I Watched “Velma” So You Don’t Have To

Making a new mystery-solving Scooby Doo spinoff seems impossible to mess up, but Mindy Kaling really stepped up. 

Any diehard Scooby Doo fan would be excited for a show centered around Velma–that caring, intelligent, turtleneck-wearing, bespectacled  sleuth.  One of the most underrated characters, Velma has plenty of potential. 

Velma would die for her friends, right?  Rewatch those Scooby episodes. You’ll see. 

And yet, “Velma” – currently airing on HBO Max– is definitely one of the worst shows to launch this year. The writers made Velma self-centered and toxic. They took done Mindy Kaling in the process, too. The new spinoff’s version of Velma makes this sweet, nerdy genius almost completely unlikable. 

And it’s not just Velma who suffers. All  characters all have horrible flaws that make it hard to get drawn into the show. The characters are all victims of a poorly-written plot and stupid out-of-place nudity. 

Nudity in Scooby Doo? It  just seems like an obvious “don’t.” 

Every interaction between the characters, dressed or not, feels forced . The show’s writers seem to be money-grabbing, nothing more. The writers have pushed nearly every hot topic or woke agenda into a show that was once mostly a Scooby snack. 

It’s one thing for a show to be woke, but for a show to shove as many woke elements they can into every episode in order to rake in the most money seems a bit much. 

Not everything about “Velma” is lost, though. The animation is pretty good. But it’s not enough to save any of the characters. 

Still, bad can be its own snack. If you’re a fan of cringe, eye-rolling spin-offs, then “Velma” is the show for you. You won’t be able to look away. It’s that bad. Or good. You decide.