"Fancy Nancy is a young girl with a larger than life personality, who adores all things fancy. She always dresses extravagantly, wearing boas, tutus, ruby slippers, fairy wings, and fuzzy slippers. Nancy loves using big fancy words such as 'iridescent', 'ecstatic', and 'extraordinary' and anything in French. She has redecorated her bedroom with everyday items, such as feather boas, Christmas lights, paper flowers, and hats. Her favorite doll is named Marabelle Lavinia Chandelier. Nancy captures hearts by nearly getting caught up in the glitter, but, in the end, always discovering what's truly important. In Nancy's opinion, her family is ordinary and dresses rather plainly, so Nancy decides to hold a class in the art of fanciness for her family. They oblige, and Nancy helps to dress them in bows, ornaments, top hats, and gaudy scarves. "Ooo-la-la!" Nancy cries in delight. 'My family is posh! That's a fancy word for fancy.'"
The showrunners for the series are Jamie Mitchell and Krista Tucker, both from Special Agent Oso and Sofia the First. Each episode comprises two Quarter Hour Shorts. The show was renewed for a second season a month before the show's premiere, which premiered on October 4, 2019. In addition, the show was renewed for a third season
. The show's first episode is available on the Disney Junior YouTube channel in America. The entire first season was also made available on Disney+ at or around launch.
The show was slated to end after three seasons in 2021. Production wrapped in June 2020, before the third season even aired. The series officially ended its run on February 18, 2022.
This show provides examples of:
- Adapted Out: Nancy's teacher Ms. Glass, from the books, never appeared in the TV series due to Nancy and her friends never being seen in school.
- Artistic Age: Nancy is 6 years old (7 as of Nancy's Parfait Birthday), but looks, acts, and sounds like she's at least 10.
- Age Lift: In the books, Grace was the same age as Nancy and her friends. Here she's slightly older than them.
- All-CGI Cartoon: Like most Disney Junior shows, the show is CGI, though it's more notable here since the show is animated at the same studio Sofia The First is.
- All Girls Like Ponies: One of Nancy's drawings in her room implies she went through this phase. JoJo is now going through this phase as well.
- "Nancy's Parfait Pony" has her and Bree gushing over Grace's pony Pepper.
- Alliterative Name: Nancy's mother is named Claire Clancy.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Jojo sometimes comes off as this, especially in Season 2.
- Arc Words:
- "Fancy" and "French" for the series overall, usually for Nancy giving an Aside Comment for each.
- "Nice" for the Christmas Episode "Nancy and the Nice List".
- Art Evolution: With Snowball Animation taking over starting season 2, the show sports a brighter and cleaner look to the characters and settings.
- Aside Comment: Done Once per Episode by Nancy whenever she mentions a French or otherwise hard-to-understand word, prompting her to tell the viewer what it means.
- Award-Bait Song: "It's A Gift"
- Alpha Bitch: Grace.
- Big Eater: JoJo, Doug Clancy, and Lionel.
- Birthday Episode: Nancy turns 7 in "Nancy's Parfait Birthday" .
- Both Sides Have a Point: The episode "Vive La Revolution" presents this scenario. It involves a fence being built around Oaky the oak tree since Nancy's mother, who's in charge of the committee that approved the decision, says it's for everyone's safety when Rhonda broke her arm climbing too high and falling too high. Nancy doesn't approve of this since it means a lot to them and that one injury shouldn't result in something like this. A compromise is reached, and as long as they don't climb too high, the tree stays as is.
- Bowdlerize : This nursery rhyme version of "Deck The Halls" swaps out "gay" for "best". This is justified though considering the Disney Junior audience. Oddly enough, the album version keeps it in.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: In "Nancy's Fancy Heirloom," Nancy is on a car trip with her family to a surprise destination. After being told that they're not going to the opera or a ballet, she speculates that they may be going to an opera-ballet.
- Catchphrase: Nancy's catchphrase is "Ooo-la-la", and pretty much anything that sounds fancy.
- Nancy claims to be "practically an expert" on whatever activity she's about to undertake in almost every episode.
- "That's fancy for X."
