
The scooby doo show series#
These and other action-adventure series featured non-stop action and violence, with the heroes working to defeat, even kill, a menace or monster by any means necessary. In particular, Hanna-Barbera’s “ Space Ghost and Dino Boy” and Filmation’s “ The New Adventures of Superman” were hits with kids. In what would serve as a turning point in television animation, the three broadcast networks – CBS, ABC and NBC – launched nine new action-adventure cartoons on Saturday morning in the fall of 1966.

In the late 1960s, the television and film studio Hanna-Barbera was the largest producer of animated television programming.įor years, Hanna-Barbera had created slapstick comedy cartoons – “ Tom and Jerry” in the 1940s and 1950s, followed by television series like “ The Yogi Bear Show” and “ The Flintstones.” But by the 1960s, the most popular cartoons were those that capitalized on the secret agent craze, the space race and the popularity of superheroes. The genesis of the series was inextricably bound up with the societal upheavals of 1968-in particular, the assassination of Robert F. The formula of four mystery-solving teenagers-Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy along with the titular talking Great Dane-remained mostly intact as the group stumbled their way into pop-culture history.īut as I explain in my forthcoming book on the franchise, Scooby-Doo’s invention was no happy accident it was a strategic move in response to cultural shifts and political exigencies. The very first television series, “ Scooby-Doo, Where are You!,” was created by Hanna-Barbera Productions for CBS Saturday morning and premiered on Sept. Now, with “ Scoob!,” the Mystery Incorporated gang will appear in a CGI feature-length film, which, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is going to be released to video-on-demand on May 15. Scooby-Doo has appeared in a whopping 16 television series, two live-action films, 35 direct-to-DVD movies, 20 video games, 13 comic book series and five stage shows.
