Boys until August 26, 1979. ~ All Movie Guide