- Cerebus Callback: In "Shoe La La", a running gag has Nancy acting rather dramatically about not getting a pair of fancy red shows, eventually culminating in her wearing a funeral outfit, in a scene that's black comedy. She wears the same outfit in "Au Revoir Jean Claude", only this time to Jean Claude's funeral, which isn't played for laughs.
- Character Development: Nancy becomes more thoughtful, empathetic, and generous at the end of Season 1. This begins in "Nancy's Costume Clash," when she realizes she is gloating over a coin toss, and continues into "Mon Amie...Grace," where she offers Grace a chance at a Heel–Face Turn. This sort of growth is common in Disney Junior shows, which have a habit of
Growing the Beard in their later episodes.- Nancy continues to improve as a character in Season 2.
- Christmas Episode: "Nancy And The Nice List" revolves around Nancy wanting to get on Santa's nice list in order to get a special bike.
- Did Not Do the Bloody Research: Nancy oftentimes uses the phrase "Sacre bleu!" when distressed. Which sounds innocent enough when translated, but is generally treated as profanity.
- Divergent Character Evolution: "Nancy Hops To It" makes Rhonda and Wanda more distinct, specifically with the former having more of a "take charge" attitude and the latter more morally conscious.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Nancy's voice actress, Mia Sinclair Jenness, performs almost all of the theme tune, "Add a Little Fancy."
- The Dog Bites Back: In "Who's the Boss?", Nancy and Bree tell their younger siblings to stop bossing them around because it's not fun for them at all, only for JoJo and Freddie to retort to their sisters that they boss them around all the time and it's not fun for them either.
- A Dog Named "Dog": In "Bonjour Butterfly", the butterfly that Nancy and Bree nurse back to health is named Papillon, which is French for "Butterfly".
- Domestic Appliance Disaster: In "Mademoiselle Mom," Nancy causes the overflowing bubbles variant when she does the dishes after taking over Mrs. Clancy's chores when she has a cold.
- Drama Queen: Nancy can be a little overdramatic at times.
- Easter Special: The show has an Easter special in the form of "Easter Bonnet Bug A Boo/Easter Bunny Stakeout". The former segment involves Nancy dealing with bugs that get in her Easter bonnet for a contest while the latter involves Nancy and her friends trying to find the Easter bunny.
- Everyone Has Standards: In "Nancy Quits The Clancys", Nancy moves out of the house when she doesn't want to chores anymore. Since she lives on her own now, that means any food she has to get from the house has to be paid for, which she can barely afford. Since she's not having a good time living on her own, her parents offer her some pizza as neighbors. While trying to teach her a lesson the hard way, they don't want her to suffer like this. Nancy then realizes she should move back in.
- Everything's Better with Sparkles: Nancy's envelope stamps have glitter, and she can't imagine "plain" stamps on letters.
- Film Noir: In "The Case of the Disappearing Doll," Nancy slips into an Imagine Spot in this style, complete with the use of old-timey detective slang.
- Fluffy Fashion Feathers: Nancy loves feather boas, and uses them to make things and people fancy.
- Food and Animal Attraction: The episode "Frenchy, Mon Amor" has Frenchy start hanging out with Jojo, making Nancy jealous. In the climax, Claire discovers the reason that happened is because Frenchy was attracted to a sandwich in Jojo's overalls.
- Freeze-Frame Ending: After Nancy learned that at her School De Fancy, everyone has their own way of being unique, she and her friends celebrate and the episode freezes on them doing a "YEAH!" Shot as the screen fades to black.
- Friendly Enemy: While Grace often antagonizes Nancy, there are times she can be neutral/civil towards her. She even willingly took part in Nancy's strike to save Oaky. By Season 2, their relationship has grown enough that she attends Nancy's birthday party. Grace also happily bids Nancy farewell as the latter leaves for her trip to Paris.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: Claire calls Nancy by her full name, Nancy Margaret Clancy, when she gets in trouble. In "Bon Voyage, Nancy", she also called JoJo by her full name, Josephine Jane Clancy, when tell her to keep her hands to herself. The episode "Spring Dress Mess" shows that Bree's full name is Breanna Rose James when she and Nancy get in trouble for taking shortcuts in spring cleaning .
- The Ghost: In "Le Boy Next Door", Robert's grandmother can be heard talking offscreen, but she has yet to make a physical appearance.
