One season of HBO’s Max the animated train wreck Velma Wrapped up last night and never redeemed itself after its awful opening episode.
The show premiered in January and quickly made headlines as one of the most hated shows in television history, insulting viewers with bad writing and disrespect for the original cartoon.
After watching all ten unpleasant episodes, I can only hope creator and actress Mindy Kaling never directs an animated series again.
This show is one of the worst on television, and it’s hard to even come up with all the reasons to beat She-Hulk for that award. But, here are the top five reasons it’s disgusting.
1. Hatred of Whites: Every single episode includes insults and attacks on white people. Velma’s character, in particular, mocks white skin relentlessly.
2. Hatred of men: The show is full of contempt for men. The male characters in the show are all either dumb, weak or perverted. While not complaining about white people, the main character spends an inordinate amount of time attacking the male gender.
In Episode 7, for example, Velma disguises herself as a man and irrationally believes that men can do whatever they want without consequence.
3. Hate towards the main character: The character of Velma is inspired by the show’s creator, Mindy Kaling. So why did Kaling create a version of Velma that is self-loathing? Velma doesn’t just despise those around her. He hates his own appearance and personality in a way that makes the viewer feel more uncomfortable than amused.
The rest of this reconstituted gang is also repulsive. Fred is an idiot. Daphne is a drug dealer and Norville (the new Shaggy) spends most of his time being ordered around by Velma.
4. Hate Modesty: There was a sweetness and innocence to the original Scooby Doo cartoons. inside Velma, any sweetness has been replaced by vulgarity and decadence. Minors are sexualized, characters are distorted and interactions are reduced to the lowest common denominator.
In the final episode, Fred’s mother – who is the villain – is killed by Norville. Fred and Norville are horrified, but Velma just walks triumphantly in front of the corpse. It’s a moment that sums up the brutality of the show.
5. Hate towards audience: In addition to insulting the original source material, the show insulted its audience. At one point, Velma literally mocks “adults who still watch cartoons”.
If the writers believed that adults shouldn’t watch cartoons, why did they sign up to write a cartoon for adults? This line is just part of the general feeling of contempt for the audience embodied by the show as a whole.
Can we stop hiring people who hate animation to work on animated shows? pic.twitter.com/RmZpuigWXc
— TheNCSmaster (@TheNCSmaster) January 13, 2023
There are more “hates” I could add to the list, including an aversion to beauty and an aversion to a coherent story, but you get the idea. Watching this show every week requires aspirin and a warm compress for headaches afterward.
Rumor has it that HBO MAX may greenlight a second season of this abomination. Are they crazy? With a current audience score of 7 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, I suspect there won’t be any viewers around next time.