Herbie J uncovers the secrets to the success of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries TV shows in his books, Retro Active Television, and Dashing, Daring, and Debonair.
Shaun Cassidy (right), Parker Stevenson (middle), and Pamela Sue Martin starred in the original first two seasons of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries on ABC from 1976 to 1977Janet Louise Johnson (aka Janet Julian), seen here with Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson, replaced Pamela Sue Martin for four episodes of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries in latter part of the show's second season.Kristie Welsch (a.k.a. Kristie Welch), who bore a striking resemblance to Janet Louise Johnson (aka Janet Julian), and Shaun Cassidy pose here for a press photo for the Hardy Boys third-season, two-part opener, in which Kristie played Jaime, doomed fiancée to Cassidy's Joe Hardy.
After Nancy Drew, Pamela Sue Martin (third from the left in the left photo, and with Herbie J, on the right) went on to join the cast of Dynasty on ABC, playing Fallon, daughter of John Forsythe's Blake Carrdington. But she would leave that series and be replaced by Emma Sams in the part.
After The Hardy Boys, and a successful music and live performance career, Shaun Cassidy, seen here with Herbie J, backstage at Shaun's concert at the La Mirada Theatre in March 2026, would focus his creative energies on writing and producing television.
Post-The Hardy Boys, Parker Stevenson would go on to star in the original NBC version of Baywatch, and later channel his creative energies into artwork.
A few years before they won their leading roles on The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Pamela Sue Martin and Parker Stevenson (here with Edith Atwater in the middle) starred in the 1974 feature film, Our Time.
After their Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew days ended, Pamela Sue Martin and Parker Stevenson reunited on screen in 2017 for the Christmas TV-movie, My Christmas Prince.
After replacing Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew, Janet Louise Johnson (Julian) was cast as Lt. Brie on TV's Battlestar: Galactica (left). Today (right), she continues to act.
Herbie J profiles Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson in his book, Dashing, Daring, and Debonair, and chronicles the pop-culture significance of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries in Retro Active Television
