Remember the time CBS announced that they were making a Nancy Drew reboot, and your inner child polished the magnifying glass you purchased with your allowance during your Harriet the Spy phase and hollered and sang with unfettered joy? Sorry, but the network decided to cancel that project, which means television has literally smashed that magnifying glass and also killed your soul.
So what is the reason behind the aptly-named Drew’s demise? Ladies and their lady existence, it seems. As Deadline reported:
“Drew is not going forward at CBS but is being shopped to other outlets by CBS TV Studios. I hear the pilot tested well but skewed too female for CBS’ schedule. [At] the end of the day, I hear the network had no 8 PM or 9 PM slot available.”
News of Drew’s cancellation has come over days after the announcement that Supergirl, another CBS genre gem that features a female protagonist, will move to The CW for its second season. And while the correlation between these two nuggets is circumstantial at best—namely, that CBS is of the opinion that “[skewing] too female” is inherently detrimental to ratings, despite the fact that women have been defacto TV taste-makers for awhile now—it’s still...notable, to put it lightly.
WWNDD, though?
The fact that our 21st century Nancy could have been a woman of color played by Sarah Shahi, whose dimples are still one of the very few reasons I can stomach re-watching The L Word, is enough to make me sit shiva:
“Written/executive produced by Rater and Phelan, Drew stars Sarah Shahi as Nancy — now in her 30s — a detective for the NYPD where she investigates and solves crimes using her uncanny observational skills, all while navigating the complexities of life in a modern world. Anthony Edwards, Felix Solis and Rob McClure co-star in the project, also executive produced by Dan Jinks.”
Despite the news of Drew’s untimely death, there is still one sliver of hope: CBS has picked up the pilot for Doubt, a legal procedural which will feature actress and trans activist Laverne Cox in a major role, making it the first show to feature a trans actress as a series regular (and a trans woman of color, at that!). It will also star Katherine Heigl, so apparently those kitty litter commercials were worth it after all (?).
Contact the author at [email protected].
Images via Flickr and Tumblr.