In December, it was announced that Warner Brothers had accepted a bid to merge with Netflix. Last week, Warner Brothers temporarily reopened their bidding war after Netflix agreed to let them review a new offer from Paramount. Paramount had previously bid $30 per share in December, but Warner Brothers decided that Netflix's deal was superior.

In a very surprising turn of events, Netflix has dropped their bid for Warner Brothers. This was in light of placing a higher bid at $31 per share. Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos stated that Paramount's higher bid made the deal "no longer financially attractive" for them to continue bidding. Warner Brothers now owes Netflix 2.8 million dollars for breaking their December deal with Netflix, but Paramount has made paying the $2.8 million for Warner Brothers a part of their deal.

Previously, Netflix had only offered to buy WBD Streaming and Studios (WBD Global Linear Networks was going to be separately owned). This new deal with Paramount stipulates that they will buy all of Warner-Brothers Discovery.

Warner Brothers has not made any official statement of merging with Paramount yet, but their board has deemed Paramount's updated offer to be superior. Should it go through, it will be subject to regulatory approval and will take over a year to sort out. It is unknown how or if this will affect the Netflix live-action series at this time. Thanks to Matt and Becker for sharing this news.

With the recent news of Mckenna Grace being cast as Daphne in the live-action series, I did a little research this past week when adding a section for her on the Voice Actors page. I was surprised to discover that in addition to being an actress, Mckenna is also a singer! Alongside her acting projects, she has been also pursuing a music career these past five years. Mckenna released her first single in 2021, "Haunted House," for Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Mckenna has released two full EPs in 2023 (Bittersweet 16 and the fall-themed EP Autumn Leaves​) She has released 23 solo songs in total.

I checked out her discography over the weekend. Her sound is a mix of pop-rock and ballads, and reminds me a lot of Olivia Rodrigo's style. I found a lot of her music to be a bit angsty for my tastes, but I do really like her voice! "Checkered Vans" and "Gentleman" were the two that stood out to me most.

A lot of the polls we do on here are settings and villains, but I wanted to mix it up and do a completely different poll series. Starting with 13 Ghosts, almost all Scooby series (except Guess Who) had multiple recurring characters. A long time ago, we did a general "what's your favorite recurring character?" poll. I thought it would be fun to do a poll series that more broadly encompasses any character to appear more than once. For the purposes of this poll series, "recurring character" is defined as characters that have multiple appearances, and contribute more than just a cameo or a few lines to two or more of their appearances.

Once we've gone through all the series, we'll do a final round matching up all of the winning options to determine the winner.

A few notes for this week's poll. Since he appeared in every project for a decade, Scrappy is considered a member of the gang. It's also worth noting that Mumsy and Dada Doo don't appear just in this series, but since The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show and The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries don't have any other recurring characters, it just seemed easier to have them be in this group. Typically, any series with one recurring character (i.e. Scooby-Dum in The Scooby-Doo Show, Simone in Guess Who) will automatically advance to the final round. 

Now that the details for this poll series is ironed out, let's finalize the results from last week's poll! Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! comes out ahead as the funniest comedy-focused Scooby-Doo series, while Pup sits cozy in second place and Laff-A-Lympics also gets a decent turnout in third place. The Scrappy shorts only get two votes, and Velma is firmly in last place with not a single vote.

What is your favorite comedy-focused Scooby show?
Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! - 35
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo - 24
Laff-A-Lympics - 11
Scrappy shorts - 2
Velma - 0

Last September, it was announced that Netflix was currently in the process of casting actors for the upcoming Scooby live-action series. We've now received the first announcement of a casting decision for the series, and it's a familiar face to the Scooby franchise. Mckenna Grace, who voiced young Daphne in SCOOB!, announced on Instagram that she's been officially cast as Daphne in the upcoming live-action show. At only 19, she's the youngest actress to ever play or voice a member of the gang outside of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.

Mckenna Grace has had a diverse resumé outside of her voice role in SCOOB! Amongst her most acclaimed roles include Young Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel, Rose on Fuller House, and Phoebe in the recent Ghostbusters films. She also has upcoming roles in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping and Scream 7 (the latter of which is an interesting connection to the original live-action cast members Matthew Lillard and Sarah Michelle Gellar, who also were acclaimed for their roles in the Scream franchise). I also loved her as Paige on Young Sheldon, which she played a recurring role with fellow SCOOB! actor Iain Armitage (who voiced young Shaggy). 

