Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was the result of CBS and Hanna-Barbera's plans to create a non-violent Saturday morning program that would appease the parent watch groups that had protested the superhero-based programs of the mid-1960s.[7] Originally titled Mysteries Five and later Who's Scared?, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! underwent a number of changes from script to screen (the most significant being the downplaying of a musical group angle). However, the basic concept—a group of teenagers and their dog solving supernatural-related mysteries—was always in place.[8]

Scooby-Doo creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears served as the story supervisors on the series.[9] Ruby, Spears, and Bill Lutz wrote all of the scripts for the 17 first-season episodes, while Lutz, Larz Bourne, and Tom Dagenais wrote the eight second-season episodes with Ruby and Spears as story editors. The plot varied little from episode to episode. The main concept was as follows:

1. The gang is driving in the Mystery Machine, either returning from or going to a regular teenage function, when their van breaks down for any of a variety of reasons (overheating, flat tire, out of gas) in the immediate vicinity of a large mostly vacated property (ski lodge, hotel, factory, mansion).
2. Their unintended destination turns out to be suffering from a monster problem (ghosts, Yetis, vampires, witches, etc). The gang then volunteers to investigate the case.
3. The gang splits up to cover more ground, with Fred and Velma finding clues, Daphne finding danger, and Shaggy and Scooby finding food, fun and the ghost/monster, who chases them.
4. Eventually, enough clues are found to convince the gang that the ghost/monster is a fake. Fred then develops a much too complex trap to capture it (only for it to invariably go awry). Alternatively, the gang calls the local sheriff, only to get stopped by the villain half-way.
5. Eventually, the ghost/monster is apprehended and discovered to be disguised. Once unmasked, the ghost/monster turns out to be an unsuspected authority figure or otherwise innocuous local who is using the disguise to cover up something, such as a crime or a scam.
6. After giving the parting shot of "And I'd have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids", the offender is then taken away to jail and the gang is allowed to continue on the way to their destination.

The second season featured bubblegum "chase scene" songs produced by La La Productions (which had originally been contracted to create the music for Josie and the Pussycats, the first of many animated series made from the same mold as Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!). These songs were written by Danny Janssen and Austin Roberts, and were performed by Roberts, who also made a new recording of the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! theme song for the second season. The series' theme song has been covered by several subsequent artists, including Matthew Sweet for the 1995 TV special and album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits; Third Eye Blind for the 1998 film Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island; Billy Ray Cyrus for Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost (1999); Jennifer Love Hewitt for Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (2000); the B-52's (Cindy, Kate and Fred) for Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase (2001); MxPx for the live-action Scooby-Doo film (2002); Krystal Harris for Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire (2003); and Best Coast for Scoob! (2020).

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! utilized a laugh track, a common feature in most animated TV series until the late 1970s. It was removed for syndication in the 1980s. Following Turner's purchase of Hanna-Barbera and its networks' (TBS, TNT and Cartoon Network) initial broadcast of the series in 1994, the laugh track was reinstated in 1997.