Mindy Kaling is Velma

[Milk Tray Guy]

Current IMDb rating is 1.5/10

According to the trivia page, (not exactly 'Word of God', I know)

'The lowest-rated series ever produced by HBO'

'The lowest-rated project ever produced by Warner Bros. Animation, surpassing ThunderCats Roar (2020) and Little Ellen (2021)'

Everything I hear about this makes it sound more of a horror show - and I don't mean that in a good, Scooby-Doo kinda way!

 

[scarlet-witch]

I swear I read something a while ago that the story was initially an original concept Kaling pitched to HBO Max that got rejected, then they just repurposed it into this. That makes sense for the big disconnect.

 

[Lily Adler]

I was actually excited to see Mystery Incorporated solving murders with a meta lens.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Current IMDb rating is 1.5/10

According to the trivia page, (not exactly 'Word of God', I know)

'The lowest-rated series ever produced by HBO'

'The lowest-rated project ever produced by Warner Bros. Animation, surpassing ThunderCats Roar (2020) and Little Ellen (2021)'

Everything I hear about this makes it sound more of a horror show - and I don't mean that in a good, Scooby-Doo kinda way!

With WB cancelling everything and removing content off of HBOMax, wouldn’t it be ironic that this gets renewed for another season lol

 

[Incarnadine]

With WB cancelling everything and removing content off of HBOMax, wouldn’t it be ironic that this gets renewed for another season lol

I honestly wouldn't be surprised.
I had no interest in this, but if it had good reviews I would have checked it out, but with the reviews being so scathingly toxic I ended up watching the first episode just to see how bad it actually is (hard to rank it, but it is one of the worst things I've ever watched).

So the show has "buzz", people are definitely talking about it, and I have to wonder what % of viewers were like me who had no intention of watching it, but had to check out the train wreck, which gave the numbers a little bit of a boost.

 

[Drizzle]

With WB cancelling everything and removing content off of HBOMax, wouldn’t it be ironic that this gets renewed for another season lol

It would be the same type of business decision as Sony putting Morbius back in theaters because of the memes.

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

It's too family guy for its own good. Edgy and mean-spirited for the sake of it.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

With WB cancelling everything and removing content off of HBOMax, wouldn’t it be ironic that this gets renewed for another season lol

With the amount of box-ticking they've gone for with this, I can't see them ever admitting that this show is a failure! Season 2 to be announced soon!

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Not even vaguely in the ballpark of how bad I was expecting given the massively overwrought backlash. It's okay, a little annoying, but I could see with some tweaks it working really well - was hoping for something of Harley Quinn quality but clearly this won't be that without tightening up the writing and comedy considerably.

The connection to its Scooby-Doo roots is, for the moment, pretty tenuous but on its own I don't particularly mind any of the characters. Shaggy hasn't gotten to do much other than pine and make bad jokes about not being a stoner so that he can later become a stoner and Fred is pretty one note although that one note is made considerably funnier than it otherwise would have been because of the ever-reliable Glenn Howerton. I like Velma quite a bit though and Daphne as well, those two feel like actual characters in a way the other two currently don't.

Biggest issue is the comedy for the most part doesn't land super hard. It's not, like, cringy or annoying to me but its just really basic and edgy - for the most part the only jokes that land are the ones that are more character based like Velma's less rose tinted memories of what a terror she was to her Mom as a kid.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

Yeah, Velma is as terrible as critics and fans make it out to be. How this project got green lit is beyond me. Sucks to see Glenn Howerton involved in such a dumpster fire

 

[Drizzle]

Sucks to see Glenn Howerton involved in such a dumpster fire

Eh, he's been in worse. This is still probably a step up from That 80s Show.

 

[Teelie]

Watching the first episode finally and... wow. Kaling thought it was a great idea for Velma's mom to be a smoking alcoholic who went out to get cigarettes a present only to disappear and never come back because Velma was an awful child (who constantly eats fries from the trash for some reason).

Every single character is ugh. Continuing with Velma, she is also a hallucinating obsessive, disgusting, offensive and terrible caricature of... someone who is not Velma. Daphne is awful and stereotypically "popular girl" lazily written. Fred is ****ing awful (as well as weirdly prepubescent) and Norville is cringe. He's intelligent (for now) and clearly in love with Velma but also telegraphed as a pathetic loser. And it only goes down from there. None of these characters are likable or more than vessels for lame jokes. You could literally rename every one of them and slightly alter their outfits and you would not know this was Scooby-Doo.

A lot of the jokes fall flat and the casual jabs at any group Mindy has an issue with are exhausting. I could believe she is skewering everyone if it weren't for the same jokes rephrased every few scenes. She doesn't like white guys. Or popular girls. Or seemingly black men if Norville is anything to go by. Asian women are also a target because Daphne. At least lesbians are only slightly insulting.

And the obsession with the cockroaches everywhere obviously connected to the missing brains? Whatever that mystery is I'll be fine not knowing seeing as I don't think I can stomach another episode of bad pastiche.

Maybe it gets better? I really hope so. Everyone involved with this is better than what I just saw.

