S01.E01: Pilot

[Bort]

Quote

Nancy Drew is a brilliant teenage detective whose sense of self had come from solving mysteries in her hometown of Horseshoe Bay, Maine – until her mother’s untimely death derails Nancy’s college plans. Devastated by her mother’s passing, Nancy swears off crime-solving while crossing off the days until she can re-apply to college. But when a socialite is murdered, Nancy finds herself a prime suspect in the crime, along with a group of other teens present at the scene: Nancy’s nemesis from high school, George Fan; a rich girl with a mysterious past, Bess Marvin; Nancy’s secret boyfriend, Ned “Nick” Nickerson; and amiable burnout Ace. The five of them must team up to clear their own names – encountering emotional entanglements and even more mysteries along the way. Nancy’s reawakening brings her into conflict with her widowed father, Carson Drew, who is dating Detective Karen Hart. And, when a supernatural presence begins to haunt Nancy’s investigation, she discovers that the current crime has an astonishing connection to the long unsolved murder of a local girl. Whether the ghost is here to help, or hinder Nancy remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure: Nancy’s going to have to unravel the clues from both the living and the dead to solve the crimes.

Airdate: Wednesday, October 9, 2019

[LexieLily]

For whatever this show thinks it is trying to be, it was passable at best, but calling this Nancy Drew is an insult to Nancy Drew. Even an updated-to-this-decade Nancy Drew, nothing from the original books is in any way the same or familiar. 

[UNOSEZ]

I only know Nancy Drew as a term used for inquisitive young females.. I have no idea of this show is indicative if the source material.. But I'm in the generation that gets tired of hearing how all the remakes that are being made and updated for us are horrible and are pushing agendas and what not... I liked what I saw this episode... It kept my attn... Everyone is suspicious.. Nancy is pretty likeable.. Even her oh so TV show reaction to her dad and her mom's friend wasn't too bad.. I'll be setting up my DVR from now on

[Samwise979]

I quite liked it. The beginning was a little clunky with all the character introductions and back ground info but once the mystery started I got really into it. The end freaked me right out. 

Did the boyfriend find drugs in Nancy's mom's car? 

Nancy's best friends in the books are George and Bess (right?) so I doubt they had anything to do with the murders. But are they implying Bess found the body first and stole the ring and went back inside?  Not liking the romance(?) between rich dude and George, that seems like a severe age difference. Hi Wyatt from the fosters! Good to see you!

Edited October 10, 2019 by Samwise979

[mjc570]

I see Adam Beach is still one of the worst actors around,.  I haven't seen him in years, but I remember how stiff he is. 

Generally, I thought it was ok, once I got over changing Nancy's hair from blond to red, and the wholesale change in her "friends" George and Bess.  I thought the ending was quite confusing, it seemed to indicate Bess had more involvement with the victim (I assume she came upon the body and stole the ring, although I have no idea why, isn't she supposed to be rich?).  Liked seeing Scott Wolf again. 

I'll keep watching, at least for now.

[Angeleyes]

6 minutes ago, mjc570 said:

I see Adam Beach is still one of the worst actors around,.  I haven't seen him in years, but I remember how stiff he is. 

Generally, I thought it was ok, once I got over changing Nancy's hair from blond to red, and the wholesale change in her "friends" George and Bess.  I thought the ending was quite confusing, it seemed to indicate Bess had more involvement with the victim (I assume she came upon the body and stole the ring, although I have no idea why, isn't she supposed to be rich?).  Liked seeing Scott Wolf again. 

I'll keep watching, at least for now.

Actually, Nancy’s hair in the books is described as Titian blonde which is a red blonde. 

[Lady Calypso]

I mean, for a female young adult detective show, it was alright. For a Nancy Drew adaption, it was..meh, at best.

I mean, it was basically Riverdale if Betty Cooper was the star, which is fine, I guess. I did like the character of Nancy, for the most part. The other characters don't hold my attention much. Ned Nickerson is now called Nick...I guess because Ned's a bit too old fashioned to have people call him? 

The ending was creepy, so I'll give it that. And the secrets were all pretty....standard, actually. 

Otherwise, I'll tune in next week.

[Bulldog]

NotAmyAdams is definitely not a strong enough actress to carry a show.  Pass.

[ketose]

Is the supernatural part of Nancy Drew? Either it is now or she's being gaslighted pretty hard.

