To me, Scooby-Doo always felt like a franchise that you couldn’t really go wrong with. Be it the classic animated series or the live action movies, the Mystery Incorporated gang has always been a joy to watch. Oh, and What’s New, Scooby-Doo? needs to be acknowledged for having perhaps the greatest theme song of all time.
With all that in mind, it was quite a shock when the adult animated show Velma released on HBO Max earlier this year to horrendously low ratings. The spinoff series takes place before the official formation of Mystery Inc., and (obviously) primarily focuses on Velma Dinkley.
Take a look at the trailer for Velma below.
Back when it released, Velma quickly became the worst-rated animated show in IMDb history. It’s since climbed up the ranking slightly, so it’s not at the very bottom anymore, but it’s still incredibly low. It was heavily criticised for being such a departure from Scooby-Doo's usual vibe, and for its self-aware sense of humour. Disappointingly, it was also flamed by some due to its LGBTQ+ inclusion (in the show, Velma is bisexual and has feelings for both Fred and Daphne).
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As Bleeding Cool reports, in a recent interview with Emmy Magazine, creator Charlie Grandy responded to the show’s negative criticism with a reminder: “The original Hanna-Barbera shows are still out there to watch. We are not erasing the originals. We just want to be a little ice planet on the outer regions of the Scooby-verse!”
Grandy continued: “Mindy [Kaling, the voice actor for Velma] came to me and said she'd love to work on a story with Velma… She loved the character and thought it would be funny to have her at the centre of a show. We asked ourselves, 'Why stop [at Velma being South Asian]?' None of these characters are rooted to being white. We were worried about going to Warner Bros. and asking them to do it, but they said, 'Do it. It's time! Just make sure it's funny and good!’”
Despite the criticism, a second season of Velma is already in development, but it remains to be seen if the next batch of episodes will be received any better.
Featured Image Credit: HBO MaxTopics: TV And Film