I think it's awesome that they went with someone who'd already had a previous role in the Scooby franchise! Given she was set to be the voice actress in Scoob! Holiday Haunt, which was cancelled, this is an awesome full-circle moment for her to be able to come back in a starring role as Daphne. As of currently, no other cast members have been announced, but stay tuned for more updates!

Outside of The Mystery Begins and Curse of the Lake Monster, Robbie Amell's other breakout role into the acting world was starring on the teen sitcom True Jackson, VP. During his time on the show, he crossed paths with a surprising amount of other actors who have connections to Scooby!

He got to work with Nick Palatas again on the episode "Mad Rocks," where he played Skeet. In the episode "Little Buddies," Laura Marano (who plays Carol in Daphne & Velma) guest-starred as Molly. Speaking of other live-action films, Robbie also worked alongside J.P. Manoux in the episode "True Royal." J.P. voiced Scrappy Rex in the first live-action film.

The episode "Pajama Party" featured two guest stars with connections to Scooby. The episode's plot was centered around the characters meeting John Cena, who appeared in Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery. This is also the only episode where the main character (True Jackson)'s mother appears. She's played by Vivica A. Fox, the voice of Angel/Cassidy from Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.

The episode "Ryan on Wheels" is also centered around What's New Scooby-Doo? guest star Ryan Sheckler.

Other guest star in True Jackson, VP that have had minor roles in Scooby include Tom Kenny, Julie Bowen, Dave Foley, Yvette Nicole Brown, Wendie Malick, Pamela Adlon, and Stephen Tobolowsky. [Thanks scoobydoo for doing a deep dive on these extras! :)]

This week's poll is a tweaking of an idea from Shadowscooby! He'd suggested a Pup vs. Be Cool poll after the poll from last week. Although I'm sure they'll still be the front runners, I thought it'd be fun to include the few other comedy-focused Scooby series we've gotten. Obviously, all Scooby-Doo series feature comedy as an element. The argument could be made that certain series are a bit sillier than others (13 Ghosts, for example), but I chose to exclusively include series where there's a significant focus on the element of comedy. I think this poll question could lead to some interesting discussion, so I'm looking forward to seeing everybody's answers in the comments!

Time to check in the results from last week's poll! Besides "The Wrath of Waitro," all episodes got a fair amount of votes. However, "The Ghost of Mrs. Shusham" wins the poll with ease, getting nearly double the votes of any other option.

What is your favorite short episode from a traditionally 22-minute series?
The Ghost of Mrs. Shusham - 16
Pizza O'Possum's - 9
The Curse of Half-Beard's Booty - 8
Night of the Boogey Biker - 8
Dawn of the Spooky Shuttle Scare - 4
Catcher on the Sly - 4
The Wrath of Waitro - 1

Following HBO Max removing nearly all Scooby content (Scoob! and Trick or Treat are still hanging on, for some reason), there has been nowhere to stream the majority of series from our favorite cartoon canine. The only way to watch most Scooby content this past year has been through physical media or digital download.

CordCutters finally gave us some great news on this yesterday! At some point in the near future, Tubi will be adding nearly all Scooby-Doo series to their platform, along with a number of other Cartoon Network shows. Tubi announced they will begin adding more cartoons beginning March 1, but did not give a specific date for when the Scooby shows will be added.

However, they've shared all of these shows will be added at some point:

• The New Scooby-Doo Movies
• The Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show
• The Scrappy shorts
• The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show
• The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries
• The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo
• A Pup Named Scooby-Doo
• Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated
• Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!

This just leaves Laff-A-Lympics and Guess Who as not being available on streaming. Where Are You, The Scooby-Doo Show, and What's New have already been streaming on there for a while. Currently, it's unknown whether "Wednesday Is Missing" will be streaming alongside the rest of its series, since it was available on HBO Max before their Scooby library was purged.

I'm so happy to see most Scooby shows will be streaming again. In the age of streaming, it was ridiculous imo that Scooby was almost completely unavailable to watch anywhere. I hope the Scooby content remains up through this upcoming merger!