They're really pushing the "adult" Nancy with the first scene being her banging Nick.

[LakeGal]

I liked seeing Pamela Sue Martin in a guest role. A nod to an earlier Nancy Drew.

[bobbyjoe]

I liked the last five minutes.   The rest felt like Riverdale with a lot of the life and humor drained out of it.  They have to let themselves go more; go a little bigger, ‘cause some of this felt like really generic CW.   And Nancy needs to do more than just breaking in places to get her clues; the character this is based on is supposed to be a master detective, have some fun with that.   The ending suggests there’s a possibility of this being a better show but they’re really going to need to lean into the craziness.

[Pete Martell]

After what the CW and the hacks who run Riverdale did to Archie comics (a show so offensive and so badly done on so many levels I can't even read the comics anymore), I wasn't going to bother with this show, but someone else I know who is a Nancy Drew fan wanted to try it. They tuned out as soon as the big sex scene started. 

I guess that scene was put there to make sure viewers knew this was a new Nancy Drew, look out, isn't this edgy and wild, and so forth. Similar to Riverdale, where we were reminded that we are only meant to like Betty if she tries to kill people, only meant to like Archie if he is in a sexual relationship with his teacher, and so on. Of course having sex with your boyfriend is not the same thing as either of these situations, but it was treated in the same way. As some kind of "this isn't your mother's Nancy Drew," to get that social media buzz going. 

It's unfortunate that you so often get this kind of empty stunt material now, when a show that was just about a young woman solving mysteries (and who still could have had a happy, and yes, sexual relationship with her boyfriend) could have done well.

Anyway, I did want to see Pamela Sue Martin, and I'm glad I did. Nice of the producers to include her. Based on what I saw of this episode, she's still going to be the best actress to have been in the role. 

[mommalib]

31 minutes ago, Pete Martell said:

After what the CW and the hacks who run Riverdale did to Archie comics (a show so offensive and so badly done on so many levels I can't even read the comics anymore), I wasn't going to bother with this show, but someone else I know who is a Nancy Drew fan wanted to try it. They tuned out as soon as the big sex scene started. 

I guess that scene was put there to make sure viewers knew this was a new Nancy Drew, look out, isn't this edgy and wild, and so forth. Similar to Riverdale, where we were reminded that we are only meant to like Betty if she tries to kill people, only meant to like Archie if he is in a sexual relationship with his teacher, and so on. Of course having sex with your boyfriend is not the same thing as either of these situations, but it was treated in the same way. As some kind of "this isn't your mother's Nancy Drew," to get that social media buzz going. 

It's unfortunate that you so often get this kind of empty stunt material now, when a show that was just about a young woman solving mysteries (and who still could have had a happy, and yes, sexual relationship with her boyfriend) could have done well.

Anyway, I did want to see Pamela Sue Martin, and I'm glad I did. Nice of the producers to include her. Based on what I saw of this episode, she's still going to be the best actress to have been in the role. 

A generational disconnect, it's almost 2020 and it's the CW you had to know this wasn't gonna be your grandmother's Nancy Drew.

[Pete Martell]

6 minutes ago, mommalib said:

A generational disconnect, it's almost 2020 and it's the CW you had to know this wasn't gonna be your grandmother's Nancy Drew.

Part of the problem is that Nancy Drew meant more to a grandmother than to much of anyone now. Some of the only people I've seen who wanted to try the show were older, rather than the CW's desired demographic. Younger viewers aren't going to rush to this show just because Nancy Drew gets plowed. There are plenty of other shows that fill this purpose.

There's a way to update the material, and, yes, have Nancy Drew in a positive sexual relationship, that goes beyond cheap shock value, but the people who make these shows are desperate for shock value because they don't really have enough trust in their material or enough faith in their viewers. 

Edited October 10, 2019 by Pete Martell

[AnimeMania]

The sex scene was not the greatest start, I was left wondering if Nancy was wearing any underwear and why she didn't wash her hands before she starts throwing dinner rolls on a plate. The murder mystery was not great as it seems like all of Nancy's friends had some part in it and it might take all season to solve. Then there is an ancient murder that will include everybody else of the show that was not in the diner. I was hoping for Nancy to solve a mystery every show so we could know how smart she is and admire her detective skills. From what they have shown so far I understand why she is a waitress who hasn't gone to college and is sleeping with a guy in a garage filled with junk. I wish they would have shown some brilliant detective skills because so far the only mystery is why anybody is watching this.

