Welcome to the first Saturday Morning Superstars dedicated to a particular TV series. For the first installment, I had to focus on perhaps the most influential and enduring shows in all of Saturday morning history– Scooby-Doo!
Scooby-Doo first hit the air in 1969 on the series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?. It arrived at a time after the formation of the parents’ watchdog group Action for Children’s Television (A.C.T.) had pressured the three networks — ABC, CBS, and NBC — to cancel a large chunk of their cartoons which they considered too violent. As a result, Scooby-Doo, which had previously been developed as Mysteries Five, had to be toned down with the show’s comedic elements emphasized.
CBS’s executive of daytime programming, Fred Silverman, had enjoyed a hit in 1968 with The Archie Show, based on the popular comic book line. In that series, the lead characters played in a band called The Archies and actually scored a string of Top 40 hits. Silverman turned to Hanna-Barbera to replicate the success of The Archie Show with another show about a teenage band that also solved mysteries.
Mysteries Five was developed by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and character designer Iwao Takamoto. Over the course of the show’s development, the creators alternately based their characters on the Archie comics characters and the characters from the live-action sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. At one point, the dog, Too Much, was designed as a large sheepdog, just like Hot Dog from Archie. Joe Barbera feared that making him a Great Dane would make him too similar to the comic strip character Marmaduke. Eventually, Ruby and Spears convinced him to allow them to go ahead with the Great Dane concept.
Originally, the teens were named Geoff, Kelly, Linda, and W.W., but before the show finally came together, they became Fred Rogers (although, he was briefly renamed Ronnie at first), Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, respectively. They are directly similar to characters from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis — Dobie Gillis (Fred), Thalia Menninger (Daphne), Zelda Gilroy (Velma), and Maynard G. Krebs (Shaggy). I personally have never seen this show, but Maynard was played by a pre-Gilligan’s Island Bob Denver and there is a strong resemblance between him and Shaggy.
Early on, there was a fifth teenager, Mike, but he was dropped. Also during development, W.W. was Linda’s brother. That’s a little gross when many people viewed Velma and Shaggy as something of a romantic couple and they have been depicted as such in different versions of the show.
Mysteries Five was actually rejected by CBS’ president Frank Stanton who felt the show was too scary. But Silverman had planned for this show to be the centerpiece of the network’s Saturday lineup, so he asked Hanna-Barbera and Ruby and Spears to tone down the show. It was retooled as Who’s S-S-Scared?. At this point, the idea of the characters playing in a band was dropped.
Reportedly, Silverman heard Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night” featuring the line “dooby-dooby-doo” and decided to rename the dog Too Much to “Scooby-Doo.” As a result, the series was renamed Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?.
The original voice cast of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? consisted of Don Messick as Scooby-Doo, Casey Kasem as Shaggy, Frank Welker as Fred, Stefanianna Christopherson as Daphne, and Nicole Jaffe as Velma. Heather North took over the role of Daphne for Seasons 2 and 3, and Pat Stevens took over as Velma in Season 3.
Welker continues to voice Fred to this day and now also voices Scooby, as Messick and much of the original cast have passed away.
Scooby-Doo premiered on September 13, 1969, and was an instant hit. While this series started as a knock-off of The Archies and Dobie Gillis, Hanna-Barbera would go on to rip-off Scooby-Doo for a variety of series including The Funky Phantom, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, Speed Buggy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, Josie and the Pussycats, Jeanie, Goober and the Ghost Chasers, Clue Club, Jabberjaw, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, Bufford and the Galloping Ghost, and The New Schmoo.
Even though Scooby-Doo was toned down from the original Mysteries Five concept, it was still kind of dark in those first few seasons. It would be lightened up even further in later seasons.
Everyone knows the premise, but just for the heck of it, Scooby-Doo follows the adventures of Mystery Inc., five inquisitive teens and their dog, who never go to school and travel around in a floral-painted van called the Mystery Machine. They inexplicably find themselves constantly pulled into mysteries that seem to revolve around ghosts, monsters, and ghouls. By the end of each episode, they unmask the villain as someone they met earlier in the episode trying to scare people away to cover up criminal activity.
Some form of Scooby-Doo continued to dominate Saturday mornings into the early ’90s. In 1972, the show was rebranded as The New Scooby-Doo Movies and was expanded to an hour long. This version of the show is remembered for featuring one or more guest-stars in each episode. Some were fictional characters like The Addams Family and Batman and Robin, while others were real celebrities of the era like Sonny & Cher, Dick Van Dyke, or Don Knotts. This show was also used to promote characters from other Hanna-Barbera cartoons like Josie & the Pussycats, Jeanie, and the Harlem Globetrotters.
