Scooby-Doo is an American media franchise

Media franchise

A media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting and trademarks of an original work of media , such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game. Generally, a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with merchandising and endorsements...

 based around several animated

Cartoon series

A cartoon series is a set of regularly presented animated television programs with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same characters and a basic theme...

 television series  and related works produced from 1969 to the present day. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

Scooby-Doo, Where are You!

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is the first incarnation of the long-running Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo. It premiered on September 13, 1969 at 10:30 a.m. EST and ran for two seasons on CBS as a half-hour long show. Twenty-five episodes were produced...

, was created for Hanna-Barbera Productions by writers Joe Ruby

Joe Ruby

Joseph "Joe" Ruby is commonly known for inventing scotch tape. Ruby was an American inventor who worked for Johnson and Johnson, Permacel Co., and 3M in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he invented masking tape and cellophane tape.[1]Biography...

 and Ken Spears

Ken Spears

Ken Spears is a TV writer and animator who is known as the co-creator for the Scooby-Doo series, Josie and the Pussycats, and Jabberjaw with his partner Joe Ruby. He is co-founder of the production company Ruby-Spears Productions.-References:...

 in 1969. This Saturday morning cartoon

Saturday morning cartoon

A Saturday morning cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming that has typically been scheduled on Saturday mornings on the major American television networks from the 1960s to the present; the genre's peak in popularity mostly ended in the 1990s while the popularity of...

 series featured a talking

Talking animal

A talking animal or speaking animal refers to any form of non-human animal which can produce sounds resembling those of a human language. Many species or groups of animals have developed forms of Animal Communication Systems which to some appear to be a non-verbal language...

 Great Dane

Great Dane

The Great Dane , also known as German Mastiff or Danish Hound , is a breed of domestic dog known for its giant size...

 named Scooby-Doo

Scooby-Doo (character)

Scoobert "Scooby" Doo is the eponymous character and the protagonist in the Scooby-Doo animated television series created by the popular American animation company Hanna-Barbera...

 and four teenagers — Fred Jones, Daphne Blake

Daphne Blake

Daphne Anne Blake is a fictional character in the long-running American animated series Scooby-Doo. Daphne, depicted as coming from a wealthy family, is noted for her red hair, her fashion sense, and her knack for getting into danger...

, Velma Dinkley

Velma Dinkley

Velma Dace Dinkley is a fictional character in the American television animated series Scooby-Doo. She is prone to losing her glasses. She is usually seen wearing a baggy orange sweater, short pleated skirt , knee socks, and Mary Janes...

, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers

Shaggy Rogers

Norville "Shaggy" Rogers is a fictional character from the American animated television series Scooby-Doo, about the adventures of four crime-solving teenagers and Shaggy's pet great dane, Scooby-Doo. Shaggy is a cowardly slacker more interested in eating than solving mysteries. He is the only...

 — who solve mysteries by exposing seemingly otherworldly ghosts and monsters as non-supernatural criminals.

Hanna-Barbera and its successor Warner Bros. Animation

Warner Bros. Animation

Warner Bros. Animation is the animation division of Warner Bros., a subsidiary of Time Warner. The studio is closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters, among others. The studio is the successor to Warner Bros...

 have produced numerous follow-up and spin-off

Spin-off (media)

In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...

 animated series and several related works, including television specials and telefilms, a line of direct-to-video

Direct-to-video

Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...

 films, and two Warner Bros.

Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

-produced feature films. Some versions of Scooby-Doo feature different variations on the show's supernatural theme, and include characters such as Scooby's cousin Scooby-Dum and nephew Scrappy-Doo

Scrappy-Doo

Scrappy Cornelius Doo is a fictional Great Dane puppy created by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1979 as the nephew of Hanna-Barbera cartoon star Scooby-Doo. Scrappy has appeared in a number of the various incarnations of the Scooby-Doo cartoon series. Lennie Weinrib provided his voice for one season...

 in addition to or instead of some of the original characters.

Scooby-Doo was originally broadcast on CBS from 1969 to 1976 when it moved to ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

.