[thuganomics85]

As far as pilots go, it kept my interest and made me curious to see where they are going from here, so that alone is enough of a win for me.

Even though it isn't from the same creators, it really did feel like Riverdale if a Redheaded Betty was the lead instead.  At least the whole horror aspect made it feel a little different on some levels, but the looks, feel, and overall production definitely seemed to be emulating that style.  But since the shows are paired together, whatever works, I guess.

I'm not anywhere close to being a prude, but that opening sex scene really did feel like blatant attempt to be all "This isn't your parents Nancy Drew, folks!"

Seems like the actress playing Nancy is a relative unknown.  I thought she did a fine job, all things considering.  Her friends pretty much consist of actresses I've seen in various small roles in shows shot in Canada, so I had fun being all "Hey, she was in iZombie!" or "That's right, she had that role in The Good Doctor last season!"

I see Scott Wolf has assumed the CW mandated "Veteran television actor getting an easy paycheck" spot for this show.  Can't believe he's in his 50s.  The biggest mystery of them all might be what kind of evil schemes are the likes of him and Paul Rudd up to, in order to maintain their youthful looks...

I actually have a soft spot for old Adam Beach, but he really wasn't good here.

Way too early to even try and hazard a guess over who the killer is.  Well, I mean, I really doubt it will be Nancy...

[Chaos Theory]

This does feel a lot like Riverdale.   It took Riverdale a couple episodes to really catch on with me because I am way past high school myself but I do like the idea that Nancy Drew is basically a fuck up who dropped her life when shit went bad for her.    I like the basic mystery and that she is actually in the center of it an isn’t just being an asshole because she is an asshole.   She needs to solve this because head cop is perfectly willing to pin this on her just to shut her up. 

This is in between Riverdale and American Horror Story so it fits a theme for my night.  So I will keep it going.  

Edited October 13, 2019 by Chaos Theory

[bettername2come]

9 hours ago, Samwise979 said:

Hi Wyatt from the fosters! Good to see you!

Or as I like to call him, Max from Finding Carter, aka the best thing about that show. Thanks for this, I didn't recognize him, though I loved him so. That alone might put the show in the "watch" category for me.

Yeah, Nancy riding Ned in her introduction was a bit much. I like that Ned/Nick is less boring than usual. Bess still felt somewhat like Bess. I'm disappointed that they're going with Nancy not being friends with her and George. I liked the scene where they stuck with her to go the medium, so that's good. The narration didn't feel too exposition heavy, which is rare for a pilot.

Not sure how I feel about the supernatural elements. I realize that back in the day Pamela Sue Martin dealt with Santa and vampires and ghosts sometimes, but I prefer Nancy Drew to be grounded in the natural world. 

[kirkola]

5 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

As far as pilots go, it kept my interest and made me curious to see where they are going from here, so that alone is enough of a win for me.

Even though it isn't from the same creators, it really did feel like Riverdale if a Redheaded Betty was the lead instead.  At least the whole horror aspect made it feel a little different on some levels, but the looks, feel, and overall production definitely seemed to be emulating that style.  But since the shows are paired together, whatever works, I guess.

I'm not anywhere close to being a prude, but that opening sex scene really did feel like blatant attempt to be all "This isn't your parents Nancy Drew, folks!"

Seems like the actress playing Nancy is a relative unknown.  I thought she did a fine job, all things considering.  Her friends pretty much consist of actresses I've seen in various small roles in shows shot in Canada, so I had fun being all "Hey, she was in iZombie!" or "That's right, she had that role in The Good Doctor last season!"

I see Scott Wolf has assumed the CW mandated "Veteran television actor getting an easy paycheck" spot for this show.  Can't believe he's in his 50s.  The biggest mystery of them all might be what kind of evil schemes are the likes of him and Paul Rudd up to, in order to maintain their youthful looks...

I actually have a soft spot for old Adam Beach, but he really wasn't good here.

Way too early to even try and hazard a guess over who the killer is.  Well, I mean, I really doubt it will be Nancy...

Well unless they are really, really planning to destroy Nancy Drew the concept, the killer can't be Nancy, George, Bess, Ned/Nick, or Carson.  So that leaves the rest of them.  Including Riley Smith (Ryan Hudson/The Husband), Alvina August (Det. Hart), Alex Saxon (Ace), or even Adam Beach (Sheriff).

My Nancy Drew reading days was a good many years ago.  But I thought one of the girls (either George or Bess) had a on-again/off-again boyfriend too.  I was thinking he might end up being Ace.  Of course, I may just be remembering the 70s TV show and mixing up the Hardy Boys with the Nancy Drew episodes.  I was way more into the Hardy Boys with that.

Also, just speculation on my part, but

Spoiler

Adam Beach has yet to appear in the IMDB list for the show, which makes me think he's the killer.

[Jenniferbug]

As a Nancy Drew adaptation, that was pretty weak as beyond names none of the characters were very recognizable. But for a CW show, I still liked it. It really felt like they were trying to be early Veronica Mars, but I'm hoping that will lessen as the series goes on and finds itself. The end was intriguing enough that I will keep watching for a while. Hopefully it doesn't go off the rails like Riverdale did. 

I did find it funny that Ned is too old fashioned of a name on a show where the lead is named Nancy and her friend is called Bess. 

Was Ace in the books at all? I vaguely remember Bess having a boyfriend, maybe George did too.

[fromtheashes]

My mom had Nancy Drew books as a kid and eventually they made their way to my closet from my grandparents' basement so I was definitely going to at least check it out. It wasn't bad as a girl detective show on The CW. As a Nancy Drew adaptation, I was pretty meh on that aspect. Of course at 34 I'm not really their target audience either. Little bummed that Nancy isn't friends with Bess and George. Though I did like Ned (I'm not calling him Nick, that just feels weird.) well enough. It interested me enough to stick around for now so we'll see how it goes.

For those asking, yes Bess and George did have boyfriend types in the books, at least in the versions I have. Their names were Dave (Bess) and Burt (George) and if I'm remembering correctly they were friends of Ned's.

[kirkola]

43 minutes ago, fromtheashes said:

My mom had Nancy Drew books as a kid and eventually they made their way to my closet from my grandparents' basement so I was definitely going to at least check it out. It wasn't bad as a girl detective show on The CW. As a Nancy Drew adaptation, I was pretty meh on that aspect. Of course at 34 I'm not really their target audience either. Little bummed that Nancy isn't friends with Bess and George. Though I did like Ned (I'm not calling him Nick, that just feels weird.) well enough. It interested me enough to stick around for now so we'll see how it goes.

For those asking, yes Bess and George did have boyfriend types in the books, at least in the versions I have. Their names were Dave (Bess) and Burt (George) and if I'm remembering correctly they were friends of Ned's.

Ah yes.  I was remembering Burt. 

I agree calling Ned Nick is weird. 

The thing I remember most strongly about original Nancy was that she did not believe in ghosts.  Everything had a realistic reason for existing.  So if a ghost was haunting the house, she'd get to the bottom of who was pretending to be the ghost.  Having the ghost things happening in her house was just weird. 

Alot of the CW-ish things I can chalk up to them trying to catch a younger audience.  There is plenty of potential for George, Bess & Nancy to become the friends we expect them to be by season end.  Making it post-high school means they can touch on topics and issues that are trickier to address.  Especially topics that original Nancy wouldn't have been allowed to discuss.  Society has become far more open since 1930.  And Nancy needs to be more modern than 1930s Nancy was. 

But the ghost thing bothered me.  Also, I know it's a rather unpopular opinion, but I've never been all that fond of Scott Wolf.   I'm a little sad I didn't get Freddie Prinze Jr. in that role.  Carson Drew was certainly a handsome older man, but he always had an air of seriousness about him that I'm not sure Scott Wolf can pull off.

Edited October 10, 2019 by kirkola
Because spelling counts...

[fromtheashes]

1 hour ago, kirkola said:

But the ghost thing bothered me.  Also, I know it's a rather unpopular opinion, but I've never been all that fond of Scott Wolf.   I'm a little sad I didn't get Freddie Prinze Jr. in that role.  Carson Drew was certainly a handsome older man, but he always had an air of seriousness about him that I'm not sure Scott Wolf can pull off.

