Today in ugh: A “Nancy Drew” TV show just got canceled for being “too female”

If you’re like us, you grew up reading the Nancy Drew series, following along on her mystery-solving adventures. So obviously, we were pretty pumped to hear that a pilot was in the works for a detective show revolving around a modern-day Nancy, starring the amazing Sarah Shahi in the title role.

But after much deliberating, it seems like CBS won’t be picking up the series after all, turning it down in favor of a legal drama called Doubt.

The most frustrating part of the news? Nellie Andreeva at Deadline reports, “I hear the pilot tested well but skewed too female for CBS’ schedule.” Another reason for the cancellation is that the network may have not had an 8 or 9 p.m. slot available.

This bummer news aside, we were really excited for Sarah — who is of Persian and Spanish descent — to play Nancy, given that traditionally a blonde or redheaded white woman has portrayed the clever girl detective. And of course, we love that this version of Nancy was set to be a well-established detective in her thirties, employed by the NYPD, rather than a 16-year-old hobbyist sleuth. Nancy is smart as a whip and totally deserves that impressive career path.

The show, Drew, was created by Joan Rater and Tony Phelan, and is currently being shopped around by CBS TV Studios, so there’s still a chance we could catch it on another network. Fingers crossed.

But back to the “too female” note…really? We hope some other network is bright enough to pick up the show, because it’s sure to be a hit.