Editing Scooby-Doo (section)

== Development ==
In 1968, [[consumer organization|parent-run organizations]], particularly [[Action for Children's Television]] (ACT), began protesting what they perceived as excessive violence in Saturday-morning cartoons.<ref>{{cite web |first=William |last=Richter |title=Action for Children's Television |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021016074041/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/A/htmlA/actionforch/actionforch.htm |archive-date=October 16, 2002 |url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/A/htmlA/actionforch/actionforch.htm |website=museum.tv |publisher=Museum of Broadcast Communications |access-date=June 9, 2006}}</ref> Most of these shows were [[Hanna-Barbera]] action cartoons such as ''[[Space Ghost (TV series)|Space Ghost]]'', ''[[The Herculoids]]'', and ''[[Birdman and the Galaxy Trio]]'', and virtually all of them were canceled by 1969 because of pressure from the parent groups.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hollis |first1=Tim |title=Hi there, boys and girls!: America's local children's TV shows |date=2001 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |location=Jackson |isbn=1-57806-396-5 |page=20}}</ref> Members of these watch groups served as advisers to Hanna-Barbera and other animation studios to ensure that new programs would be safe for children.

[[Fred Silverman]], an executive for [[Daytime television in the United States|daytime programming]] at [[CBS]], was then looking for a show that would both revitalize his Saturday-morning line and please the watch groups. The result was ''[[The Archie Show]]'' from [[Filmation]], based on [[Bob Montana]]'s teenage humor comic book ''[[Archie (comic book)|Archie]]''. Also successful were the musical numbers [[The Archies]] performed during each program (one of which, "[[Sugar, Sugar]]", was the most successful ''[[Billboard magazine|Billboard]]'' [[Billboard Hot 100|number-one hit]] of 1969). Eager to build upon this success, Silverman contacted producers [[William Hanna]] and [[Joseph Barbera]] about creating another show based on a teenage rock group, this time featuring teens who solved mysteries between gigs. Silverman envisioned the show as a cross between the popular ''[[I Love a Mystery]]'' [[old-time radio|radio]] [[radio drama|serials]] of the 1940s and the Archie characters or the popular early 1960s television series ''[[The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis]]''.<ref>Laurence Marcus & Stephen R. Hulce (October 2000). "[http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/scooby.htm Scooby Doo, Where Are You] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128110448/http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/scooby.htm |date=January 28, 2013}}". ''Television Heaven''. Retrieved on June 9, 2006.</ref>

After attempting to develop his version of the show, called ''House of Mystery'',<ref name="STUEP1" /> Barbera, who developed and sold Hanna-Barbera shows while Hanna produced them,<ref name="STUEP1" /> passed the task along to story writers [[Joe Ruby]] and [[Ken Spears]], as well as artist/character designer [[Iwao Takamoto]]. Their treatment, based in part on ''The Archie Show'', was titled ''Mysteries Five'' and featured five teenagers: Geoff, Mike, Kelly, Linda, and Linda's brother W.W., along with their [[bongo drum|bongo]]-playing dog, Too Much, who collectively formed the band Mysteries Five. When The Mysteries Five were not performing at gigs, they were out solving spooky mysteries involving ghosts, [[zombie]]s, and other supernatural creatures. Ruby and Spears were unable to decide whether Too Much would be a large cowardly dog or a small feisty one.<ref name="STUEP1" /> When the former was chosen, Ruby and Spears wrote Too Much as a [[Great Dane]] but revised the dog character to a large [[Old English Sheepdog|sheepdog]] (similar to the Archies' sheepdog, [[Hot Dog (comics)|Hot Dog]]) just before their presentation to Silverman, as Ruby feared the character would be too similar to the comic strip character [[Marmaduke]].<ref name="STUEP1" /> Silverman rejected their initial pitch, and after consulting with Barbera on next steps, got Barbera's permission to go ahead with Too Much being a Great Dane instead of a sheepdog.<ref name="STUEP1">Shostak, Stu (February 5, 2012). "[http://www.stusshow.com/archives.php Interview with Joe Ruby and Ken Spears] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404053345/http://www.stusshow.com/archives.php |date=April 4, 2019}}". ''Stu's Show.'' Retrieved March 18, 2013.</ref><ref name="RubyAndSpears">Ruby and Spears (2002).</ref>

During the design phase, lead character designer Takamoto consulted a studio colleague who was a [[dog breeding|breeder]] of Great Danes. After learning the characteristics of a prize-winning Great Dane from her, Takamoto proceeded to break most of the rules and designed Too Much with overly bowed legs, a [[double chin]], and a sloped back, among other abnormalities.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ignacio |first=Cynthia Quimpo |year=2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071003000331/http://www.yolk.com/v093/iwao1.html |url=http://www.yolk.com/v093/iwao1.html |title=Iwao Takamoto: Scooby-Doo and Iwao, Too |archive-date=October 3, 2007 |work=Yolk 2.0. |volume=9 |number=3 |location=Los Angeles |publisher=Informasian Media Group, Inc.}}</ref><ref>{{cite interview |year=2006 |first=Iwao |last=Takamoto |title=Eerie Mystery of Scooby-Doo and Dynomutt's History'' [documentary featurette]'' |work=[[The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour]]: The Complete Series |location=New York, Los Angeles |publisher=Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. |quote=The Great Dane was supposed to be the biggest dog around ... and there was a woman [at the studio] who bred and reared Great Danes. So, she came over and spent a solid hour describing all of the positive things that make a prize-winning Great Dane. And I selected about five things, I think, and went in the opposite direction. For instance, he had a good, strong straight back, so I sloped his back. A strong chin, so I under-swung his chin ... and I think straight hind legs she mentioned. So I bowed them ...}}</ref>