A big change came in 1976 when ABC snatched the franchise away from CBS. (Hanna-Barbera created the new, similar series, Clue Club, as a replacement for CBS.)Â On ABC, the show was renamed The Scooby-Doo Show and was paired with another, even bigger show, Scooby’s All-Star Laff-A-Lympics, which united the stars of various HB shows past and present.
During this era, Scooby was used to support various other new HB shows on ABC including Dyno-Mutt, Dog Wonder, and Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels.
However, ratings started to slip over time. As a way to bolster interest, a new character was introduced, Scooby’s overly-enthusiastic nephew, Scrappy-Doo, voiced by Lennie Weinrib. The show was redubbed Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. Nowadays, Scrappy is one of the most hated cartoon characters of all time. But back then, his introduction actually accomplished what it was intended to — it helped boost ratings.
And Scrappy became a permanent fixture, up until the show was relaunched as A Pup Named Scooby-Doo in 1988. And believe it or not, Scrappy-Doo isn’t the most annoying character the franchise would introduce!
The year after Scrappy’s introduction, Fred, Daphne, and Velma were dropped from the show and now focused solely on Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy. Looking back, perhaps in addition to Scrappy’s annoying personality, it’s the fact that his debut signaled the departure of Fred, Daphne, and Velma that has soured some on him. Also, even though Scooby was always semi-anthropomorphic, he began acting even more human at this point and was walking around on his hind legs more and more.
The show was once again retooled in 1985 as The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, which I believe is the first time the characters encountered REAL ghosts. On the plus side, this season brought back Daphne. On the negative, it introduced pint-sized con artist Flim-Flam, a character that made Scrappy-Doo seem like a beloved fan-favorite. Heather North voiced Daphne in this version, and Susan Blu voiced Flim-Flam. The legendary Vincent Price portrayed Vincent Van Ghoul, their magical warlock guide.
In this series, Scooby and Shaggy accidentally release 13 ghosts and must travel the world trying to capture them. Even though the show consisted of 13 episodes, they never actually manage to recapture all of the ghosts. However, a sequel movie, Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost, was released in 2019 to wrap up loose ends. For some reason, Flim-Flam (now a young adult) appeared in that, but Scrappy-Doo didn’t.
Scooby, Scrappy, and Shaggy were featured in three direct to VHS movies, Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987), Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988), and Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988).
In 1988, the entire series was revamped as A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, depicting Scooby as a puppy and the gang as elementary school-aged kids. This was an almost entirely comedic take on the characters and fit with other ‘toons of the era that reinterpreted established cartoons as kids including Flintstone Kids, Tom & Jerry Kids, and Muppet Babies.
This version proved quite popular and was also the first time the show actually began to parody itself in a meta fashion, something that would become a staple in future projects including the live-action movies. This was the first iteration to be nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo ran for four seasons, but after that, the franchise disappeared for many years.
After the cancellation of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, the characters would remain absent for the majority of the ’90s, although reruns continued to air in syndication on Cartoon Network, and Boomerang. Finally, the gang was back in the direct to DVD movie Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island in 1998. That was a solid hit and led to a string of DVD originals– Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost (1999), Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (2000), and Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase (2001). Though The 13 Ghosts… wasn’t referenced, these movies once again pit the Mystery Inc. crew against real supernatural threats.
In 2002, the live-action theatrical film, Scooby-Doo, starring Matthew Lillard as Shaggy, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne, Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred, and Linda Cardellini as Velma, was released and was a box office hit. Similar to the animated movies and even A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, this was something of a meta, self-mocking take on the franchise meant to appeal to older fans who had grown up on the cartoons.
A sequel was released in 2004, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, but it was not as well-received. But one major contribution that the films made was the spot-on casting of Lillard as Shaggy. He has reprised this role by providing the character’s voice on many subsequent animated movies and TV shows.
Two more live-action movies were made for TV and released on home video — Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (2009) and Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster (2010). These are notable for black-haired Stephen Amell starring as Fred, who is normally blond in the cartoons. More recently, in 2018, another live-action movie went direct to DVD, Daphne & Velma.
Behind the scenes, Hanna-Barbera was absorbed into parent company Warner Bros. Animation in 2002. WB continued to release animated movies, including  Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire and Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico (both in 2003), which were rendered in retro-style like the first few movies.
