HBOs disastrous Scooby Doo reboot Velma is now the third

HBO’s disastrous Scooby Doo reboot Velma is now the third worst-rated TV show in IMDB history

Mindy Kaling’s panned Scooby Doo spin-off Velma is now the third-worst TV show in IMBD history, having aired just four episodes of its first season.

The TV show is marketed as the origin story of Velma Dinkley – played by Kaling – who is described in the slogan as “the unsung and underappreciated brain of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. gang.”

Though it bills itself as an “original and humorous twist,” many fans feel the spin-off has strayed too far from its source material, with characters described as “unlikable” and “over-sexualized” teenagers.

While the show received an 11 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating upon its premiere, it has fallen even further to just 6 percent in its last two episodes. On IMDB, the show has a rating of 1.3/10 – making it almost the lowest-rated TV show of all time.

Scooby-Doo spin-off 'Velma' has been attacked for its poor recreation of the beloved mystery foursome - now ranked as the third worst show of all time by IMBD

Scooby-Doo spin-off ‘Velma’ has been attacked for its poor recreation of the beloved mystery foursome – now ranked as the third worst show of all time by IMBD

Velma or Mindy: Some viewers have complained that Kaling inserted himself into the show instead of telling the

Velma or Mindy: Some viewers have complained that Kaling inserted himself into the show instead of telling the “Velma Dinkley origin story,” as the logline claims

The show’s many critics contend that the characters have lost all semblance of their original personalities – with Fred portrayed as a rich kid unsure of his own manhood; Daphne as a mean schoolgirl who deals drugs; and Shaggy as a nerd fears he’s a beta male.

Another big complaint is that the new characters are just plain unattractive protagonists – who don’t even seem to like each other very much.

As one reviewer wrote, “One of the best aspects of SD is the gang’s sense of family and friendship. They love each other. The new Velma show is appalling at changing that core relationship.

The other two TV shows ranked lower than Velma on IMBD are The Pogmentary – a documentary about footballer Paul Pogba – coming out at 1.1/10 and Iste Bu Benim Masalim – a show about the rise of a Turkish teenage Stars – one has a 1.2/10 rating.

IMBD’S Worst Rated TV Shows

1. The Pogmentary (1.1/10)

2. Iste Bu Benim Masalim (1.2/10)

3. Velma (1.3/10)

4. A little late with Lilly Singh (1.4/10)

5. Santa Inc (1.6/10)

6. Final Draft (2.3/10)

7. The View (2.5/10)

8. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (2.5/10)

9. Keeping up with the Kardashians (2.8/10)

10. Rasbhari (2.8/10)

In IMBD’s rating system, 1 is the lowest rating available – putting Velma just 0.3 points above the minimum score.

Velma’s disastrous reception and poor reviews stand in sharp contrast to another recent spin-off TV show with a spunky female heroine and high school setting: Netflix’s record-breaking Wednesday.

The recently released hit show – after the Addams family’s grumpy and sinister daughter, who is now a teenager when she opens a new boarding school for society’s outcasts – has quickly shot up to become Netflix’s third most popular English-language series of all time.

Wednesday has clocked 752.52 million hours of viewing since its debut on November 23 and has been watched in around 115 million households.

While Velma premiered as HBO Max’s most-watched original animated series, poor ratings have since reduced viewership as episodes continue to release weekly in pairs until the season ends on February 9th.

However, critics are having a big day with the Lambasted adaptation.

“Show Runner really only smacked off Scooby Doo names, but none of them are really her character. They just blatantly use the franchise name for their own show when it’s unrelated to Scooby Doo,” one user tweeted.

Velma's terrible ratings put the new TV show in sharp contrast to Wednesday - the Addams family spin-off produced by Netflix last year.  The show quickly topped the viewership charts and currently has a 72% on Rotten Tomatoes

Velma’s terrible ratings put the new TV show in sharp contrast to Wednesday – the Addams family spin-off produced by Netflix last year. The show quickly topped the viewership charts and currently has a 72% on Rotten Tomatoes

“The sad thing is that an adult Scooby-Doo adaptation could really work if they stayed true to the characters and dynamic of the mystery gangs, rather than being edgy for the edgy kind’s sake,” said a second user.

As for the “humor,” some felt the show strayed too far from “campy” to “edgy,” even bordering on the mean.

“I find the changes in Velma oddly cynical for a bloody Scooby-Doo spinoff,” said one. “Like you don’t NEED to add alpha male Bs or drug abuse plot elements to a camp kids show about adults dressing up as ghosts for inheritance funds.”