Ruby and Spears' second pass at the show used ''Dobie Gillis'' as the template for the teenagers rather than ''Archie''. The treatment retained the dog Too Much, while reducing the number of teenagers to four, removing the Mike character and retaining Geoff, Kelly, Linda, and W.W.<ref name="RubyAndSpears" /> As their personalities were modified, so were the characters' names: Geoff became "Ronnie"<ref>{{cite web |year=1969 |title=Original storyboards |work=Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! |location=Los Angeles |publisher=Hanna-Barbera Productions |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990427022739/http://cartoonnetwork.com/doc/scooby/sdsb.html |url=http://cartoonnetwork.com/doc/scooby/sdsb.html |archive-date=April 27, 1999 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}} The original storyboards for "What a Night for a Knight" identify the Fred character as "Ronnie".</ref>—later renamed "[[Fred Jones (Scooby-Doo)|Fred]]" (at Silverman's behest),<ref>{{cite interview |year=2006 |first=Ken |last=Spears |title=Eerie Mystery of Scooby-Doo and Dynomutt's History'' [documentary featurette]'' |work=[[The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour]]: The Complete Series |location=New York, Los Angeles |publisher=Warner Bros. Entertainment |quote=That character [Fred] started out ... I think his name was 'Geoff' ... and then he became 'Harvey'. And then all of a sudden, Fred [Silverman] came in and said [the character] was going to be 'Fred'. So, I guess he had something to do with that.}}</ref> Kelly became "[[Daphne Blake|Daphne]]", Linda "[[Velma Dinkley|Velma]]", and W.W. "[[Shaggy Rogers|Shaggy]]". The teens were now based on four teenage characters from ''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'': [[Dobie Gillis]], Thalia Menninger, [[Zelda Gilroy]] and [[Maynard G. Krebs]], respectively.<ref name="STUEP1" /><ref>{{cite web |author-link=Mark Evanier |last1=Evanier |first1=Mark |date=June 9, 2002 |url=http://povonline.com/2002/News060902.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060514004226/http://www.povonline.com/2002/News060902.htm |archive-date=May 14, 2006 |title=Attention, Jerry Beck! |work=News from Me blog, Povonline.com |access-date=March 27, 2006 |quote=Fred was based on Dobie, Velma on Zelda, Daphne on Thalia and Shaggy on [[Maynard G. Krebs|Maynard]]. |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="jbarberainterviewvideo">{{cite AV media |author-link=Leonard Maltin |first=Leonard |last=Maltin |title=Interview with Joseph Barbera |medium=Digital |publisher=[[Archive of American Television]] |year=1997 |url=http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/joseph-barbera}}</ref>

The revised show was re-pitched to Silverman, who liked the material but, disliking the title ''Mysteries Five'', decided to call the show ''Who's S-S-Scared?''<ref name="fsilvermanvideo" /> Silverman presented ''Who's S-S-Scared?'' to the CBS executives as the centerpiece for the upcoming 1969–70 season's Saturday-morning cartoon block. CBS president [[Frank Stanton (executive)|Frank Stanton]] felt that the presentation artwork was too scary for young viewers and, thinking the show would be the same, decided to pass on it.<ref name="RubyAndSpears" /><ref name="fsilvermanvideo">{{cite AV media |first=Dan |last=Pasternack |title=Interview with Fred Silverman |medium=Digital |publisher=[[Archive of American Television]] |year=2001 |url=http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/fred-silverman}}</ref>

Now without a centerpiece for the upcoming season's programming, Silverman had Ruby, Spears, and the Hanna-Barbera staff revise the treatments and presentation materials to tone down the show and better reflect its comedy elements. The rock band element was dropped, and more attention was focused on Shaggy and Too Much. According to Ruby and Spears, Silverman was inspired by [[Frank Sinatra]]'s [[scat singing|scat]] "doo-be-doo-be-doo" at the end of his recording of "[[Strangers in the Night]]" on a [[red-eye flight]] to one of the development meetings, and decided to rename the dog "[[Scooby-Doo (character)|Scooby-Doo]]" and retitled the show ''[[Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!]]''<ref name="RubyAndSpears" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Fred Silverman, TV executive came up with 'Scooby-Doo,' and championed 'All in the Family,' has died |url=https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2020-01-30/fred-silverman-all-in-the-family-dead |work=Los Angeles Times |date=30 January 2020 |access-date=April 12, 2020 |archive-date=April 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412033428/https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2020-01-30/fred-silverman-all-in-the-family-dead |url-status=live}}</ref> The revised show was re-presented to CBS executives, who approved it for production.