DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
 
 
 
It's a New 'Nancy Drew' on the CW
October 9, 2019  | By David Hinckley  | 5 comments
 

The most devoted fans of the Nancy Drew mystery books may not be the primary target audience for the new Nancy Drew TV series that launches Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on the CW.

For the rest of us, and for those fans willing to give Nancy Drew 2.0 a shot, it's pretty cool.

Just as the CW overhauled Archie comics into the atmospheric TV series Riverdale, this Nancy Drew has a much darker story than old-timers may remember from their youth.

Nor is this Nancy, played winningly by Kennedy McMann, the sweet all-American girl of the mid-20th century.

This Nancy is riddled with trauma over the death of her mother, estranged from her lawyer father Carson (Scott Wolf), and schizophrenic about her seeming boyfriend Nick Nickerson (Tunji Kasim). That ambivalence doesn't stop Nancy and Nick from having the kind of intimate relations that were not a big part of the original Nancy Drew character.

Several foundation premises remain, including Nancy's skill as a detective. She's always been naturally curious, she explains, so when she sees a situation where some behavior or event doesn't logically follow, she can't help herself. She wants to know why.

That curiosity complicates one of her first assertions in this series, which is that she's out of the sleuthing game. No, really. Seriously. Absolutely. For sure. She's finished.

Or not.

The Nancy we meet here has just turned 18. She had hoped to attend Columbia, but then her Mom got sick and died, and she put everything off.

That's painful for her and good for the TV audience. She's working as a waitress at the local restaurant, The Claw, where she insists she doesn't have any real friends, but in fact, she quickly forms a de facto posse.

That includes her sardonic boss George (Leah Lewis), with whom Nancy has some not entirely pleasant history from high school, dishwasher Ace (Alex Saxon), and fellow waitress Bess (Maddison Jaizani), who seems to be a rich girl taking a gap year to see how real people live.

It's not the classic A-team, exactly, but when a wealthy patron is found dead in the parking lot, and Nancy starts parsing what could have happened, they all want in on the action. Especially since the police at first suggest that they could all be suspects.

We also learn that one of the cops, Karen Hart (Alvina August), may have a second connection to Nancy, and not necessarily, from Nancy's perspective, in a good way.

The CW does some of its best work when it keeps its dramas clean, making main characters interesting enough so we're happy to spend most of our time with them.

Nancy Drew fits nicely into that pocket. Her narrative voiceovers drive much of the first episode, and while those may diminish once we need less filling-in on her backstory, her sharp-edged, self-aware, and often wryly humorous tone make for an engaging ride.

Nancy Drew doesn't start off as a procedural, where she solves a case every episode. The parking lot murder, and the role of the victim's handsome, well-connected husband Ryan (Riley Smith), remain wholly unexplained and unsolved at the end of the first episode.

Which is fine. It gives old-school fans a little more time to establish their own closure with the Nancy Drew of the past. 

 
 
 
 
 
Leave a Comment: (No HTML, 1000 chars max)
 
 Name (required)
 
 Email (required) (will not be published)
 
HELBL
Type in the verification word shown on the image.
 
 
 Page: 1 of 1  | Go to page: 
5 Comments
 
 
We cermet inserts can be used for turning, milling, threading, and grooving. It is suitable to use for the vapor deposition method to deposit a thin layer of harder materials on the surface of the blade to improve cutting performance., welcome to our website to learn more about carbide inserts:https://www.estoolcarbide.com
Mar 7, 2024   |  Reply
 
 
Our product will help you improve your productivity, lessen your budget in maintenance and repair. In selling machining inserts, Estool will make sure that you will get enough profit in our products., welcome to our website to learn more about carbide inserts:https://www.estoolcarbide.com
Mar 1, 2024   |  Reply
 
 
Estool cutting tool inserts features include dished, unground, chip breaker, and indexable. The insert attachments can be screw-on or no holes. The thickness and other specifications will depend on application and request., welcome to our website to learn more about carbide inserts:https://www.estoolcarbide.com
Jan 29, 2024   |  Reply
 
 
Scott Browne
Michael,
I think you’re referring to a show that had alternating episodes featuring Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I believe Pamela Sue Martin played Nancy.
Oct 17, 2019   |  Reply
 
 
MIchael
I remember seeing (at least part of it) a program with Nancy Drew in the title which was earlier this year. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8323104/?ref_=nv_sr_2?ref_=nv_sr_2
Is there not enough material in TV programming that 2 different productions based teen sleuth Nancy Drew have been produced within 9 months of each other?
Oct 9, 2019   |  Reply
 
 
 
 Page: 1 of 1  | Go to page: