Scrappy-Doo 1979 had begun to sink to the point of cancellation threats from ABC, who were considering between choosing between Scooby-Doo and an unnamed pilot From Ruby-Spears Enterprises, whose pilot Evanier had also written. He successfully boosted the show's ratings and kept the show alive. Scrappy has a contradicted origin. Originally as shown in the introduction of the series, Scrappy only met his Uncle Scooby as a puppy. However, the December 1980 episode of "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo" ("Scrappy's Birthday") depicts Scrappy-Doo's birth with both Scooby and Shaggy in attendance. Born at St. Bernard's Hospital to Scooby-Doo's sister Ruby-Doo on December 20,
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! 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. Originally titled "Mysteries Five", and later "Who's S-S-Scared?", "Scooby Doo, Where Are You!" underwent a number of changes from script to screen (the most significant being the downplaying of the musical group angle borrowed from "The Archie Show"). However, the basic concept—four teenagers (Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy) and a cowardly, clumsy Great Dane (Scooby-Doo) solving supernatural-related mysteries—was always in place. "Scooby-Doo" creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears served as the story supervisors on the series.