I was alright with the ghost stuff though I would prefer more of an "unmasking" then an actual ghost. Would give Nancy more opportunities to use those detective skills. I was pretty sad about Freddie Prinze Jr. too, when the news first broke about this show it was one of the things I was excited for. I don't really have much of an opinion on Scott Wolf, I've never seen Party of Five and I know he was on Everwood but I haven't seen that since it left the air. So I can't really speak for his acting but I will say I feel like he sort of has a baby face even at his age and that keeps me from seeing him as this serious lawyer. He's just not who I would have pictured as Carson Drew.

[ketose]

7 hours ago, Jenniferbug said:

I did find it funny that Ned is too old fashioned of a name on a show where the lead is named Nancy and her friend is called Bess. 

How about a girl named George? As a non-reader, I always wondered if there backstory behind a girl with a "boy" name.

[Pete Martell]

24 minutes ago, ketose said:

How about a girl named George? As a non-reader, I always wondered if there backstory behind a girl with a "boy" name.

If I remember correctly, she went by that name because she was a tomboy and her real name was something else.

[Jenniferbug]

24 minutes ago, ketose said:

How about a girl named George? As a non-reader, I always wondered if there backstory behind a girl with a "boy" name.

In some books, it's short for Georgia, I believe. In others, she was named for her grandfather (I think there were no other boys in the family?). But yes, it's an odd name too!

[ursula]

21 hours ago, bobbyjoe said:

And Nancy needs to do more than just breaking in places to get her clues; the character this is based on is supposed to be a master detective, have some fun with that.

I figured out something was going on between George and the rich dude 3 seconds after she opened the cafe for him, and they lampshaded the fact that she was acting OOC.

That was a quick "win" to make Nancy look smarter-than-average intelligent, not even Sherlock Holmes-level genius, and they blew it.

19 hours ago, Pete Martell said:

There's a way to update the material, and, yes, have Nancy Drew in a positive sexual relationship, that goes beyond cheap shock value, but the people who make these shows are desperate for shock value because they don't really have enough trust in their material or enough faith in their viewers. 

Honestly, what pissed me off the most was the fact that Nancy was such a - well - loser. The original Nancy was an Ace. I don't know what it says about this people that they can only make female characters relatable if they're broken.

It's also annoying is that they had a "laid out on a platter" opportunity to make George a trans character and failed to do so. 

Edited October 11, 2019 by ursula

[elzin]

Watching it I was like "Scott Wolf isn't old enough to be a parent of a college-aged kid..." *pause for math* "Oh. He totally could be and not even have been a teen dad."

I was hoping we'd get the answer to the murder in the first episode and have a season-long arc. I find mini arcs within greater arcs work well with mysteries. All season can be a drag, a new one every week feels so annoying sometimes. Oh look, another dead body in this tiny town. So as they didn't wrap it up, I hope it ends up being a good mystery at least.

I liked it enough to give it another chance. Pilots sometimes are the weakest episodes before everyone settles in. Like the hair was not good and quality varied wildly from scene to scene and the make-up looked like it was put on with a putty knife on the ring-stealer friend. But sometimes that sort of thing gets better as everyone gets comfortable. Maybe not on the CW, but one can hope.

My tween loved it and at least it was watchable enough for us to have a "grown up" show together.

[catrice2]

23 hours ago, Angeleyes said:

Actually, Nancy’s hair in the books is described as Titian blonde which is a red blonde. 

Exactly...I can tell you are a real fan.....read every book.....

[catrice2]

Freddie Prinze Jr. could have been on my screen and I got Scott Wolf??!!  Freddie would have made a more believable Carson......

[tennisgurl]

So not to be that person but...why is this even called Nancy Drew? It has basically nothing in common with the books or even most of the previous shows/movies, except for being about a girl named Nancy and the names of the characters. Nothing else seems to be the same, and I dont know how much of the CWs target audience has much nostalgia for Nancy Drew, so why not make this another supernatural detective show with no Nancy connection? I guess for the same season that Riverdale went from goofy wholesome comic book to...what Riverdale is now, because they can. 

Anyway, this does seem like a fun watch for Halloween season, the ghost story is creepy, and the acting is mostly good from the leads. Everyone is super sketchy and suspicious, but I dont think any of them are the killers. I mean, this show has made a million changes from the books, but I cant imagine they would have Carson, Bess, Ned (now Nick) and George be actual murderers. But then, I've seen Riverdale, so who knows?! Bess and George are Nancy's best friends normally, so I really hope that they can all become friends soon. I called George having an affair with the husband pretty quickly, she scrambled around to let him in after hours while practically giggling and blushing, and kept calling him by his first name. Did they start up when she was still in high school?!?

