Scooby-Doo (character) Scooby-Doo (character) Scoobert "Scooby" Doo is the eponymous character and protagonist of the animated television franchise of the same name created in 1969 by the American animation company Hanna-Barbera. Scooby-Doo is a male Great Dane and lifelong companion of amateur detective Shaggy Rogers, with whom he shares many personality traits. Named after a nonsense vocal line in Frank Sinatra's hit song "Strangers in the Night", he features a mix of both canine and human behaviors (reminiscent of other funny animals in the Golden age of American animation), treated by his friends more or less as an equal while speaking in
The Scooby-Doo Show in the United Kingdom until 2015. Like many animated series created by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, the show contained a laugh track created by the studio. When television executive Fred Silverman moved from CBS to ABC in 1975, the "Scooby-Doo" gang followed him, making their ABC debut in 1976 as part of "The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour". This hour-long package show featured 16 new half-hour adventures in the original "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" format, with Scooby's country cousin, the Mortimer Snerd-inspired Scooby-Dum joining the gang as a semi-regular character. In addition, Pat Stevens replaced Nicole Jaffe as the voice of Velma. The