Not worth it's own thread (and I couldn't find one) but Mindy Kaling's new "Velma" show seems like one of those rare shows that can unite both the right and the left... in hating it.

Haven't seen it yet but heard it's getting a second season.

I wasn't interested until I saw bitching,moaning, whining, and throwing the "Woke"(true in this case i suppose ) term around about it. So I watched ep 1 and 2 and actually enjoyed it. To me, it's like a cross between Lower Decks, Ghost World, and the Harley Quinn series. Fast paced, mature, snarky, irreverent, pokes fun at Tropes, etc. The show is focused on Velma... pre-Scooby Gang. that said the characters are on the show. Mindy Kailing voices Velma and people hate that. Daphne is Asian and has 2 Moms, Freddie is whiny Rich Kid, and "Shaggy" is less Shaggy here.

Really? Cool!

I enjoyed the first ep quite a bit. What did you not like about it?

It's an Internet group hate thing, which is what they were probably commenting on, it has a 1.3 on IMDb.

Huh? I enjoyed both eps. Looking forward to watching weekly. Thats said i see tons of folks against it and most haven't bothered to actually watch it.

It's a combination of thing. One segment thinks it's too woke, so they won't give it a chance. Another side thinks it's a terrible way to adapt the source material, which I think I kind of fall into. I enjoy things like Venture Bros. and Harley Quinn but this seems particularly mean spirited/full of unlikeable characters in a way those weren't, and it's not like I'm super attached to the scooby gang but there is probably something in the back of my mind that is tying it back to the IP and saying 'no.'

That said, it's been two episodes. It has a second season only because they split up their initial order into two seasons (or I'm sure Zaslav would've found a way...). So maybe it gets better.

Apologies, my mind was in separate thread mode, and I was responding to the 'OP' ... the one who said this will unite left and right in hate of the show.

Ha, I didn't say this would unite them, but that this did unite them. I've heard people say "this is what someone who wanted to make a parody of a woke show would make" so it's getting flak from both sides (obviously the people against diversity are already not going to try this at all)

Saw a ton of critics posts yesterday and a lot of it was being pointed directly at Mindy Kailing and all her previous work. They say she has a lot of real life self hate and she brings that to her characters and that she has brought a lot of that into her version of Velma.

I'd like to make an introduction. Critics, meet comedians. Comedians, please meet a bunch of newborn critics.

Haven't watched Velma, and probably won't.

Scooby Doo seems like such a creature of its time, and it doesn't really work outside of the old late 60s/early 70s episodes. Anything since the introduction of Scrappy Doo just seems wrong.

You're missing out on some pretty good series, though (if you like Scooby Doo, and if you have kids). Mystery Incorporated was probably the best of the more recent ones, though Be Cool is pretty funny despite the character designs.

Haven’t watched this aside from some clips and trailers, but it feels like it’s trying way too hard to be different. Not always a bad thing but I just don’t think it’s for me.

I'd be a fan of the Venture Brothers take on it:

We've watched the first two episodes and it just doesn't seem to work. The voice actors, the scripts, the animation...it's all average and uncompelling.

With that being said, will probably stick it out for the season as we don't watch many adult animation shows other than Harley, Solar, Big Mouth etc.

Like Giantrobo, I wasn’t interested in this until I saw all the bitching and moaning over being “woke”. I actually liked it enough and wasn’t upset by “wokeness” despite the fact that they seem to try to through everything “woke” at the wall to see what sticks. It was flying pretty fast.

My biggest issue with the show was that it was just trying too hard. None of it felt natural. The dialogue sounded so stilted. One of Daphne’s first lines was something like, “Well, as an Asian girl, I think….” Dialogue like that is pretty eye-roll inducing.

Velma’s hallucinations also didn’t really work for me. It felt like she was having one every couple minutes. Just felt like too much.

Either way, I may or may not watch more episodes. I don’t know.

I'm watching the second episode. Loving it. It skewers everything. And no disrespect, but hoping an adult meta cartoon that's basically a parody of a dumbass kids' cartoon from the late '60s about ghost chasing teens feels 'natural' seems to be missing the point. I still love you GoldenJCJ and you are welcome to share my shed in Cultshock's backyard Canada.

I was not itching to watch this, and almost forgot that it exists, but I wanted to watch something in the background that I did not need to really focus on while I was doing my mobile game thing, and I have to say that this is one crazy odd addition to the Scooby Doo universe. I will continue to watch, but almost more so because it is like a car accident that I cannot stop watching. I can care less that it is "woke," because as long as it forces my eyes to remain glued to the tv screen when this show is on it work for me. I bet the comments from folks who loathe this show are quite entertaining to read. I grew up with Scooby Doo, like many others on this site, but the version I watched of Scooby Doo was from over 35 years back, so I have my memories of the OG show and this show does nothing to spoil those memories.

I guess for me. The "Wokeness" of this show is Meta. By that I mean it's fully aware there's an angray hateful segment of the population will lose their shit over it's "wokness" so it not only leans heavily into it, but actually makes fun of itself for it's obvious "wokeness". Does it work for all viewers? Of course not. I've seen many say it's not as clever as it thinks it is. Maybe... But again, I think the show knows it's not that clever and just rolls with it. Either way, it's not worth slitting a wrist over as many seem to be on the verge of doing on Social Media.

I’m my defense, I did say I enjoyed the show for the most part. I just thought it was trying too hard with some of the comedy.

It’s certainly NOT Scooby Doo and I’d probably prefer it more if it was just Velma and didn’t include new versions of the rest of the gang but I like the idea of an adult-oriented animated whodunit.

I’ve only seen the first episode but I’m kind of hoping it’s a full season of trying to solve the mystery rather than a mystery-of-the-week type deal. I’m also hoping that when Velma finally does find the killer that she’s not removing a silly mask to parody the Scooby Doo endings.

On one hand I kinda like how it's not full adult, just teases a bit like when Velma tells Daphne "we could be friends, friends who fu..." [Daphne interrupts]. On the other hand wished it went further a la Harley Quinn (maybe that might be a bit much).

Bizarre how much hate this is getting and Harley Quinn gets a complete pass. Both are clearly skewing their source material .

Despite merch sales telling a different story and her origins in BTAS, Harley has long been a more adult property (though I am a little surprised hardcore batman fans weren't offended by his portrayal in the show). The humor is also different, Harley is way more like a cross between Batman and Venture Bros., and while the style is similar the comedy is... different.

Having said that, episodes 3 and 4 were much better (IMHO) than 1 and 2, so we'll see how the rest of it goes.