I admit, starting off so quickly with Ned/Nick and Nancy boning was certainly not what I expected! Not your grandmas Nancy Drew indeed. This was often clunky in a pilot kind of way, but I am interested enough to keep watching. It seems like a good October show. I do hope we work on character development soon, everyone now seems pretty much eternally pissed off. I especially hope that Nancy and her dad can make up soon, I always loved their relationship. 

[paulvdb]

15 hours ago, fromtheashes said:

I was alright with the ghost stuff though I would prefer more of an "unmasking" then an actual ghost.

I'd have preferred completely dropping the ghost stuff. Unmasking fake ghosts is something that reminds me too much of the Scooby Doo cartoons I used to watch as a kid.

I never read the books, so I'm not bothered by any changes that were made. I did watch a Nancy Drew movie with Emma Roberts, but I don't rememeber enough about it to know what was changed.

[biakbiak]

I hate when they introduce a dream of the main character, in this case going to Columbia, in the pilot that we understand will have to be thwarted if the show continues. I will never be invested in it because I know it won’t happen.

Edited October 11, 2019 by biakbiak

[kirkola]

2 hours ago, paulvdb said:

I'd have preferred completely dropping the ghost stuff. Unmasking fake ghosts is something that reminds me too much of the Scooby Doo cartoons I used to watch as a kid.

I never read the books, so I'm not bothered by any changes that were made. I did watch a Nancy Drew movie with Emma Roberts, but I don't rememeber enough about it to know what was changed.

That's sorta the mindset of Nancy Drew.  Go around solving crimes, finding lost items, unmasking fake ghosts, etc.  And do all of it while adhering to society's norms of the 1930s and 1940s.  Nancy has to be modernized to make sense in our current society.  The 2007 Emma Roberts version tried to keep the old school feel for Nancy, and apply it to a modern society.  And it sorta made her off putting.  This version has certainly modernized Nancy, but she needs tho believe that ghosts don't exist and have the drive to solve them.  (ie more Fred and less Shaggy).

[ursula]

19 minutes ago, kirkola said:

And do all of it while adhering to society's norms of the 1930s and 1940s.  Nancy has to be modernized to make sense in our current society.  The 2007 Emma Roberts version tried to keep the old school feel for Nancy, and apply it to a modern society.  And it sorta made her off putting. 

The Emma Roberts movie are making the same mistake that this one has - making Nancy maladjusted to be "relatable". The original Nancy Drew wasn't "adhering" to societal mores. She constantly defied them by being the literally smartest person in any room. And yet the narrative didn't punish her for it by making her an outcast. Which is what the movie did. This TV show gave her mother's death an "angst" upgrade (in the series, she was just conveniently long dead ---- like some fairy tale Queen).

6 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I cant imagine they would have Carson, Bess, Ned (now Nick) and George be actual murderers.

Quite contrary, I think this would be their best play. Having someone the canon has led us to believe is "beyond reproach" to be the culprit.

[greekmom]

I never seen or read Nancy Drew but I thought to give this show a try. 

Nancy boning Nick at the beginning didn't bother me.  The fact that she presumably didn't have any panties on, wearing that short skirt uniform and not washing her hands before touching food bothered me more.

I knew right off something was weird with George letting in those guys after close.  After Tiffany Hudson's death I kept saying, why doesn't Nancy check her phone!??!?  

I was hoping for more of a Buffy the Vampire flow.  Problem of the episode gets solved by the end of the episode. 

[kirkola]

34 minutes ago, ursula said:

The Emma Roberts movie are making the same mistake that this one has - making Nancy maladjusted to be "relatable". The original Nancy Drew wasn't "adhering" to societal mores. She constantly defied them by being the literally smartest person in any room. And yet the narrative didn't punish her for it by making her an outcast. Which is what the movie did. This TV show gave her mother's death an "angst" upgrade (in the series, she was just conveniently long dead ---- like some fairy tale Queen).

Quite contrary, I think this would be their best play. Having someone the canon has led us to believe is "beyond reproach" to be the culprit.

