Wow, Scooby-Doo may have been in more TV shows than anyone else, with the possibly exception of Ted McGinley. In fact, trade publication
Home Media Magazine has a nifty
story posted about the origins of the character, who was thrown in by creators Ruby and Spears (yep, them!) as an "afterthought" for a different show concept. That concept, according the article, was re-tooled into what became
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? by television programming genius Fred Silverman, who was CBS programming director at the time.
The
HMM story ties in with the recently-released direct-to-DVD video
Chill Out Scooby-Doo!, but Warner isn't stopping the Scooby legacy at new original animated videos! No, it looks like the studio is dedicated to getting every incarnation of the animated Great Dane onto DVD sooner or later. Up next, we hear, is
The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Hour, the only program where the Mystery, Inc. mutt didn't get top billing on the show!
This 1980 effort combined separate cartoons together into a single hour of ABC Saturday Morning entertainment. Each "episode" contained a "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo" cartoon, and also a "Richie Rich" cartoon. The title role of Richie Rich was voiced by Sparky Marcus, who is probably best remembered for a single (but memorable!) appearance as "Arthur Carlson Jr." on
WKRP in Cincinnati. Richie's girlfriend, Gloria, was voiced by none other than Nancy Cartwright, who continues speaking for "Bart Simpson" to this day! On the
Scooby side, Mystery, Inc. was broken up for the first time as the cases were solved only by Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy-Doo as "The Fearless Detective Agency". While you might think that this would have hurt the show, it was in fact very popular at the time, with good ratings and renewal for additional seasons!
This piece of
Scooby-Doo history is coming home on DVD in 2008, we're told by multiple reliable sources.
The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Hour - Season 1 is rumored to be a 2-disc set for under $30, that ought to see the light of day in the
Late Spring/Early Summer timeframe. Each of our sources gave us this same info separately from each other, so it looks like this is probably an accurate reflection of the studio plans at this time. Don't forget, though, that Warner Home Video has NOT announced this, nor confirmed anything about it, and that all plans are subject to change and/or cancellation at any time. Still, it sounds pretty solid for now! Stay tuned, and we'll keep you posted if we hear anything more about this release.
