CBS Passes On Nancy Drew Series, Says It’s “Too Female”

No one is writing new Nancy Drew novels these days. But if the book series happens to get revived, might we make this suggestion for the next new plot: Nancy Drew and the Mystery of the Sexist Agenda. It's got kind of a nice ring to it, right? Remember that Nancy Drew reboot we got all psyched about earlier this year? Well, apparently, this week CBS execs reviewed the pilot episode and passed on the series completely, as Variety reports. Why? Because it was just too darn lady-centric — producers reportedly claimed that the series skewed "too female," according to Deadline. If you're cross-eyed staring at your screen and wondering how that alone is supposed to be an appropriate justification for passing on the show, you're in good company. There are many brows furrowing across the internet in response to this news today.

As of now, Drew isn't going to happen at all, which is just too bad. Literally millions of women grew up with that crime-solving heroine. It would have been nice to see their literary interests represented. But so long as we're playing the "too [insert demographic]" game, we'd like to apply a little magical thinking. If networks had been concerned with an actual balance of the sexes on TV, perhaps we could have avoided more than a decade of Two and a Half Men — or sidestepped Entourage completely? What a world that would be.