Every Scooby-Doo TV Show, Ranked Worst To Best

The Scooby-Doo franchise has been revived and reinterpreted many times across more than 50 years to varying levels of success. The original series first aired in 1969 and followed the adventures of the mystery-solving talking mutt Scooby-Doo along with the rest of the Mystery Incorporated gang Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers. Since then, there have been 14 unique Scooby-Doo television series as well as a litany of animated and live-action films, comic books, merchandising, and video games.

The adventures of the Mystery Inc. gang vary from the classic mystery-solving antics of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, the childhood reinterpretation of the gang in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, and even a divisive adult-orientated origin story on HBO called Velma. Certain versions of Scooby-Doo embraced the supernatural and included all types of ghosts, ghouls, and zombies, while others stick with embittered business people and frustrated factory owners who merely pretend an area is haunted to meet their ends. Across all Scooby-Doo series, the gang has always been on the case.

14 Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1980 – 1982)

This series featured too much Scrappy-Doo

Following the 1979 series of the same name, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo featured half-hour episodes made up of seven-minute shorts featuring a smaller cast of Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy often without the rest of the Mystery Inc. gang. That is why the series is considered far from the best Scooby-Doo show. The audience wants to see the rest of the gang along for the mystery ride.

The segments sometimes aired as part of The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show and The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour and, unfortunately, will be of little interest to anybody except the most devoted Scooby-Doo fans. With Scrappy gaining an unreasonable amount of series screen time, the annoying pup nephew of Scooby can be a lot to take, even in just seven-minute bursts.

13 Velma (2023 – Present)

This series missed the mark when it comes to Scooby-Doo

Velma

Release Date

January 12, 2023

Cast

Mindy Kaling , Sam Richardson , Constance Wu , Ming-Na Wen , Gary Cole , Debby Ryan , Melissa Fumero , Glenn Howerton

Seasons

2

Directors

Mindy Kaling

Scooby-Doo has seen a few different origin stories in live-action adaptations, like the one that sees the group meet up as myster-loving teenagers in the Cartoon Network live-action movies. The alternative universe origin story for the Mystery Inc. gang Velma has had an overwhelmingly negative backlash from audiences and critics alike. The series, which is led by Mindy Kaling as Velma Dinkley, attempts to subvert previous incarnations of Scooby-Doo by reinterpreting many of the characters.

Velma is a bisexual South Asian American, Daphne is an East Asian American who has been adopted, and Norville Rogers, who is no longer known by his nickname Shaggy, is an African American. Adding more diversity to the lineup would have been a welcome change, but the show also loses the charm of the original series by going straight for adult situations and leaving Scooby out of the equation entirely. Velma messes with the well-established lore of Scooby-Doo in a misjudged adult-orientated series whose self-aware writing, unfortunately, led to a show nobody was asking for.

12 Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979 – 1980)

This series attempted to breathe new life into the franchise

In an effort to shake up the Scooby-Doo franchise after it made the move from CBS to ABC, the series added the new character of Scooby’s feisty nephew Scrappy and put out a new show called Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. The introduction of Scrappy injected new energy into the series and his go-getter attitude was a clever storytelling device to get the cowardly Shaggy and Scooby into dangerous and unusual situations.

While today Scrappy is one of the most hated characters in kids’ shows, he helped revitalize the Scooby-Doo franchise when its audience figures were faltering, and the controversial character has continued to appear in subsequent series. The audience appreciated his introduction, but once the popularity of Scooby was established again, Scrappy seemed to get in the way more than anything else.

11 The Scooby-Doo Show (1976 – 1978)

This series was a mash-up of many different projects

The first Scooby-Doo show to be made by ABC and the third incarnation of the franchise, The Scooby-Doo Show was an experimental mash-up of several different Scooby-Doo segments that had been produced in the 1970s including The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour and Scooby’s All-Star Laff-A-Lympics. As a result, the show had frequent guest stars that were fun for some of the audience members but took away from the fun of the original series for others, providing for uneven reactions to the show.

The series introduced Scooby’s cousin Scooby-Dum, who was quite unpopular, borderline offensive, and does not appear in other Scooby-Doo media. Overall, The Scooby-Doo Show is a decent follow-up to the previous series but lacks its innate charm and does not add anything new or interesting to the franchise.

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10 The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries (1983 – 1984)

The series lacked the entire Mystery Inc. gang for much of its run

The sixth incarnation of the franchise, The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries featured a core cast of Scooby, Scrappy, Shaggy, and the return of Daphne, who was absent from the previous series. This show, which was titled The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show in its earliest episodes, was a return to more supernatural-based mysteries but was held back by the absence of the entire Mystery Inc. gang.

It appeared the creators realized this, and Fred and Velma do make appearances towards the end of the series’ run, but unfortunately, The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries felt incomplete and was just a minor addition to the long-running Scooby-Doo franchise. The show is more like an interlude while Fred and Velma are busy with other projects. While it might have allowed for the show to play with the dynamic between Shaggy and Daphne, there was still something missing.

9 Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! (2015 – 2018)

This series leans into the comedic side of Scooby-Doo

Be Cool, Scooby-Doo featured an entirely new animation style that is quite garish and unappealing for fans used to the original style of the franchise. Following the Mystery Inc. gang traveling together in the Mystery Machine for one last summer before heading off to college, Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! leaned heavily into the funnier side of the franchise, and once the shock from the drastically new animation style had worn off, it ended up being one of the stronger series following Scooby and the gang.

Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! took the series back to classic mysteries, had a strong comedic tone that wasn’t quite as slapstick as most shows aimed at younger audiences, and was not afraid to try something new. For that, it worked well, but still isn’t the best Scooby-Doo series.

