Yeah, this is a CW show, alright. Honestly, there are so many problems, none of them are worth bothering yourself with to mention, and would probably offend some people who'd pull the "it's an adaptation, it doesn't have to be exactly like the books" card if you do. But I'll willingly put myself in that position so you don't have to. This show should've never been "based on" the Nancy Drew novel series. It's an absolute disgrace. They made so many changes and added so much new material that doesn't fit or feel right within the Nancy Drew world or universe, it's not even funny. It is nothing like what it is supposedly based on, other than the obvious: the characters and their names, except for calling Ned Nickerson, Nick, and the mystery/female teenager-sleuth aspect. And that's only two. The intricate details of them and everything else are either not there or configured way differently. Sure, this is an adaptation. So what if that's the case? Right? Well, for one, it doesn't feel like what you'd expect from an adaptation of the Nancy Drew novels, AT ALL. You'd think, at the very least, any adaptation should feel like what it is supposedly "based on", right? Granted, that could be because it's on The CW, which is dumb, by the way. It was bound to turn out this way in some way, shape, or form. But, hey! You probably won't have to worry about it getting canceled any time soon, so there's that. The supernatural aspect is ridiculous and unneeded. Not to mention, wasn't very Nancy Drew-like, not even remotely, and was more of a disgrace than everything else that was a problem, but the writers clearly must've felt differently about that. Point is, and more concisely, this isn't Nancy Drew. It's a facade version of it that is something else, entirely, and should've been just that, another show, one that's the same as this one, just not based on the Nancy Drew novel series. That would've been much more preferable for many, I'm sure, and very simple to have done, too. If you can look past the fact that it's "based on" the Nancy Drew novel series and see it as JUST a show, it's enjoyable and entertaining, from The CW's standards. I didn't like it THAT much, and that's not including the embarrassing fact that I was confused for most of its entirety, barely managing to follow along, but as it was nearing the end (of its first season), I got somewhat into it. It's a decent enough show if you can free yourself from the expectations of it being like what it is based on because it won't stop at making those expectations crumble, which will then turn into fuel that will make you hate it more and more, it just isn't Nancy Drew, and it never should've been.
Review by Kizz'n'TellBlockedParent2020-07-10T17:24:00Z
As someone who doen't know really about 'Nancy Drew' I liked the supernatural the most. Nancy as a character was growing on me slowly and I can admit I love that she's more centered, calm, and adult. The rest of the crew falls so flat in comparison. I mean, Nancy too had some bad and too quick decisions (which killed some people) but it's like she's 25 and the rest is 15. I like the twist (like the parental thing) which is the only thing I am looking for in the next season bc the other character that I like was found dead, so I have only Nancy now.
It bugged me at the beginning that it really reminded me of Riverdale, not anything specific but overall. Which is not sth I look forward too as I left Riverdale at this point at the half of it's run and I fear Nancy Drew will slowly degrade as Riverdale did. But this show at this point is just 'ok' to me, not like Riverdale was during the 1st season. It has some nice things but the characters don't really matter for me.
I saw many ppl immediately didn't like this bc of the CW, I must say it's definitely not the same CW that produced Shadowhunters (God, no!) and The Vampire Diaries. I feel it tries to be more adult, not taking the characters during the school years and that stuff, but for now it seems they don't yet know how to adult really.I have to see more to know exactly.