Nancy Drew (2019)

The CW | Release Date: October 9, 2019

6.9	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Ratings

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TalbisNov 8, 2019

Nancy Drew is a staple of mystery genre of books, movies, videogames and TV shows. My mum got into the mystery genre because of Nancy Drew, I got into the genre because of my mum... and Columbo. And Agatha Christie. At this point in my life,Nancy Drew is a staple of mystery genre of books, movies, videogames and TV shows. My mum got into the mystery genre because of Nancy Drew, I got into the genre because of my mum... and Columbo. And Agatha Christie. At this point in my life, I know a lot about Nancy Drew and while I can't say that I'm attached to the character and her adventures, I can see the appeal. But I also know one thing - the best mystery is solvable by the reader/viewer alongside the detective, written and shown in such a way that an observant audience member can piece the whole thing all alone, at that point the detective provides us with the solution... and we either go "aha! I knew it" or "OMG! How did I miss it!?". To this day, the only story that had me fooled is "The Murder on the Orient Express".

This TV show takes the promising murder case adds the name of Nancy Drew and... ruins it all with ghosts. Supernatural elements are chaotic, you need to know all the rules of the fictional world to come to any conclusion on your own! That's why supernatural elements are often a tool for bad writers, who can at any point in time pull a ghost out of their... behind and point to a clue that nobody could possibly know of. It's cheating, it's low, it's a bad mystery and it doesn't belong in Nancy Drew. It seems the writers of the show thought that "ghostwriter" means there are ghosts. This is just stupid. And I won't even get into all the "modern updates" because that would bring any fan of the book series to the brink of insanity. I will, however, add that modernising the technology levels and language would've been enough. Having to deal with changes to the core of who characters of Nancy Drew books are however required work, consideration and respect for the original source... CW didn't spend any time and effort in this modern adaptation of a classic. My mum, who's a huge fan of the books, called this show "Nancy Drew in name only". I call it Nancy Boo and change the channel.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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bl1rtJan 30, 2021

I was surprised how much I liked this. The show has the cozy feeling of old Scooby-Doo cartoons, and it is just fun to be along for the ride.
There is probably nothing new here, but what is there is done very well. I particularly enjoyed theI was surprised how much I liked this. The show has the cozy feeling of old Scooby-Doo cartoons, and it is just fun to be along for the ride.
There is probably nothing new here, but what is there is done very well. I particularly enjoyed the characters, the casting is on point, the mystery and supernatural stuff can become mildly creepy, which is fun, and I like how much care is put into setting up the story and character details. Great show to binge.
I wish more shows were like this.

Second season is pretty bad though. The actors do their best, but the writing is all over the place.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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Unseelie_FaerieNov 14, 2019

This show has little to do with it's source material. It's not Nancy Drew
It doesn't have the heart that the books and games have. The only connection it has with the books is that they randomly throw a title into a sentence. And most of theThis show has little to do with it's source material. It's not Nancy Drew
It doesn't have the heart that the books and games have. The only connection it has with the books is that they randomly throw a title into a sentence. And most of the time it's not even right! Obviously the next wrong thing is the fact that ghosts now exists. Ghosts shouldn't be in Nancy Drew and this proves it. I know a bit about ghostlore(ghost-folklore) and the pseudoscience behind ghosts, They're making pretty much everything up. There's a ritual that doesn't actually exists in the show as well as an exorcism that I think is loosely based on a Taoist one(I'm not sure how accurate it is, the only ones I've seen are kinda different). Not to mention the fact that the ghost is honestly doing more work on this mystery than the teen-angst bs personification that is the CWs "Nancy". They wanted her to be flawed, sure it's not a new concept other's have done it before, but they took away any good qualities she had. This Nancy isn't a good person or even somewhat likeable. Most of the characters are totally unlikeable. The only exception may be Ned. The one character who strangely has the most in common with his book counterpart. Besides the fact they made him an ex-convict. Which is kinda uncool when the first time this is a part of his character he's black. Like "white Ned" has no criminal record but "black Ned" does...Ok CW. And then the other main characters were basically ready to pin the crime on him even though he could've been 100% innocent. So not chill. Also hate that they're calling him Nick, that's lame. George basically has no personality besides having a leather jacket and "snarky" one-liners the writer's totally spent way too long thinking of. Also have to mention the grossness of having her have sex with a guy who was 40(and married) when she was 16, makes me wanna puke. This Carson is a major jerk. This is the worst Carson Drew of all of them. I really don't like that they moved up Nancy's mom's death(from 3/10 to 18) just to cause drama. I've never really been against him having a love interest but here I am. He basically starts sleeping with his wife's best friend right after she died, I've been using this word a lot but gross. Also he's supposed to be hella shady or something, like...um did they read any books? He's a dorky dad not a criminal mastermind. And lastly, "Bess Marvin". Bess Marvin is supposed to be a big girl and who did they higher? Some size 2 model. It's 2019, we're supposed to be for body positivity this is literally the opposite. They could've done something by hiring a plus-size actress to play the beautiful chubby girl but no they failed. However, they're trying to get around it by giving the girl a new backstory and name. Essentially wiping out Bess' character. They even made the most boy-obsessed of the girls gay lmao. Look considering most of the people my age (like the character's are supposed to be) it's not often someone isn't straight and Bess easily could be not straight. If the writers weren't using diversity to try and hide how much they messed up it would be cooler. It would be cooler if they didn't just slap Nancy's name on it for attention and actually read the books and didn't get all their knowledge off of Wikipedia. The special effects are all tired and dated. I've seen them thousands of times before, they're so basic. There are so many other things ghosts can do(in theory) and they just stick to boring electrical malfunctions and full-bodied apparitions. So over-used and so seizure-inducing. There's a lot of complicated things about ghosts and the stories,theories, and pseudoscience behind them. They could've done some research into it before making a show that centers around a ghost. There's so much wrong with this that I don't even have enough characters left to finish explaining it. Finally to bring back my favorite word, it's kinda gross to "sex up" something that's for kids. What were they thinking?? Just go the last step and change the names and you've got yourself an original concept. Slap on "Nancy Drew" and you've got a terrible adaption.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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Lindahof1Oct 16, 2019

