Despite the massive backlash that the show has taken, Velma is now HBO Max's most-watched animated original show. An adult spin-off of Scooby-Doo that follows the gang long before they meet their titular talking dog, Velma follows the gang through their meetings and early years in high school as they try to solve multiple murders and the disappearance of Velma's mother. An original retelling of their story, Velma focuses on comedy above all else and even features a diverse cast, with Mindy Kaling starring as the snarky Velma Dinkley.
Shortly after Velma's launch, Kaling took to Twitter to announce that Velma had the biggest premiere day for an animated HBO Max original show. Check out her tweet below:
Despite massive fan backlash that saw Velma review-bombed on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, the show has drawn crowds. Velma has been paying off for HBO Max, thanks to its incredibly high ratings that are shattering the platform's previous records — despite the intentions of the review-bombing viewers who hoped to see the show utterly fail.
Velma Backlash Explained
The backlash against Velma has multiple reasons, some of which are more justifiable than others. Though criticism of the comedy and manipulation of the source material is justified, unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of the review-bombers tend to attack other shows and movies based on diversity initiatives, as the Amazon Rings of Power review-bombing proved when it was bombed for featuring Black elves and a woman as a protagonist. With Velma featuring a diverse cast that includes South Asian, Black, and Asian actors and characters, the show has been the subject of the abject fury of many of its viewers, especially with Kaling's Velma serving as the star character.
Of course, the show has also received a fair amount of criticism for its depiction of the Scooby-Doo gang. Since many viewers were raised with Scooby-Doo, a fair amount of nostalgia will come with every franchise reboot. Yet the idea of explicitly taking a Scooby-Doo spin-off and making it into an adult comedy has drawn massive backlash. An R-rated Scooby-Doo spin-off is a bad idea because it isolates audiences who come to the show expecting to touch on their lasting nostalgia. Instead, seeing Fred face insults for being rich and unable to fend for himself in the world often feels detached from the source material and outright insulting to a beloved character.
The lack of Scooby-Doo also feels misplaced for a show about the Scooby-Doo gang, which raises the question of why the show was made. After all, without Scooby, the gang is just a group of teenagers living in a van, which hardly seems particularly interesting. The talking dog makes the mysteries more fun and absurdly interesting. Since the show hardly leans on Scooby-Doo's history, Velma is a missed opportunity to attempt a real parody of Scooby-Doo that can keep fans laughing along with the cast and crew rather than alienating all audiences.
Source: Mindy Kaling / Twitter