In doing a bit more research, it seems that Nancy went through a lot of reiterations and revisions over the last almost century of being a teen/young adult.  The version I read, she was definitely the smartest person in the room, but she also had to have Ned rescue her if things went a little too far.  Also, all the "happy black people" were scrubbed.  That last part I think I am kinda grateful for...better that she didn't know any African Americans that to think all were servants and happy to be so.

[Featherhat]

It was alright. Very generic CW/Freeform mystery show. The only reason they used Nancy Drew as the name was for brand recognition as it worked for Riverdale, which this is clearly hoping to emulate in terms of success, even if it isn't the direct spin off. 

The sex scene was obviously there to make a point but I'm not sure why they bothered because the regular audience for the CW isn't going to be shocked full 5 seconds of fully clothed sex and ND fans that are probably aren't watching. 

Don't see why Ned is such a deal breaker out of all the names. I read an article about people calling their kids GOT inspired names so it's not unknown in 2019, not sure if it was on the list though. 

19 hours ago, ketose said:

How about a girl named George? As a non-reader, I always wondered if there backstory behind a girl with a "boy" name.

Enid Blyton writing in around the same time period did that too. One of her characters was Georgina who was a tomboy who preferred to be called George and another female character was Daryl, it pops up in other books as well so seems to have been a trend. 

As of now I don't really care whodunit, but I would like to see a bond develop between Nancy, George and Bess. Ned didn't make much of an impression one way or the other but I did like the actress playing Nancy, I thought she held the thing together fairly well, that VO script was very trite and could have gotten very old very fast. 

[2727]

I'm so far out of the demo for young adult shows that I've learned not to even try but watched this out of, I guess, morbid curiosity to see what's become of good old Nancy. I didn't hate it. 

I'm somehow okay with the banging and the ghosts but roll my eyes at unrealistic situations like four teenagers running a restaurant/seafood shack.

[Cranberry]

On 10/9/2019 at 11:35 PM, mjc570 said:

I thought the ending was quite confusing, it seemed to indicate Bess had more involvement with the victim (I assume she came upon the body and stole the ring, although I have no idea why, isn't she supposed to be rich?). 

The fact that she's apparently living out of a van (and working at a diner) makes me think she's lying about being rich.

I'll probably keep watching this at least for a couple more episodes, but so far it's nothing special. Nancy's supposed to be such a good detective that she shows up the police, but the pilot didn't sell that idea as well as, say, the Veronica Mars pilot did -- here, George told us that Nancy did the cops' job for them; the writers didn't show us. Most people could roll under a garage door. Most people could open a locked desk drawer using a screwdriver and brute force. Give us more!

I'm not big on this whole grimdark thing where Nancy's closed-off and scarred by her mom's recent death and she has no friends and an adversarial relationship with her father. "Nick" being an ex-con and George (apparently) boning the murder victim's husband is just... bleh. Edge for the sake of edge. George in the new comics is a lesbian, which would have been preferable to this weird overeager, barely-legal "other woman" (and where I thought the show was going when she was angry with Nancy for laughing at the rumors spread about her in high school).

I am mildly interested in the mystery and especially in Bess having that ring, so I'll keep watching for now. However, I definitely don't have the patience for another convoluted, grim Riverdale-type show, so if we don't get some satisfying resolutions, I'm out.

[ketose]

Did Nancy Drew not have a mother in the other books / movies / TV shows?

Also, has anyone seen the Canadian version of Nancy Drew / Hardy Boys from the 1990's? Apparently, she was 20 and studying criminology, which would make more sense than being a townie with no prospects.

[ursula]

3 hours ago, ketose said:

Did Nancy Drew not have a mother in the other books / movies / TV shows?

Her mother has always been conveniently long dead. This show is unusual by making her death a "thing" for Nancy.

[mertensia]

3 hours ago, ursula said:

Her mother has always been conveniently long dead. This show is unusual by making her death a "thing" for Nancy.

In the Nancy Drew video game The Silent Spy they have Nancy finding out about her mother's past.  I recommend the games highly.

[CabotCove]

Well that was rough, so much kinks in this pilot. Its like the writers never read a Nancy Drew book and they are trying to turn this show into Gossip Girl. Not making Nancy/George/Bess long time friends, is unacceptable. Starting the iconic Nancy/Ned romance with a quickie, I did not like.  The only character I like so far is Bess, she seemed more like in the books and better acted. George was mean and unlikable so far. If this wasn't attached with the Nancy Drew name, I would not care to watch anymore, but will give it a few more episodes. There were some promising moments but overall a rough start. 