Another tweeted, “My only real thought on ‘VELMA’, just from the trailers, is that it doesn’t seem to come from a place where you love (or even enjoy) the source material. It’s an oddly mean twist that *seems* to make no effort to understand its own foundation or fandom.

The show’s character descriptions highlight the differences in these new versions of the Scooby gang.

Joining “underrated minds” Velma are Daphne (Constance Wu) – a popular mean orphan turned drug dealer because of a dark family secret, Fred – an embodiment of mediocre white wealth with “small, widdle privates” – and Shaggy, now known as Norville – a school nerd who worries about being a beta male.

Velma is the Kaling addresses the title character Velma

Mindy Kaling (pictured right) plays Velma (pictured left), “the unsung and underrated brain of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. gang.”

Daphne is a popular mean orphan girl who deals drugs Constance Wu voices the high school version of Daphne

Constance Wu (pictured right) agrees, Daphne (pictured left) – a popular mean orphan girl who deals drugs

Shaggy - now Norville - is a school nerd who worries he's a beta male Sam Richardson takes on a new version of Shaggy

Sam Richardson (pictured right) voices Shaggy – now Norville (pictured left) – who is a school nerd who worries about being a beta male

Fred is a mediocre white guy with 'teeny widdle privates' Glenn Howerton addresses Fred

Glenn Howerton (pictured right) plays Fred (pictured left), a mediocre white guy with teeny widdle privates

A major complaint from viewers is that the characters in this spin-off are “unlikable” and not as originally written.

In the trailer, Velma doesn’t appear to be on good terms with any member of the gang, as she rudely called Fred while calling Daphne ab**** in graffiti.

The trailer dropped a day before the series hit HBO Max and wasn’t well received. The streaming platform was forced to shut down the comments section and hide the dislikes, but according to one user, it racked up over 100,000 dislikes in 24 hours, and they have their own theory as to why.

“Take away everything you loved about Scooby Doo, add crawling dialogue and make all the characters unlikable and you’ve nailed the new Velma series,” they tweeted.

They added, “This trailer for the new Velma series has over 100,000 dislikes, which pretty much says no one wants that.”

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Twitter users feel that Velma has lost the true spirit of the Scooby-Doo franchise and changed its main characters’ personalities to make them “edgy.”

Another major complaint is the sexual nature of the animated series, which has a cast of 15-year-old children.

“No shade against Velma but I can’t be the only person who is a little crazy about ‘animated’ adult comedy set in high school with characters who are 15+… right,” one user tweeted.

Another wrote: “Velma was just a boring and unfunny and sexualized teenager. They are literally 15-16. I watched the first episode to give it a try and I won’t watch the rest of which I was bored for 8 minutes. It’s basically a self-insertion that ruins the Scooby gang (minus Scooby).

Velma’s overtly sexual tone has drawn comparisons to other shows such as Riverdale and Big Mouth.

The HBO Max series draws comparisons to racy shows like Big Mouth and Riverdale while Velma twerks in her mirror, pictured above

The HBO Max series draws comparisons to racy shows like Big Mouth and Riverdale while Velma twerks in her mirror, pictured above

1673618180 922 Mindy Kalings neue Velma Serie wurde kritisiert weil sie ihre 15 jahrigen

“Velma has a nearly 2 minute long scene of 15 year old girls stark naked fighting each other in salacious positions, it really is building into the next Big Mouth,” one wrote.

Despite the backlash, Kaling took to Twitter and expressed her pride in the show. Interestingly, she mentioned voicing Velma but not her role production.

“So honored to voice Velma on this hilarious (and at times very scary!!) show created by @CBGrandy and featuring some of the most homicidal actors in any role! It’s available NOW on @hbomax!

Kaling also addressed one of the show’s positive changes — the introduction of diversity.

“I think the characters in this film are so iconic, but the gang is in no way defined by their whiteness, except for Fred,” she explained. “So I was a bit surprised and I think most Indian-American girls can relate to her when they see this skeptical, hardworking, kind of underrated character.”

“I think the vast majority of people are excited and ready for it, and the show is for them,” she added.

She knew from the start that she wanted to express her character and admitted that her decision to do Velma South Asian was inspired by Into the Spiderverse.

“We knew I would enjoy playing Velma, but we had a conversation where Velma is white, and we have this new choice of doing the show and when I pronounce it, should it be white or Not? ‘ she told EW.

“And I identify with her character so much, and I think so many people do, so it’s like, yeah, let’s make her Indian in this series,” she explained.