Why Mindy Kaling's Velma was destined to fail from the beginning

Mindy Kaling has come up with a fresh show on Velma, the much-loved smart character from Scooby-Doo. Despite the titular character's popularity, however, the show has received more hate-watching than positive feedback. With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 7%, it can be claimed as a flop.

Several reasons have contributed to this. The show's decision to race-swap the protagonist and two other characters has caused mayhem among fans.

Kaling is the executive producer of the show along with Charlie Grandy, Sam Register, and Howard Klein. She is also the voice of the titular role, and has been slammed by netizens ever since Velma premiered on January 12, 2023.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the author's personal views.

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What upset fans about Mindy Kaling’s Velma

Mindy Kaling's decision to make Velma an Indian character had been a point of contention since the beginning, and Kaling herself knew that. While speaking to a crowd of people in New York City, she declared:

"Hopefully you noticed my Velma is south Asian. If people freak out about that, I don't care."

Other than race-swapping three lead characters, the young adult comedy uses abusive language, emotional outbursts, and nudity in an attempt to seem contemporary.

The new Velma is cynical, bitter, sarcastic, and has a disturbing past. The Mindy Kaling show has transformed her into a foul-mouthed caustic teen.

This was not taken kindly by readers and fans. Many believe this is not reflective of the original depiction of the character, who was shy, sensitive, kind, and intelligent enough to solve mysteries.

Another blunder that the creators allegedly committed was trying to bring in a lot of different “woke” elements into this seemingly comfortable mystery series. Though racial diversity and queer inclusivity are encouraged, many are claiming that the elements seem forced in the show.

Viewers were looking forward to the HBO Max series when it was announced in February 2021. However, Kaling's decision to portray Velma as an Indian did not go down well with fans.

Despite the production team's assurances that this would work out, when it didn't, the team claimed that the show was aimed at modern viewers in a bid to justify the move. Kaling also said that viewers who are happy to accept a dog solving mysteries should be okay with the titular character being Indian.

Viewers did not take too kindly to the revamped characters because they were apparently not in favor of incorporating so many changes at the same time. They wanted to be able to identify with the original Velma from the Scooby-Doo comics as well as the previous Warner Brothers shows.

Instead of taking a few elements to embellish the character, fans feel that Kaling has taken too much liberty with Velma, taking a distressed teen with issues and forcing it into the Scooby-Doo fabric.

The original crew (Image via Warner Brothers)

Despite poor ratings, Kaling also said that her show was the most successful among HBO animations.

Given that fan response towards the show has been unfavorable right from the start, the production team's decision to incorporate bland humor in the story seems to have brewed the recipe for the disaster that Velma turned out to be.