Pop Culture Flashback: How Scooby-Doo Got His Name (Sept. 13)

Sometimes the big dogs on TV are actual big dogs even if they are fictional. Scooby-Doo and the gang became part of our culture on this day in 1969.

SATURDAY MORNING TV

Remember watching your favorite cartoons with a bowl of cold cereal? Here are some that began airing on this day. How many do you remember?

1969 – Scooby-Doo’s Origin Story

The Great Dane Scooby-Doo is just as popular today as he was when his show, Scooby-Doo, Where are You! (with an exclamation point not a question mark) first premiered during Saturday morning TV on this day. However, Hanna-Barbera put together a whole different show than what CBS was looking for.

Originally, Scooby-Doo was to be a companion piece to match the look and feel of CBS’s Archie Show. It had a different name too. The Mysteries Five featured a rock band of five teens and their dog, with the name of “Too Much:. Of course, the band would get side-tracked with a variety of mysteries that needed to be solved.

The show went through many changes including taking away one cast member, re-naming all of the characters and taking out the rock band element. (Hanna-Barbera basically recycled that formula the following year for the Josie and the Pussycats cartoon.) The new characters were strongly based on an earlier TV show, Dobie Gillis.

After hearing Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night,” (where he sings “doo-be-doo-be-doo”) producers decided that “Scooby-Doo” was a better name than “Too Much”. Of course, the rest of the characters for the series include Fred (the good-looking, smart guy always looking for a new way to trap the bad guys), Daphne (the pretty girl who is smarter than she looks), Velma (the smartest one in the bunch who is always losing her glasses – get contacts already!) and Shaggy (who hates monsters but loves food and is Scooby’s best friend). Years later we were introduced to Scrappy-Doo, and we never got over it.

Since the original Scooby-Doo show aired on TV, over 60 other TV shows and movies have been produced starring the Mystery Incorporated gang.

Scooby-Doo’s Theme Song

Almost all of the different Scooby-Doo films and TV shows feature some form of the original’s theme song, which is a character in itself:

Scooby-Dooby-Doo, Where Are You? We got some work to do now!
Scooby-Dooby-Doo, Where Are You? We need some help from you now.
Come on Scooby-Doo, I see you… pretending you got a sliver
But you’re not fooling me, cause I can see, the way you shake and shiver.

You know we got a mystery to solve, so Scooby Doo be ready for your act.
Don’t hold back!
And Scooby Doo if you come through, you’re gonna have yourself a Scooby snack!
That’s a fact!

Scooby-Dooby-Doo, here are you. You’re ready and you’re willin’.
If we can count on you Scooby Doo, I know we’ll catch that villian.

Scooby-Doo and Shaggy — *(Warner Bros. via TVDB)*

Lyrics source: Lyrics on Demand

Other Saturday Morning TV Shows that Debuted on This Day:

1969: The Perils of Penelope Pitstop

This Hanna-Barbera series is a spin-off of the Wacky Races cartoon featuring the character of southern belle Penelope Pitstop. In the series, her guardian, Sylvester Sneekly would disguise himself as the Hooded Claw and would attempt to steal her inheritance.

1969: The Care Bears

Produced by Nelvana, this preschool-oriented series featured colorful bears living in the clouds called Care-a-Lot (part of the Kingdom of Caring) who go on missions to spread…care resisting the evil plans of Lord No Heart.

1986: The Flintstone Kids

In the era where many popular characters were turned into children, this Hanna-Barbera series featured fun-size versions of Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty and even Dino as tweens. The show also featured Captain Caveman as a TV star.

1986: Pee-Wee’s Playhouse

Based on Paul Reuben’s stage show Pee-Wee’s Playhouse was full of talking fixtures and frequent guests including Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne), Captain Carl (Phil Hartman) and Miss Yvonne (Lynne Marie Stewart).

1997: The Weird Al Show

This show starred Weird Al as himself living in an underground home. The setup was similar to Pee-Wee’s Playhouse with a different lesson featured each episode. Al watches a lot of TV of parody shows that often featured the musician.

1969: Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines
1980: The Tarzan/Lone Ranger Adventure Hour
1986: The Real Ghostbusters; Pound Puppies; Wildfire; Teen Wolf; Lazer Tag Academy; Galaxy High School; Lazer Tag Academy

1996 – Everybody Loved Raymond

The cast from Everybody Loves Raymond — Brad Garrett, Patricia Heaton, Ray Romano, Peter Boyle and Debra Roberts in *Everyone Loves Raymond (TVDB)*

Created by Philip Rosenthal, Everybody Loves Raymond featured Ray Barone (Ray Romano), his wife Debra (Patricia Heaton) and their three kids living across the street from Ray’s parents Frank Barone (Peter Boyle) and Marie (Doris Roberts) and older brother Robert (Brad Garrett) who often feels like everybody likes his brother better.

Many of the episodes of this CBS comedy involved a conflict between the two households and Ray was often in the middle.

Initially the show was not a hit ranking as low as 84th place during its first season. It moved up as high as 4th place during the show’s sixth season. Perhaps its popularity stemmed from the fact that it was so relatable to the families watching.

Raymond ran for nine years and was nominated 69 times for Emmy Awards ultimately winning 15, ten of which were for acting.

1963 – ‘The Outer Limits’ Takes Control of Our TVs

(TVDB)

Often compared to The Twilight Zone (but with a focus strictly on science fiction) The Outer Limits premiered on this day on ABC. Originally titled Please Stand By but rejected by the network, The Outer Limits was created by Leslie Stevens. Each episode opened with voice actor Vic Perrin stating that “there is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission…”

Season one of the series often mixed science fiction and horror together featuring some type of monster and the show received fairly good ratings. However, the second season didn’t fare as well having been moved from Mondays to Saturdays and having to go up against The Jackie Gleason Show. The stories were also largely changed to focus more on hard science fiction.

The show was cancelled halfway through the second season. Ironically, the series did better when it was revived in 1995 for Showtime where it ran for five seasons before moving to the Syfy Channel for two more.

1990 – Law, Order and Longevity

The cast of Law and Order — *Law and Order (NBC via TVDB)*

Created by Dick Wolf, NBC’s long-running drama series Law & Order and its’ spinoffs have been on TV for forever it seems.

Set in New York, the first half of each show is set on telling the “law” side of things with the New York Police Department while the second half delves into “law” and courtroom drama. The first season starred George Dzundza as Senior Detective, Max Greevey; Chris Noth as junior detective, Mike Logan; Dann Florek as Donald Cragen, captain; Michael Moriarty as Ben Stone, EADA; Richard Brooks as Paul Robinette, ADA; and Steven Hill as Adam Schiff, DA.

However, the show has been known for its long list of revolving actors and showrunners. Actress Epatha Merkerson has appeared the most – 391 as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren.

Law & Order ran for 20 years from 1990 to 2010. Then, 11 years later, the show was revived in 2022 and continues on. The show has spunoff numerous other TV series, some more successful than others. These include Law & Order Special Victims Unit (1999-present), Law & Order Criminal Intent (2007-2011), Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005-2006), Law & Order LA (2010-2011), Law & Order True Crime (2017), Law & Order Organized Crime (2021-2025) and international shows like Law & Order UK (2009-2014) and Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent (2024-present).

The franchise also features the very recognizable two-note “clang”.