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Ruby-Spears on Scooby-Doo's evolution
Scooby-Doo was almost...who?
When Joe Ruby and Ken Spears were tasked with creating a mystery show for Hanna-Barbera, there was no dog in the picture. So, how did they get to Scooby-Doo?
The idea of a mystery show was brought up when the two writers were in a meeting with Joe Barbera and their agent, Sy Fischer. The meeting was originally about the show they were currently working on, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. After the meeting, Fischer pulled them back into Barbera's office because they had forgotten to discuss a more pressing issue.
Fred Silverman, who was the Vice President of Programs for CBS, had commissioned Hanna-Barbera for a mystery show to join the Saturday morning cartoon lineup. In Hanna and Barbera: Conversations, Spears recalled their mission assignment "(Sy) says he (Silveman) wants a show that is a combination of House of Mystery or I Love a Mystery and something else, with kids." House of Mystery was a comic book series and I Love a Mystery was an old radio show; both were short, episodic whodunnits that could easily be reimagined as a cartoon.
There was one additional element that Barbera wished to see in the cartoon, according to Spears, "He wanted a combination of Archies and a mystery show." The Archie comics were a popular series that had been adapted into a cartoon by Filmation, following the adventures of Archie Andrews and his fellow teens at Riverdale High School. This cartoon also premiered on the CBS Saturday morning cartoon slot, so the stakes were high for Hanna-Barbera to outdo them at the teen gang cartoon and reclaim their Saturday morning territory.
Set with their mission, Ruby and Spears had one more question. Spears recalled asking, "'Oh, Joe, is it okay if we put a dog in it? We know Freddy likes dogs.' And Barbera goes, 'Ahh, whatever you want.'" Nearly every other Hanna-Barbera show had a dog, but Ruby and Spears were specifically thinking about two fan favorite cartoon dogs: Muttley from Wacky Races and Astro from The Jetsons.
Ruby was excited by the prospect of using a Great Dane, "You can have a little feisty (dog) or a big lovable one. You want a lovable one, because the kids would like it better...We just wanted a big, goofy dog. A big, goofy, funny dog." But there lay another wrinkle ahead - they were afraid of being sued by the Marmaduke comics, because they had a big, goofy Great Dane. So, they shifted gears and chose a shaggy dog, and they named him "Too Much." Can you imagine that Shaggy was originally supposed to have a shaggy dog?
If "Too Much" sounds like too much for you, you're not alone. Silverman hated the shaggy dog, and Barbera told Ruby and Spears, "Use a Great Dane - don't worry about the lawsuits." And away they went, free to make Scooby-Doo the Great Dane he was always meant to be. Scooby wasn't the only character who changed; Shaggy's name was originally "Maynard G. Krebs", and Fred's name was originally "Ronnie". Ruby and Spears changed his name to Fred as a nod to Silverman for getting the ball rolling on the show.