In 2002, the first new Scooby TV series in over a decade arrived, What’s New, Scooby-Doo?. The show first aired on Kid’s WB before switching to the Cartoon Network, then Boomerang. This series welcomed back Casey Kasem, who had abandoned the role of Shaggy in the mid-90s after a disagreement with WB. (He was a dedicated vegetarian and had insisted that Shaggy also be depicted as a vegetarian, but was forced to provide Shaggy’s voice for a Burger King commercial.) Welker remained, with Grey DeLisle as Daphne and Mindy Cohn as Velma. This cast would remain in place for years in various projects.
What’s New Scooby-Doo? featured slightly updated looks for some of the characters which were carried over into the animated movies. This series lasted for three seasons.
While the artwork and character designs were slightly updated for What’s New Scooby-Doo?, the entire art style was changed for 2006’s Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue. That wasn’t all that was changed. In this series, Shaggy inherits millions in cash and nanotechnology. He upgrades the Mystery Machine, giving it the ability to transform into other vehicles. (Scooby Snacks in this version are also laced with nanotech, giving Shaggy and Scooby abilities that help them out of jams.) This series pitted them against the evil genius, Dr. Phineus Phibes. This revamp was not well received, but still managed to last for two seasons.
However, in my opinion, this led to the absolute BEST Scooby series, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. This more ambitious reboot launched in 2010 and like other modern cartoons featured a larger, ongoing storyline that spanned the entire series. Since A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, the gang’s hometown was Coolsville. This series was set in Crystal Cove, the “Most Hauntedest Place on Earth”. Mystery Incorporated added the gang’s parents who actually profit from the tourism dollars that the hauntings generate, so the kids’ solving these mysteries actually proves detrimental to them. This includes Fred’s father, Mayor Fred Jones Sr., and Velma’s parents who run a haunted tourist attraction.
While there had been many jokes over the years about Velma potentially being a lesbian — including a deleted scene of Cardellini’s Velma ogling Gellar’s Daphne in the first live-action movie — this series officially introduced a possible same-sex love interest in a character nicknamed “Hot Dog Water” (real name: Marcie Fleach).
Perhaps because of the sophisticated nature of the show, Mystery Incorporated had trouble finding an audience. It didn’t help that Cartoon Network continually took it off its schedule and moved its time slot around.
Mystery Incorporated lasted a satisfying two seasons and was replaced by the juvenile Be Cool, Scooby-Doo.
The most recent incarnation airs on Boomerang and is dubbed Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?. This is essentially a modern take on The New Scooby-Doo Movies, with a celebrity guest-star in each episode. Guests have included Laila Ali, Alton Brown, Steve Buscemi, Joey Chestnut, Sandy Duncan (who appeared on the original New Scooby-Doo Movies), Jeff Dunham, Darci Lynne Farmer, Jeff Foxworthy, Morgan Freeman, Jim Gaffigan, Ricky Gervais, Johnny Gilbert, Whoopi Goldberg, Tim Gunn, Gigi Hadid, Halsey, Mark Hamill, Chloe Kim, Liza Koshy, Tara Lipinski, Macklemore, Malcolm McDowell, Kacey Musgraves, Bill Nye, Chris Paul, Penn & Teller, Axl Rose, Kristen Schaal, Sia, Christian Slater, Jason Sudeikis, Wanda Sykes, George Takei, Kenan Thompson, Alex Trebek, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jaleel White as Steve Urkel, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and Maddie Ziegler, as well as fictional characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Sherlock Holmes, and Abe Lincoln’s Ghost.
Last year, Warner Brothers released the computer-animated movie Scoob!, which was expected to kick off a string of Hanna-Barbera movies. Scoob! featured Blue Falcon, Dyno-Mutt, Captain Caveman, Teen Angel Dee Dee Skyes, and the villains Dick Dastardly and Muttley.
This film featured a celebrity voice cast: Will Forte as Shaggy, Mark Wahlberg as Blue Falcon, Jason Isaacs as Dick Dastardly, Gina Rodriguez as Velma, Zac Efron as Fred, Amanda Seyfried as Daphne, Kiersey Clemons as Dee Dee, Ken Jeong as Dyno-Mutt, Tracy Morgan as Captain Caveman, and Frank Welker as Scooby.
Due to COVID-19, the film’s theatrical release was limited, and it was mostly streamed as a PVOD, so it’s unclear whether it was successful enough to justify a sequel or spin-offs.
It was just recently announced that Mindy Kalling was developing an adult-targeted Velma animated series that will stream on HBO Max.
After taking a rest through most of the ’90s, Scooby-Doo returned and has never gone away since. With new episodes of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?, the new Velma animated series, and potential sequels and spin-offs to Scoob!, there is Scooby content set for years to come!
Are you a fan? What is your favorite incarnation of Scooby-Doo? Comment below!