 

[Erik20]

Watching the first episode finally and... wow. Kaling thought it was a great idea for Velma's mom to be a smoking alcoholic who went out to get cigarettes a present only to disappear and never come back because Velma was an awful child (who constantly eats fries from the trash for some reason).

Every single character is ugh. Continuing with Velma, she is also a hallucinating obsessive, disgusting, offensive and terrible caricature of... someone who is not Velma. Daphne is awful and stereotypically "popular girl" lazily written. Fred is ****ing awful (as well as weirdly prepubescent) and Norville is cringe. He's intelligent (for now) and clearly in love with Velma but also telegraphed as a pathetic loser. And it only goes down from there. None of these characters are likable or more than vessels for lame jokes. You could literally rename every one of them and slightly alter their outfits and you would not know this was Scooby-Doo.

A lot of the jokes fall flat and the casual jabs at any group Mindy has an issue with are exhausting. I could believe she is skewering everyone if it weren't for the same jokes rephrased every few scenes. She doesn't like white guys. Or popular girls. Or seemingly black men if Norville is anything to go by. Asian women are also a target because Daphne. At least lesbians are only slightly insulting.

And the obsession with the cockroaches everywhere obviously connected to the missing brains? Whatever that mystery is I'll be fine not knowing seeing as I don't think I can stomach another episode of bad pastiche.

Maybe it gets better? I really hope so. Everyone involved with this is better than what I just saw.

Mindy does seem to like white guys though...

 

[Teelie]

She does have a love-hate relationship. Most of the jokes were obvious attempts at trolling or shock reaction though. Poke at the white guy stereotype, poke at the popular girl stereotype, poke at the nerdy black guy stereotype, etc. Like a bad take on South Park's "offend everyone" mantra.

It really did read like there was another failed series pitch they put a Scooby skin on to get it green-lighted. This is not a satire like Venture Bros. did or any one else who more successfully spoofed the Scooby gang.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

I watched episodes 3 and 4 last night and trust me when I say that it definitely doesn't get better. It might have actually gotten worse because I didn't laugh once during those episodes.

It's sad that this isn't even an enjoyable misfire because at least then it would be somewhat entertaining, but I just find the whole thing to be more insulting and frustrating than anything else.

I just find it hard to believe that a show this bad exists when you got stuff like The Legend of Vox Machina which I also watched last night, and my god is the difference in quality apparent. That show actually does adult, animated humor really well on top of having characters you actually care about.

 

[antsman41]

I'm over Mindy, her avatar in The Sex Lives... is the most annoying useless character.

She's one-note with her comedy; nerdy-horny-Indian girls who want to be comedians/funny.

Scooby-Doo done the Harley Quinn treatment is gold, but by anyone who isn't in that Office/NBC family.

Luckily Donald Glover wasn't hindered by the Tina Fey-ing of "jokes" on tv.

 

[Teelie]

It's rare I give up so quickly on a series but I made it maybe 10 minutes into the second episode and noped right on out of there. Whatever your opinions on her are, Mindy has missed her mark on this one for sure.

How badly this was executed should be taught in school of how not repurpose a cherished IP for your vanity project.

 

[OtherwiseKnownAs]

The only truly great pieces of Scooby-Doo media continue to be Zombie Island and Mystery Incorporated.

 

[Teelie]

Scooby-Doo and Guess Who had a few decent guests in it.

 

[Lily Adler]

Scooby-Doo and Guess Who had a few decent guests in it.

Like the Kardashians.

 

[Teelie]

Not who I was thinking of but that shows it was also among the worst incarnations too.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

I almost just watched the first episode of this online, but I love Scooby-Doo so much that I don't want to taint it with something that I can't get out of my head!

 

[Breogan]

Why couldn’t she just create an original .......instead of hijacking existing characters and changing their personalities?

It's what Los Espookys y did, If you genuinely want something new,
I recommend Los Espookys, it's somewhat informed by the "Scooby Gang" yet not trying to pretend to be them. While bizarrely familiar, it flips it so far off-beat and surreal, it's entirely it's own thing.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

It's what they did, if you genuinely want something new.
I recommend Los Espookys, it somewhat reinvents the "Scooby Gang" yet not trying to pretend to be them, while bizarrely familiar, it flips it so far off-beat and surreal, it's entirely it's own thing.

Looks interesting. Have you read Edgar Cantero's novel Meddling Kids? It's basically a Scooby-Doo/Famous Five-ish bunch of kids (plus their dog) battling Lovecraftian horrors. I loved it (and it's definitely not for kids!).

 

[Breogan]

Looks interesting. Have you read Edgar Cantero's novel Meddling Kids? It's basically a Scooby-Doo/Famous Five-ish bunch of kids (plus their dog) battling Lovecraftian horrors. I loved it (and it's definitely not for kids!).

Looks fun, will check it out - https://www.amazon.com/Meddling-Kids-Novel-Edgar-Cantero-ebook/dp/B01M3WPB83/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3RHNBD5YIN9LY&keywords=meddling+kids+a+novel&qid=1674861626&sprefix=Meddling+Kids:+A+Novel,aps,86&sr=8-1