The new HBO show Velma isn't going down well with viewers, and some have gone so far as to say it's 'ruined' Scooby-Doo for them forever.
It would be safe to say that Velma has been a bit of a critical flop, with the show being rated 'rotten' on Rotten Tomatoes with only half of critics finding positive things to say about it and the audience approval score in the single digits.
The Scooby-Doo spin-off series stars Mindy Kaling as a reimagined version of meddling kid Velma Dinkley, with the show meant to serve as a new version of an origin story for the famous faces of Mystery Inc.
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However, Shaggy (Sam Richardson) is now just called Norville (that's his actual name), Daphne (Constance Wu) is a mean girl and Fred (Glenn Howerton) gets mocked for having a small d**k.
No seriously, in the show Fred is so dumb that he can't even cut his own food and gets body-shamed over the size of his junk.
Meanwhile, nobody has a Scooby-Doo where the famous dog himself is.
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There's been an absolute torrent of dislike for the show on social media, presumably from some of the same viewers who hopped on Rotten Tomatoes to give it a negative review.
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Some of it falls under the tired old 'woke bashing' crap certain types like to trot out whenever a show they perceive as being on message doesn't do well, but there's also plenty of legitimate dislike for the show too.
One person said the show had a 'fun story concept' let down by being 'lazily written' and leaning too heavily on 'jokes for the shock factor' with a total lack of likable characters.
Someone else slammed the show for turning the titular character of Velma into an 'unlikable cynical b***h', which sounds like a million miles away from the spirited brains of the Mystery Inc team.
Another went so far to say that Velma had 'ruined Scooby-Doo for me', even though there's plenty of other Scooby-Doo content out there to enjoy.
Plenty of others wondered why 'base it on a beloved series' when the meddling kids of Mystery Inc bear pretty much no resemblance to the iconic Scooby-Doo characters that audiences have loved for generations.
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Others suggested that the show 'would never have gotten made' had it not piggybacked off one of the 'name recognition' and complained they hadn't seen 'a franchise so sacred ruined so fast' before.
Another part of the show fans talked about was the developing relationship between Daphne and Velma, slamming it as 'forced', 'unnecessary' and saying it 'did not have time to grow' in the show.
Meanwhile, fans who had been hoping to see them get together felt let down that the moment was tied into what they called a 's**tshow of a series'.
It's the first time a relationship between Daphne and Velma has made it onto screens after some scenes got cut from the incredibly horny Scooby-Doo movies James Gunn made years ago.
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All in all, it's been panned as a 'horribly mean spirited show' which it sounds like you might want to steer clear of if you're a fan of Scooby-Doo.
Topics: Film and TV