Puhlease...if anyone actually read books they would "detect" how disgusting this perversion of a genre is. I turned it off after 5 minutes...really...you had to have sex to get viewers? I think the producers underestimate the intelligence ofPuhlease...if anyone actually read books they would "detect" how disgusting this perversion of a genre is. I turned it off after 5 minutes...really...you had to have sex to get viewers? I think the producers underestimate the intelligence of the average viewer. If you have read Nancy drew or hardy boys - it's target is a teen audience. I was so excited that this was being revived - but you have sullied the whole series. Shame on you - can't you target an audience of pre-teen and teens along with the original audience of the books?… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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Davrosdaleks1Apr 16, 2020

This show takes a page from Riverdale: make a children's property edgier and darker for a young adult audience. Also, they added ghosts; so, there's that. I was more entertained by this than I thought I would be.

Though I've compared this toThis show takes a page from Riverdale: make a children's property edgier and darker for a young adult audience. Also, they added ghosts; so, there's that. I was more entertained by this than I thought I would be.

Though I've compared this to Riverdale, this show may have learned a lesson from it. If you're one of those people who complain about Riverdale not making logical sense, then this show may be more your speed. Despite the ghosts, this Nancy Drew is more grounded. In fact, it is pretty well told. The writers do a wonderful job of blending episodic stories with the overarching storylines and mysteries. Reveals are satisfying.

Fans of the original Nancy Drew might be put off by the addition of ghosts, but I thought they were woven into the plot surprisingly well. Though, the number of them popping up does push credibility. The ghost designs are effectively creepy.

There is an Achille's heel to this show and that is the depiction of older rich people. They are written so over-the-top and almost cartoonishly that if there were a scene where one of the rich used a servant as a footstool, it wouldn't feel out-of-place at all.

I like the look of the coastal town this takes place in; some nice set choices.

Nancy (Kennedy McMann), though she does start off as too much of a straight man, grows on you due to her character's sheer bullheaded drive to see something through regardless of the consequences. Supporting cast works well, including Leah Lewis as the grumpy, cynical friend and Maddison Jaizani as the "posh," optimistic friend.

This was one of the CW shows that ended early due to the coronavirus. Don't worry about an unsatisfying or abrupt conclusion. From my understanding, they at least had one or more filmed episodes that had gone through postproduction, but the showrunners decided to end on the eighteenth episode. This episode is a fortuitously fine spot to end on.

I suppose that ND fans may not like the changes, but as it is I find this show to be engrossing and well done.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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ElthorOct 10, 2019

This review is based on the first episode.
The first thing you have to realize is this is a CW series panned by the WaPo, NYT and CNN. Translation: It isn't woke enough for its network home.
If you took the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer,This review is based on the first episode.
The first thing you have to realize is this is a CW series panned by the WaPo, NYT and CNN. Translation: It isn't woke enough for its network home.

If you took the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, made them artificially diverse and dropped them into Veronica Mars, and removed the sharp dialog from both series, you'd have a good idea what to expect from Nancy Drew.

It has potential, but it doesn't sparkle. Good enough to stick around for a few episodes and see.… Expand

0 of 4 users found this helpful04

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littlewinnerJun 15, 2021

I love this show, it's very addictive and so much fun, the characters are really interesting and entertaining, also Kennedy McMann is perfect as Nancy Drew.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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cesarhjvJul 20, 2022

Really grows on you and the main group's dynamic anchors the different mysteries.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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omegp57Mar 19, 2020

I’ve been a Nancy Drew fan all my life. To say I’ve been disappointed by all other modern day media is a great understatement. Everything time something new comes out I cringe for Nancy Drew (Emma Roberts movie, ughhhhhhh !!!!!!!). This tvI’ve been a Nancy Drew fan all my life. To say I’ve been disappointed by all other modern day media is a great understatement. Everything time something new comes out I cringe for Nancy Drew (Emma Roberts movie, ughhhhhhh !!!!!!!). This tv show HAS FINALLY captured Nancy and the Drew Crew in the modern essence that it has needed and for which fans have been clamoring !!!… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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