I remember reading some of the original Nancy Drew mysteries when I was much, much younger. Much like the Hardy Boys, the stories were simple, done in one whodunits.
In order to conform to what the CW wants of their product, the 3rd TV incarnation of Nancy Drew has a little too much soap opera for this writer's liking. And you wonder why people compare it to its Wednesday lead-in, Riverdale, whose iconic characters also had to be darkened to appeal to the network's target demographic.
So what's wrong? How about Nancy (newcomer Kennedy McMann) in a strained relationship with her father, attorney Carson Drew (Scott Wolf, ex-Party of Five), made only worse when Carson is found to be in a relationship with a police detective who's been a mentor of Nancy's? How about the fact that Nancy's canonical love, Ned Nickerson, is presented here as an ex-con who'd been defended by Carson unsuccessfully on murder charges? Or that George, one of Nancy's closest buds, was a nemesis of hers in high school instead?
Blame it on the show's creative team, which includes Stephanie Savage & Josh Schwartz (ex-Gossip Girl, Chuck, The O. C.). If Nancy is presented as she was in the classic books, no one would watch, or so the network beancounters claim. As with Greg Berlanti's roster of comic-book-centric dramas, Nancy Drew has to take this direction in order to succeed. Bear in mind that Wolf was the second choice to play Carson. Freddie Prinze, Jr. was originally cast, then cut.
And, of course, there's an overarching mystery, the kind that actually could be solved in one book. The trailer fills you in:
I had high hopes for this show. By now, you'd think I'd know better. Then again, I'm not the target demographic.
Rating: C.
4 comments:
They messed this up so bad!!!
SOmeone should go to Vermont Country Store and order the original books (the 30s editions which were reprinted as they originally were before they were sanitized in the 1959 editions) and send them to the writers room - ASAP!!
Sounds like they want to reinvent Veronica Mars but attach a different name to it.
BTW - NED NICKERSON WAS NOT BLACK!!!!!!! I'm so sick of this blackwashing garbage!
At least they didn't make George a transgender!
The reason they're gender-or-color-flipping characters is because today's casting directors are more concerned with finding the best available actor, regardless of race, creed, color, or sexual orientation. It's done so often now, a lot of folks have become desensitized to it.
As I outlined, the CW wants their shows to be a certain way, such that, regardless of brand, they almost all look the same. Seasonal comedy shows like Whose Line is it Anyway? being exceptions.
No, they're gender and color flipping because they're pandering to SJWs who aren't even fans of the character to begin with! I'll never become desensitized to it. If it were really about finding better actors, then let's see them cast black characters as white or Asian. I DARE them! I guarantee you they won't do that!
Most of these "SJW's" are probably too young to understand the history of characters like Nancy Drew.
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