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8 Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! (2006 – 2008)

This series brings new energy to the franchise

Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! holds a special place in the history of animation due to being the last series to involve Hanna-Barbera co-founder Joseph Barbera before he died in 2006. Like Be Cool, Scooby-Doo would later, the show tried out a new animation style with mixed reactions. The series involved Shaggy becoming rich after receiving an inheritance from his uncle, but unfortunately Shaggy also inherited the enemies of his uncle alongside the money, which led to some interesting adventures.

Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! ran for just two seasons and while it did take animation risks and brought some new energy to the franchise, it overly relied on Shaggy and Scooby with the rest of the gang being sidelined most of the time, which is something loyal fans never really want.

7 The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972 – 1973)

This series focuses on celebrity guests

The first series to follow the show’s original run, The New Scooby-Doo Movies was a unique series that featured real-world celebrities or well-known fictional characters in each episode with notable stars like Sonny & Cher, Dick Van Dyke, and Don Knotts who often teamed up with the gang and help them to solve the mystery of the episode. A worthy follow-up series, it was the first expansion in what would become the long-running Scooby-Doo franchise.

The New Scooby-Doo Movies has a campy 1970s feel, less focus on horror than the previous show, and celebrity guest stars that are often completely irrelevant in today’s world, but despite this, it remains a lot of fun. It’s the first show to demonstrate that Scooby-Doo really had staying power and could incorporate other elements of pop culture into its campy stories.

6 Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? (2019 – 2021)

This series perfected the Scooby-Doo celebrity guest formula

With a similar format to The New Scooby-Doo Movies, Scooby-Doo and Guess Who is a more modern approach. It featured the gang solving mysteries with the help of various celebrities and fictional characters. With guest stars including Mark Hamill, Ricky Gervais, and even Weird Al Yankovic, it’s the most star-studded of all the Scooby-Doo shows and benefited from the inclusion of characters like Batman, Sherlock Holmes, and the return of The Hex Girls who first appeared in Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost.

This version of the show managed to integrate the guest stars much better into the storylines and allowed the focus to remain on the Scooby Gang. Overall, Scooby-Doo and Guess Who was a lot of fun and a big improvement over the previous series’ focus on celebrity guests.

5 The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985)

This series embraced a serialized storytelling style

The shortest-running Scooby-Doo series, The13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo was a tight-knit (an appropriately numbered) 13-episode adventure that embraced the more magical side of the Scooby-Doo universe. There were 13 ghosts on the loose and Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne, Scrappy, and a street kid named Flim Flam had to recapture them before they wreaked havoc on the world.

The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo added something unique to the world of Scooby-Doo and was one of the spookiest of all the series. Interestingly, Daphne got to have a new design change for a little while thanks to this series, though everyone else largely stayed the same. The show ended with a cliffhanger as the last ghost was not captured, but this was finally resolved after a hopping 35 years later in the follow-up film Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost in 2019.

4 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2010 – 2013)

This series was much darker and more insightful than most Scooby-Doo shows

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, much like What’s New Scooby Do?, featured classic Scooby-Doo mysteries but with the addition of outlandish technology and a tongue-in-cheek style. With the inclusion of real monsters and ghosts, the series was much darker and more serious than previous incarnations and paid homage to classic horror films, TV series like Twin Peaks, and borrowed heavily from mythology.

These differences in storytelling, and with nods to the adults who might have grown up watching other incarnations of the show, mean that the series appeals to viewers both young and old. Someone could watch the characters in action for the first time with this series or revisit them for the hundredth. With strong character designs and real attention to their development and narrative arcs, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated stands as one of the most mature and interesting series in the entire franchise.

3 A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988 – 1991)

This series successfully re-imagined the gang as kids

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo gave the Mystery Inc. gang the Muppet Babies treatment and featured younger versions of the classic main cast. The series followed the basic mystery of the week formula of many other Scooby-Doo series, but this time the gang are elementary school kids and Scooby is a puppy. The result was wackier, more comedic, adventures that included monsters made out of molten cheese and Scooby and Shaggy having superhero alter egos.

While it is easy to criticize this series as childish and silly, it was a kids’ show and succeeded well in its new animation style and recreating Scooby-Doo for a younger audience. The group gets new looks and new mysteries that are appropriate for their age group. This series helped to get an entire new generation of kids watching cartoons interested in the franchise.

2 What’s New, Scooby-Doo? (2002 – 2006)

This series introduced Scooby-Doo to modern audiences

What’s New, Scooby-Doo? was the first new series in the franchise in the 21st century and brought the Mystery Inc. gang back to basics with classic adventures in a modernized world. Featuring the use of modern technology, the gang sports their classic look from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and occasionally bump into celebrity guest stars like Josh Peck, Mirando Cosgrove, and even the rock band Simple Plan who also sang the show’s theme song.

What’s New, Scooby-Doo? expertly reintroduced the characters to a younger audience in a series that feels fresh and exciting even though the show essentially kept the same formula as earlier incarnations of the franchise. It proved that Scooby and the gang could change with the times and still be relevant for new generations by keeping the character dynamics and mysteries intact and simply updating the technology and pop culture references.

1 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969 – 1970)

This series where it all began

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was where it all began for the Mystery Inc. gang and featured the best episodes of all the Scooby-Doo series. The original show ran for just two seasons between 1969 and 1970 and was where the series’ most iconic villains such as The Creeper, Space Kook, and The Ghost of Mr. Hyde are first seen. The series provides the blue print on which all of the other parts of the franchise have been based.

No matter how the shows or movies are updated, the original remains the most popular and new generations watch it over and over again. With iconic characters, compelling mysteries, and classic catchphrases like “zoinks”, “jeepers”, and “jinkies”, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, despite feeling like a product of its time, ended up being the beginning of a franchise that would enthrall and excite generations of children and adults alike. It is still the best Scooby-Doo series.