I finished watching "The Hardy Boys" on Hulu the other night. I remember reading the books when I was younger, it was one of the series I really enjoyed. Along with Cam Jansen and Encyclopedia Brown, I would say they were some of my favorites. So when I heard about the series, I was pretty excited. I have to say that I feel a little let down. The series was ok, but not great. If it comes back, I'll watch, but I won't rush out to watch it. If it doesn't come back, that will be ok too. Which is more than a little disappointing to me.
It's been a long time since I read the books, so I can't comment on the accuracy of the casting, but I was not impressed by Rohan Campbell, who played Frank. I don't say this often, but his acting felt very emotionless when it came to romance. He was supposed to be interested in Callie, but there were no sparks of anything there. It was actually supposed to be a romantic triangle with Chet, but none of the relationships had any spark or anything. There was no chemistry, no desire, nothing to make me think that any of them were interested in each other. If it hadn't been for being told that they were interested in each other and for the obvious tropes pointing to a romantic triangle, I wouldn't have known there was anything romantic going on at all.
On the subject of romances, there were two potential relationships that were definitely present and I would actually look forward to seeing how they progress. One was Joe and Biff (a girl his age in this iteration) and the other was Trudy and Jesse (Biff's mom). In fact, for a while I was wondering if Trudy and Jesse were in a low-key relationship because there were definite sparks and chemistry going on there. It could have been just a great friendship, but there were things that made me question if that was all there was. If it comes back for season 2, I really hope that they explore that. Joe and Biff were fun and cute in that way that kids get when they know they are interested in someone but don't know how to handle it. Watching the two of them together was really cute. Again, it could just be a great friendship or it could be more, so that would also be fun to see more of.
I have some hope for Frank's character because, other than Chet and Cassie, his relationships felt pretty real. He and Joe had a fun sibling relationship and when he was with Trudy things felt real. This is leading me to suspect that the fault lies in the connection (or lack thereof) between him, Cassie, and Chet. They just need to either get rid of those actors or figure something out because they felt like the weakest links in the show. The other oddity was Phil. He was somewhat helpful, but mostly was just comic relief who occasionally came up with a good idea. I hope that they either develop him more or get rid of him.
One thing I do wish the show did better was explicitly state what time period they are in. I would say that they are in the 80s given the fact that there are walkmen, only landlines, older cars, and other visual clues, but there were some clothing and hairstyle choices that looked more modern (I will admit that my remembering of the 80s is hazy, so I could be wrong there). It felt almost like they didn't want to nail down a time period, but they still sort of did.
Overall, I enjoyed the show, but felt that there was a lot they could have done better.
