Summary
-
Velma
Season 2 continues the trend of disappointing audiences, with lackluster reviews mirroring those of the debut season. - The mature and modern take on Scooby-Doo is polarizing, with more than 90% of viewers disapproving of its departure from the original.
- Despite negative feedback,
Velma
soldiers on with its original cast and new guest voices in hopes of redeeming itself on Max.
Velma is back on Max for its second season, but it seems that new episodes haven’t brought a new outlook on the heavily panned series. Mindy Kaling’s dramatically different take on the Scooby-Doo franchise – minus the Great Dane himself – became one of the biggest punching bags of the decade when it debuted last year, with Season 1 crashing to a lowly 7% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, which made its critics’ score of 39% look impressive. Now Season 2 seems destined to follow its predecessor on a downward slope.
Velma made headlines during its first season for its dramatic departure from the lighter, more family-friendly tone of the original Scooby-Doo series. It presented a more mature and crude rendition of the characters, which was dubbed “nasty,” “mean,” and even “beyond horrendous,” by more than 90% of its reviewers. The reinvention of the characters and setting sparked a range of reactions, from intrigue to outright disapproval among the fan base, all of which naturally led to the series grabbing one of the platform’s biggest viewerships.
Mindy Kaling’s animated Scooby-Doo prequel will reimagine Velma as a character of East Asian descent in a different world where ‘there’s no dog and no van.’
Release Date January 12, 2023
Seasons 1
Studio Warner Bros. Animation
Franchise Scooby-Doo
While it seemed from registration documents that the second season was already green-lit before the first aired, the huge number of people who tuned in just to hate-review the series made it seem natural for Season 2 to go ahead regardless of the opinions. Now, with the new episodes available on Max, it is time to see if there are as many people willing to put themselves through the wringer a second time.
First Reviews Have Not Been Kind…Again.
The first season of Velma introduced viewers to the new, darker take on the characters that millions of fans have grown up with over the last five decades. The second season does not need to make introductions or explain its world, but the fact that the new episodes seem to be running the same path as the previous ones has instantly led to identical criticisms.
Debuting with a 12% approval rating from audiences, the first comments included statements such as, “Nope not even worth a hate watch. It’s awful that stuff like this gets another season but mindhunters doesn’t.” Another added, “It’s worse than the first but I can’t give any lower than the same 1/2 star I gave the first.” A third then made the statement that looks set to sum up Velma Season 2 more than any other:
Seriously, they haven’t learned from their past mistake.
Related Velma Creator Comments on Negative Reviews Velma creator Charlie Grandy has weighed in on the assertion that the series has tarnished the Scooby-Doo franchise.
At the time of writing, no critics had reviewed the return of the series, but it is clear that the lack of love shown for Velma a year ago has only been amplified by its return in the wake of so many highly-rated shows being canceled in the last 12 months. Will Velma hunt out a third season? Stranger things have happened.
With all episodes of Season 2 now available for streaming on MAX, the series resumes with its original cast, including Kaling, Sam Richardson, Glenn Howerton, Constance Wu, and Wanda Sykes. The second season also welcomes new voices such as Russell Peters, Melissa Fumero, Sarayu Blue, Jane Lynch, Cherry Jones, Frank Welker, Nicole Byer, Gary Cole, Andia Winslow, and Sara Ramirez.
Velma
Season 1 and 2 are both available in their entirety on Max.
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