It really wouldn't be fair to call the first season of Max's adult animated Scooby-Doo spin-off series, Velma, divisive - because you'd be hard pushed to find a single person who liked it!
In all seriousness, we're sure the show has its share of fans out there, but it was not well-received overall, sitting at 39% on Rotten Tomatoes with a truly abysmal 7% audience score.
Even so, somebody must have been watching, because Velma scored a high enough viewership to be renewed for a second season, and is set to return to the Max streaming service on April 25.
Showrunner Charles Grandy had the following to say of the negative reviews in a recent interview.
"The original Hanna-Barbera shows are still out there to watch. We are not erasing the originals. We just want to be a little ice planet on the outer regions of the Scooby-verse!...None of these characters are rooted to being white. We were worried about going to Warner Bros. and asking them to do it, but they said, 'Do it. It's time! Just make sure it's funny and good!'
"So, what I loved about [Velma] is she is the closest to what I could see -- a smart, A-student with thick glasses that are always falling off, skeptical. She has a lot of these amazing qualities," Mindy Kaling said when the show was first announced. "As a kid watching the reruns of the original Scooby-Doo, I felt like I really identified with this character. I love that she exists. She's not traditionally gorgeous. She just helps the gang out because she is so smart."
You can check out the first official poster below.
Velma focuses on the most underappreciated member of the Mystery Inc. gang, Velma Dinkley. The first season told the origin story of the bespectacled brainiac before she formed Mystery Inc. with Scoob, Shaggy, Fred, and Daphne, while unmasking "the complex and colorful past of one of America’s most beloved mystery solvers.”
Kaling provides the voice of Velma, and is also credited as co-creator along with Charlie Grandy. The cast also features Veep’s Sam Richardson as Shaggy, Glenn Howerton (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) as Fred, and Crazy Rich Asians’ Constance Wu as Daphne.
Here’s the official synopsis for Velma Season 2: “When an even spookier mystery grips Crystal Cove, Velma (Mindy Kaling) must find a way to balance her detective work with the demands of her newfound popularity before it’s too late. Meanwhile, her faithful friends Daphne (Constance Wu), Norville (Sam Richardson), and Fred (Glenn Howerton) are powerless to help thanks to their own personal battles and worse… Detention.”
The voice cast also includes Jane Lynch (Glee), Wanda Sykes (The Other Two), Russell Peters (Life in Pieces), Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Stephen Root (Barry), Gary Cole (NCIS), Ken Leung (Industry), Cherry Jones (Transparent), Fortune Feimster (Kenan), Yvonne Orji (Insecure), Sarayu Blue (Never Have I Ever), Nicole Byer (Grand Crew), Ming-Na Wen (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), and Scooby-Doo veteran Frank Welker.