Five suburban kids solve a murder in 1980 and a popular children's TV show is based on their real-life adventures; 25 years later, the estranged friends reunite for the DVD release of the series but one of them arrives with a dark secret.
Murder, memory and Saturday morning television collide in THE CASSIDY KIDS.
25 years ago five suburban kids stumbled on a murder in their sleepy hometown and led police to the killer. Two years later The Cassidy Kids Mysteries, a Saturday morning TV show based on their story, made its premiere. A terrifying real-life story became a brightly-lit colorful world of adventure. A bloodless kidnapping replaced the murder. The kids personalities were reduced to ridiculous stereotypes. And the showwas a huge hit. It ran for four years and spawned lunch boxes, a line of childrens underwear and a set of action figures still in demand today. Now, in preparation for the shows DVD release, a documentary team has invited all five of the real Cassidy Kids back home to talk about how it all began.
Lewis Gaylord now owns a direct mail business. Norman Peabody struggles to make it in Hollywood as an actor. Max Cassidy, the vicious bully credited for solving the crime, still trades on his pseudo-fame while not doing much of anything. And Rebecca Vanderpool, the only one of the group actually cast in the show, now squanders her writing talent on run-of-the-mill adventure books.
However the reunion is not complete without Dennis Peabody - Rebeccas first love, Normans adopted brother and the only black kid in their neighborhood. Dennis pulled away from his family and friends after the murder and virtually disappeared from their lives when the TV show became a cultural phenomenon. His delayed arrival turns a bland special feature on the DVD box set into an exhumation of long-buriedtrauma and truth.
The reunion cracks open the memories of that fateful summer when the kids investigated the disappearance of a no-good teen just to stave off boredom. Innocent curiosity ultimately brought them face-to-face with real death and terror. Rebecca and Dennis saw the worst and it scarred them badly, ending a childhood romance and sending them on a path toward bitterness and alienation. They watched as the truth of what happened was perverted, first by Max Cassidy, then by Hollywood and now by a clueless DVD team.
But, there is another layer of truth under it all. A terrible secret that Dennis has kept for 25 years. A secret that threatens to shatter their lives and bring down a pop culture empire. But the truth must come out...