I've been waiting for this announcement since 2019! Those who have been visiting the blog for a long time will remember that I get so excited when they put unreleased episodes on DVD or Blu-Ray. After the Scooby-Doo! 50 Cartoon Collection in 2019, Scooby physical media basically dropped off the face of the Earth, beyond the DTVs and multi-feature packs of films that had already gotten released. This was presumably due to the rise of streaming with the pandemic. Those in charge of Warner Brothers' main physical releases seemed to deprioritize putting out unreleased episodes after that point, except for current releases.

After all this time, we're finally getting a new complete series set for an unreleased series. Warner Archive announced today that Scooby's All Star Laff-a-Lympics: The Complete Series is coming to Blu-Ray on March 31, 2026! The set will include all 24 episodes of Laff a Lympics. It's priced at $24.98 in the US, and will feature all episodes in 1080p HD. All of season 1 had been previously released over the course of 2010-2012. Volumes 1 and 2 were released in 2010, and a set that included the second half of season one - Scooby-Doo! Laff-a-Lympics: Spooky Games was released during the 2012 Summer Olympics. Until now, no episodes of season 2 were released on physical media.

So that collectors who want to conserve shelf space aren't missing out, this set will features the 2012 special Scooby-Doo! Spooky Games as a bonus feature. The special had previously been released on the Scooby-Doo! Laff-a-Lympics: Spooky Games set.

Thank you to Scoobsies for sharing this news! Here's the full press release from Warner Archive:

COMING TO BLU-RAY ON MARCH 31st FROM THE WARNER ARCHIVE COLLECTION!
SCOOBY'S ALL STAR LAFF-A-LYMPICS: The Complete Series (1977-1978)

1080p HD
MSRP: $24.98
A 2-SET (BD-50)
24 episodes
Running Time: 550 Minutes
COLOR
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 1.33:1 with side mattes
Audio: DTS-HD MA 2.0 MONO
Subtitles: ENGLISH SDH
NOT RATED

SPECIAL FEATURE: "SCOOBY-DOO! SPOOKY GAMES" (2012) Made-for-video special. (16x9 1.78:1 aspect ratio/DTS-HD MA 2.0 STEREO)

Sports, spoofs, and shenanigans abound when three teams of favorite Hanna-Barbera characters – the Scooby Doobies, the Yogi Yahooeys and the Really Rottens 0compete for glory in all 24 original episodes of this fan-favorite series. Hosted by yellow-jacketed commentators Snagglepuss and Mildew Wolf, the fractured face-offs feature other animated immortals joining Scooby Doo including Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Wally Gator, Dynomutt and many more. Hilarious events include Skateboard Polo and the Three-Legged Kilt Race, plus nontraditional challenges like the Fill up the Oasis Race and the Big Ben Tower Climb. From one outrageous contest to the next, this action-packed collection is an absolute medal-winner!! This Blu-ray collection brings together all the episodes from this fan-favorite, remastered in High Definition. The collection also includes the 2012 special "SCOOBY-DOO! SPOOKY GAMES" as a special feature, which revisited the "Laff-a-Lympics" with Scooby and his pals.

In 2004 and 2005, National Geographic produced three Scooby-Doo shorts as a part of their Kid Y series. The shorts were each themed around the Scooby-Doo DTVs at the time: Loch Ness Monster, Aloha and Where's My Mummy. The shorts used the settings of the aforementioned movies to teach the audience about geography.

The first short, "Inside Scoop" talks about the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster, and some of the fake monster sightings. The second short, "Hula Hullabaloola," teaches the audience about the geography of Hawaii. The third short, "The Curse of the Lost Lunch," provides interesting facts about Egypt and King Tut. A fair warning, the rap breaks in the third short are quite cringey. However, they're made up for by Bigfoot's sick guitar solo in the first short lol.

Going along with the shorts article from Friday, it seemed like a fun idea to do a poll covering the shorts from traditionally 22-minute series! There are seven in total: five from Pup, and two from Be Cool.

The results for last week's poll were quite evenly spaced! Looks like the OG indigenous spirit episode, "Decoy for a Dognapper," is our winner! Here are the full results:

What is your favorite episode featuring an indigenous spirit as the villain?
Decoy for a Dognapper - 9
​Watch Out! The Williwaw! - 6
The Story Stick - 6
New Mexico, Old Monster - 6
Attack of the Headless Horror - 6
The Fiesta Host Is an Aztec Ghost - 5
The Haunted Showboat - 3
A Bum Steer for Scooby - 3
​Game of Chicken - 3
The Hairy Scare of the Devil Bear - 2