- Girly Girl And Tomboy: Nancy and JoJo. Rhonda and Wanda are also this to a much subtler degree.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Due to being a toddler, JoJo has various stuffed toys, including a beloved sock monkey.
- Nancy had Miss Moo, a plush cow that could make animal noises, though she gives it away to Bree's younger brother Freddy.
- Good Parents: Nancy's parents are kind and caring to her.
- Margie and Frank were implied to be this for Claire as well.
- Grand Finale: The final episode, "Paris at Last", has Nancy finally going to Paris, France with her friends and family after saving up enough money.
- Gratuitous French: Nancy loves peppering her speech with it, with a quick aside to the preschool-age audience on what the words mean, although not always if it's used during a song number.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Nancy occasionally dips into this. A more literal example in that she has green eyes.
- In "Nancy's Supreme Night Out" , she's shown being jealous when Bridgette gives Jojo better treatment over her at the pizza restaurant.
- In "Nancy's Friendship Faux Pas" , she's shown being jealous when Bree keeps inadvertently ignoring her when they hang out with Megan.
- This is lampshaded in the episode "Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet" when she becomes jealous that Bree is chosen to take over Grace's role as the mermaid after the latter sprains her ankle.
- Halloween Episode: "Nancy's Costume Clash/Nancy's Ghostly Halloween" follow this. The former involves Nancy trying to have a standout costume at Lionel's party, while the latter involves Nancy's imagination getting the better of her when she thinks a ghost is interrupting their trick or treating.
- Happy Birthday to You!: Sung in French in "Nancy's Parfait Birthday"
- Hypocrite: Sometimes Nancy tells JoJo that she shouldn't do something wrong only to do that thing herself, such as asking for backsies after making a trade and touching other people's things without asking first. JoJo has no trouble calling her out for this.
- Hypocritical Humor: In "Nancy's Ghostly Halloween", Nancy tells JoJo not to let her imagination run away with her. Funnily enough, not very long afterwards, Nancy and Bree let their imaginations run wild when they mistake JoJo for a ghost.
- Imaginary Friend: Nancy once had an imaginary friend called Genevieve. When she tells JoJo about this in "Nancy vs Dudley," JoJo at first doesn't get it, but finally creates an imaginary friend called Dudley. Then, she gets annoyed when JoJo wants to play with Dudley instead of her, even though she hadn't initially wanted to include JoJo in her fun in the first place.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Most episodes follow the title of Nancy's (Subject Of The Episode) (Noun)
- Imagine Spot: A major component of the series often has Nancy going into a fantasy on how easy things will be. It's not as easy as she thinks.
- It's All About Me: Nancy can be this way, depending on what's going on in the episode. For example, in "La Danse de Friendship", she dismissed Bree's idea for a Pas de Deux and insisted her ideas were better.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Nancy can be considered this. She's vain, egotistical, and somewhat insensitive. She's also fiercely loyal and compassionate, not hesitating to help others when things go wrong.
- Now that the end of season 1 is approaching, she has become more empathetic and caring in recent episodes. Season 2 enhances this growth.
- Large Ham: It's not uncommon for Nancy to show her more over the top side when she doesn't get what she wants.
- Limited Wardrobe: Despite her penchant for fancy, Nancy usually wears the same outfit - a dress with a yellow top and bottom with circles of varous shades of pink, tied together with a blue ribbon and rainbow leggings of pastel pink, blue and yellow and a tiara in her hair. Meanwhile, JoJo wears a blue jumpsuit with a yellow undershirt.
- Malaproper: In "Nancy vs Dudley," JoJo misconstrues the Eiffel Tower as the "Awful Tower." At first, Nancy is annoyed, but later after she realizes that she wants JoJo to play with her and asks what she wants to play, she quite happy to agree with JoJo's request: "Let's build the Awful Tower." She uses the term again in the second season story "Paris, Adieu!"
- Modesty Shorts: Bree wears a pair of shorts under her dress.
- Mundane Wish: Daisy, the poor girl Nancy befriends in the Christmas Episode, only wants to have "a nice Christmas", with no possible gift in mind.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Nancy has good intentions, but her attempts to be fancy can sometimes annoy others around her. She then comes to realize the error of her ways.
- She also has these moments when she does wrong things such as letting JoJo take the blame for a mess.