On 10/11/2019 at 3:21 AM, catrice2 said:

Freddie Prinze Jr. could have been on my screen and I got Scott Wolf??!!  Freddie would have made a more believable Carson......

I think Scott is a perfect casting for this role, Freddie would have looked too young to me, I understand why they recast. 

Edited October 13, 2019 by CabotCove

[LucidDreamer]

Couldn't even make it 15 minutes with this. I was afraid they would "Riverdale" the source material, and they did.

I have no problem with updating the Nancy Drew books to today, my complaint is making Nancy such a angsty "loser." The Nancy in the books, whatever time period, was smart and capable and very driven to succeed. And a bit more logical than emotional. I always saw her as very progressive, even in the books written in the 1930s and 40s -- sure, those adhered to different social mores, but Nancy was always a go-getter and not one to let anyone (including the men in her life) control her. This Nancy feels like some kind of slacker. I know she's supposed to be broken up by her mother's death, but it just didn't work for me. 

Not continuing with this one. 

[peachmangosteen]

On 10/9/2019 at 10:28 PM, Samwise979 said:

Not liking the romance(?) between rich dude and George, that seems like a severe age difference.

I love a good age difference so I'm intrigued but I'd rather she wasn't freshly 18, especially since it's obvious there was something there when she was still under 18. Also, the actors have a 19 year age difference as well which makes it a bit squicky. I'm still intrigued though tbh because age differences really are one of my fave tropes.

On 10/10/2019 at 4:16 AM, AnimeMania said:

 I was hoping for Nancy to solve a mystery every show so we could know how smart she is and admire her detective skills. 

I was actually hoping for it to be more procedural/Veronica Mars-y, too. I suppose it could still end up that way but it doesn't seem like it. I just don't really see how they can sustain this particular mystery alone for like 13 eps.

I didn't even recognize Wyatt from The Fosters. My sister told me it was him and I was shocked. He seems like he's lost a lot of weight and honestly looked a bit sickly to me. His voice sounds a bit different, too. Anyway, I loved the scene where he asks each of the girls if he could come and they all told him no.

I wasn't gonna watch this because it seems so Riverdale and Riverdale burned me so hard. But then my curiosity got to me and I checked it out. I didn't love it but it hold my attention enough to watch the next ep at least. And the last scene genuinely scared me lol.

[ursula]

1 hour ago, LucidDreamer said:

I have no problem with updating the Nancy Drew books to today, my complaint is making Nancy such a angsty "loser."

Yeah this is what I said earlier. And it speaks to a larger pattern of US TV thinking that for a female protagonist to be relatable, she has to be incompetent and broken.

[iMonrey]

Ugh, couldn't they have found a better Ned? This guy isn't even attractive.

[KaveDweller]

On 10/10/2019 at 4:16 AM, AnimeMania said:

I was hoping for Nancy to solve a mystery every show so we could know how smart she is and admire her detective skills. From what they have shown so far I understand why she is a waitress who hasn't gone to college and is sleeping with a guy in a garage filled with junk. I wish they would have shown some brilliant detective skills because so far the only mystery is why anybody is watching this.

I was thinking that after the pilot there would be weekly mysteries, while this bigger investigation is going on in the background. Sort of like Veronica Mars always had a season mystery while she also did case of the week stuff. But that may get unrealistic if she is really a serious suspect.

I really liked it though. I read Nancy Drew books as a kid, but not so many that I am attached to certain things in them. I'm fine with the updates, although I agree they just threw the sex scene in to be edgy. One question though, was her father a lawyer in the books? I swear I remembered him being someone high up on the police force.

I kinda like the change in having George and Bess not be her friends, because I assume they will become friends over the course of the season. It is actually interesting to me to see a friendship form, rather than just have them have an established friendship.

[secnarf]

2 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I really liked it though. I read Nancy Drew books as a kid, but not so many that I am attached to certain things in them. I'm fine with the updates, although I agree they just threw the sex scene in to be edgy. One question though, was her father a lawyer in the books? I swear I remembered him being someone high up on the police force.

Carson Drew is a lawyer in the books as well.