Solving the Case of Velma’s Struggling HBO Show: A Whodunit of Ratings and Criticism

Solving the Case of Velma’s Struggling HBO Show: A Whodunit of Ratings and Criticism

By Illia Solano

HBO Max’s Velma, following the much-loved character from the “Scooby-Doo” franchise, made its debut on the platform on January 12, 2023. The adult-animated show—which follows a teenage Velma going through her awkward years at Crystal Cove High—was sure to break records. And it did. It was HBO Max’s most streamed original adult-animated cartoon on its first day of it being released. However, that might be a misleading metric since most of HBO Max’s original cartoons have been moved to the platform right after their first season, leaving Velma to be compared with itself.

But metrics aside, this isn’t why people are talking about the show. At this point, Velma has a 42% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, followed by an audience score of 6%. Not only that, IMDB and Google Review also rate it at 1.3 stars out of 5. With Scooby Doo spanning more than 50 years, its beloved characters have stayed popular enough to stand the test of time. In fact, I’ve noticed that their popularity actually went up when the character Velma became an LGBTQ icon in recent years. Not to mention, Velma carries the Scooby-Doo IP (Intellectual Property), which brings with it a horde of fans, evidenced by the massive amount of streams the show received for its premiere. So, how is it possible that this reboot is being so brutally criticized?

On the one hand, creator and star Mindy Kaling changed many of Mystery Inc’s races to make the show more diverse: Daphne is of Asian descent (and adopted by two lesbian moms), Shaggy is now Black and instead goes by his given name Norville, and Velma is South-Asian like Kaling. Not to mention, there is no Scooby. All of this made a lot of hardcore fans mad because their beloved characters were changed. However, it is this sort of close-mindedness that led the show’s actual merit to be overlooked. But personally, this wasn’t the problem I found with the show. I was excited about this push for diversity and representation. Not having Scooby run around with Shaggy, hiding from masked villains while downing Scooby snacks, did make me kind of sad. But I was still very open to seeing where the series would go. Not to mention, the animation was great! The style and the aesthetics all flow so well together and are the backbone for a successful animated show.

But that’s the funny thing. The show’s low ratings are not because of the visual quality. They aren’t even because of the diverse cast! As one Forbes review mentions, “Velma seems like it’s upsetting both sides of its potential audience here” (Tassi). In the span of 25 minutes or so, Velma failed to deliver the raunchy and enjoyable adult-animated humor that is expected on these shows. Instead, high schoolers are oversexualized in the first 5 minutes, the show’s meta self-awareness works only as a one-sided joke that doesn’t support the storyline, and there is an ineffective use of gratuitous violence. Overall, Velma makes it impossible to like the titular character, especially not when Kaling keeps on portraying Velma as the unpopular, unattractive girl who cares only about herself and what others can do for her. It’s hard to watch a character that you’ve grown to love, hate herself so much that she overcompensates by acting better than everyone.

Once I finished the pilot episode, I couldn’t go on. It wasn’t the original “Scooby Doo” and it wasn’t trying, but at the same time, it wasn’t bringing anything new to Velma’s origin story. Instead, the show breathes completely new personalities into these characters and uses the IP as a crutch to get viewers to watch. Though it didn’t help their case. Kaling had good intentions when making this show. She did try to push the envelope when it came to bringing in the diversification of a long-time homogenous set of characters to make them modern and therefore reflective of the world. But those merits don’t outweigh all the issues that the show has.

Works Cited

Singh, Olivia. “Mindy Kaling and the Cast of ‘Velma’ Address Critics Who Are Angry That the Titular Character Is South Asian and Explain the Absence of Scooby.” Insider, Insider, 12 Jan. 2023, www.insider.com/velma-mindy-kaling-cast-show-backlash-scooby-absence-explained-nycc-2022-10.

Tassi, Paul. “HBO Max’s ‘Velma’ Is Getting Absolutely Savaged in Reviews and Online.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 16 Jan. 2023, www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/01/15/hbo-maxs-velma-is-getting-absolutely-savaged-in-reviews-and-online/?sh=7b1b403e4ff2.