- Never Say "Die": Interestingly enough, this is played straight and averted in "Au Revoir Jean Claude". Jean Claude, the family fish, dies, and Nancy tries to hide the truth from Jojo, only saying that he went into high heaven. Jojo then discovers that he dies, and everyone else then flat out says "die" afterwards.
- "Tres Choirs For Mrs. Devine" also averts this where she says that this is the anniversary of her husband's death.
- New Year Has Come: The episode "New Year's Nancy" takes place on New Year's Eve. Nancy tries staying up until midnight on New Year's Eve, but she finds it difficult. In the end, she falls asleep, and is initially disappointed, but comes to realize that she at least has fun.
- Once per Episode: Nancy mentioning a French or rather unusual word or phrase, followed by her telling the audience what it means.
- The One Guy: Lionel is Nancy's only prominent male friend, though her cousin Jonathan also occasionally hangs out with them.
- Papa Wolf: In "The Buzz on Oak Street", Grandpa Frank is determined to remove a beehive that's behind the Clancys' backyard because Nancy got stung by a bee.
- Picture Day: The episode "Nancy's Looth Tooth" has Nancy lose one of her baby teeth, specifically her front tooth, the day before picture day at ballet class. She then tries to hide the fact that her tooth is gone. The ending also shows Grace doing the same since she lost her tooth, and Bree loses hers as well.
- Pink Means Feminine: Nancy's favorite color is fuchsia. She wears many colors in her wardrobe, but pink is a shade that appears in all her outfits.
- Playing Sick: Nancy fakes sick in "The Imaginary Invalide" to avoid cleaning the garage.
- Plot Allergy: "Smitten by a Kitten" has Nancy and Claire adopt a kitten from a booth at the farmer's market only to find that JoJo is allergic to cats.
- Posthumous Character:
- Nancy's maternal grandmother, Margie Clancy, passed away before the start of the series. However, her maternal grandfather, and both of her paternal grandparents, are still alive.
- Mrs. Devine mentions having late husbands.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Claire and Doug are this to Nancy in a few episodes. Mrs. Devine also acts like this as well.
- Rhyming Names: In addition to her rhyming nickname, the title character's surname (Clancy) also rhymes with her given name.
- Rhyming Title: Fancy Nancy.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Downplayed. Nancy has a large vocabulary, but it only shows in a few "fancy" words every episode or book.
- Shout-Out: Rhonda and Wanda have two hamsters named Venus and Serena, referential of the famous tennis players Venus and Serena Williams.
- Sick Episode: In "Mademoiselle Mom", Nancy takes over house duties for the day when her mother becomes sick.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Nancy, the titular protagonist, has red hair and green eyes.
- Single-Minded Twins: Rhonda and Wanda.
- Stalker without a Crush: Nancy's fantasy in "Mon Amie .... Grace?" turns Grace into this where, because she thinks they're best friends, she follows Nancy everywhere , even in the bathroom and closet .
- Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: Nancy has so far never been seen attending school on the show.
- Title, Please!: Unusual to other shows, Nancy says the episode’s name at the start, but the title does not appear onscreen. Oddly enough, Disney Junior would later adopt this practice for all of its shows.
- Theme Twin Naming: Rhonda and Wanda.
- Title Theme Tune: "Fancy Nancy. Ooh la la! Fancy Nancy..."
- Took a Level in Kindness: Nancy is shown to be kinder and more selfless in later episodes.
- Two Shorts: Each episode is composed of two segments of 11 minutes each.
- Valentine's Day Episodes : "Nancy, La Poete/Mon Amie.... Grace?" serves as the show's Valentine's Day episode, with the former segment about Nancy trying to overcome writer's block to write a poem for a Valentine's Day poetry contest, while the latter segment is about Grace thinking that she and Nancy are best friends when she gets a valentine actually meant for Bree.
- "Roses are Red, JoJo is Blue/Love, Lionel" are this for Season 2.
- Very Special Episode: Nancy's New Friend which deals with Nancy befriending Lionel's autistic cousin.
- "YEAH!" Shot: Nancy and her friends do this at the end of "School De Fancy". Bonus points for the Freeze-Frame Ending as the episode fades out.
- Race Lift: Roberto was named "Robert" in the original book series and was Caucasian. In the series, he is given a race lift to Hispanic.
