The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972 — 1973)

The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972–1973) is a popular American animated series by Hanna-Barbera, aired on CBS. As the second installment in the Scooby-Doo franchise, it follows the original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. The show features appearances from a variety of celebrity guest stars who lent their voices to characters such as Don Knotts, Jerry Reed, Cass Elliot, Jonathan Winters, Sandy Duncan, Tim Conway, Dick Van Dyke, Don Adams, Davy Jones and Sonny & Cher. Some episodes even included retired or deceased celebrities whose roles were filled by talented imitators such as The Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy. Additionally, there were episodes that crossed over with other Hanna-Barbera cartoons featuring characters like the Harlem Globetrotters, Josie and the Pussycats, Jeannie, and Speed Buggy during or after their own shows’ original runs. Interestingly enough, The Addams Family and Batman and Robin both made cameo appearances on the show a year before becoming incorporated into their own Hanna-Barbera spin-off shows: The Addams Family and Super Friends.

After The New Scooby-Doo Movies ended its original network run in August 1974, repeats of the show’s predecessor, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, aired on CBS for the following two years. New episodes of Scooby-Doo did not air until September 1976 when the show moved to ABC as part of The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour. In 1980, when the various Scooby-Doo series entered syndication, each episode of The New Movies was split into two half-hour parts. Beginning in September 1990, the USA Network Cartoon Express began showing The New Movies in their original format and continued to rerun them on Sunday mornings until August 1992. Four years later in 1994, The New Scooby-Doo Movies became available on three Turner Broadcasting networks: TNT, Cartoon Network and Boomerang. As was common with other Hanna-Barbera animated shows from the 1970s, a laugh track was added to the series by the studio. While the first season was animated at Hanna-Barbera’s main studio in Los Angeles, the second season was produced at their newly formed studio in Australia, called Hanna-Barbera Pty Ltd.