Scooby-Doo is a long-running American animated series produced for Saturday morning television in several different versions from 1969 to the present. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, was created for Hanna-Barbera Productions by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, CBS executive Fred Silverman, and character designer Iwao Takamoto. Hanna-Barbera produced numerous spin-offs and related works until being absorbed in 2001 into Warner Bros. Animation, which has handled production since then. Although the format of the show and the cast (and ages) of characters have varied significantly over the years, the most familiar versions of the show feature a talking dog named Scooby Doo and four teenagers or young adults: Fred "Freddie" Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers. These five characters (officially collectively known as "Mystery, Inc.", but never referred to as such in the original series) drive around in the Mystery Machine van, solving mysteries by exposing seemingly otherworldly ghosts and monsters as flesh and blood crooks. Later versions of Scooby-Doo featured different variations on the show's supernatural theme, and include characters such as Scooby's cousin Scooby-Dum and nephew Scrappy-Doo in addition to or instead of some of the original characters.

Scooby-Doo was broadcast on CBS from 1969 to 1976, when it moved to ABC. ABC aired the show until canceling it in 1986, and presented a spin-off, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, from 1988 until 1991, which featured the characters as children. The series was revived for The WB Network's Kids' WB programming block as What's New, Scooby-Doo?, which ran from 2002 until 2006. The most recent Scooby-Doo series, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, ran from 2006 to 2008 on The CW network; a new series, Scooby-Doo - Mystery, Inc., will begin airing on the Cartoon Network in 2009

       Scooby-Doo

According to the official magazine that accompanied the 2002 movie, Scooby is seven years old (forty-nine in dog years) and is a Great Dane.

Relatives

Over the course of Scooby-Doo's various spin-offs, various relatives of Scooby were introduced:

• Scrappy-Doo: Scooby's young nephew (and son of Scooby's sister Ruby-Doo), Scrappy is the bravest of Scooby's relatives. Scrappy became a recurring character in the Scooby-Doo series beginning in 1979, and was noted for being quite headstrong and always wanting to face off in a fight against the various villains (unlike his uncle). Scooby and Shaggy were present at Scrappy's birth.
• Yabba-Doo: According to Scrappy and Yabba-Doo Yabba is Scooby's brother, a white dog owned by Deputy Dusty in the American southwest. Unlike Scooby, Yabba is brave. Unlike Scooby's and Scrappy's, his typical custom catch-phrase at the end is "Yippity-Yabbity-Doooo!!!" (and not "Yabba-Dabba-Doo!", presumably due to another Hanna-Barbera character's usage of that phrase).
• Scooby-Dum: Scooby's cousin, a blue-grey dog. A Mortimer Snerd-esque dog who longed to be a detective. Was rather dimwitted (he'd keep looking for clues even after the mystery was solved).
• Scooby-Dee: Scooby's distant cousin, a white dog. Spoke with a Southern accent, and was an actress.
• Dooby-Doo: Scooby's cousin, a singer. He is one of Scooby's few relatives to have hair on his head. Only appeared in "The 'Dooby Dooby Doo' Ado".
• Momsy and Dada Doo: Scooby's parents.
• Whoopsy-Doo: Scooby's cousin, a clown. Owned by Shaggy (Norville)'s uncle, Gaggy Rogers.
• Ruby-Doo: Scooby's sister, and mother of Scrappy-Doo.
• Skippy-Doo: Scooby's brother. Highly intelligent. He wears glasses.
• Howdy-Doo: Scooby's brother. Enjoyed reading supermarket tabloid newspapers. He appears to become a redhead.
• Horton-Doo: Scooby's uncle. Was interested in monsters and science.
• Dixie-Doo: Scooby's cousin and the pet of Betty Lou, Shaggy's Southern cousin.
• Grandpa Scooby: Scooby's grandfather.
• Great-Grandpa Scooby: Scooby's great-grandfather.
• Yankee-Doodle-Doo: Scooby's ancestor. Not much is known about him. He appears to be a pilgrim.
• Dumper Scoots: A confused lion that thinks he is a dog. Having the same speech pattern as Scooby-Doo, he believes he is Scooby's cousin.

          Norville "Shaggy" Rogers

Shaggy closely reflects the 1960s era in which the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! series was created, particularly in his manner of speaking (like he often punctuates his sentences with the word "like") and his appearance—he is lanky, with shaggy brown hair and a rough goatee, and typically wears a green T-shirt and brown bell bottoms. Thus, he embodies elements of both the beatniks of the early 1960s and the hippies of the late 1960s, with the primary inspiration for the character coming from Maynard G. Krebs, a beatnik character played by Bob Denver in the early 1960's sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Shaggy has been also shown wearing a red shirt and blue jeans in four 1980s Scooby-Doo productions: the Saturday morning series The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo and three TV movies: Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers, Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School, and Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf. In Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, a TV movie about the Scooby-Doo characters meeting artificial analogues of themselves in a virtual reality environment, Shaggy's double wears the red shirt and blue jeans that the character wore in the 1980s.

Both Shaggy and Scooby-Doo have nearly insatiable appetites, and are readily bribed by Scooby Snacks, as well as tendencies towards goofing off and cowardice. They justify their constant hunger by saying, "Being in a constant state of terror makes us constantly hungry!". Due to these similarities, Shaggy typically treats Scooby as a normal person rather than his pet. Shaggy uses his catch phrase "Zoinks!" (although 'Zoikes! ' was once prominent) whenever he's surprised, scared, or embarrassed, which is frequently. Because of Scooby and Shaggy's cowardly nature, a running gag is that every time they split up to search for clues they always end up getting chased around by the monsters (Shaggy actually states in one instance "Split up and look for clues. Gotcha. See you when the monster chases us.") His other catchphrase is "GAAANGWAAAAY!" when Scooby and Shaggy see a monster or before a chase commences.

Although usually considered a coward, Shaggy often proves useful in ferreting out the monsters and ghosts that are usually at the heart of the gang's mysteries (sometimes by reluctantly acting as "live bait" for a trap), and providing a necessary distraction for their eventual capture (the plans almost always go wrong and he and Scooby are then chased for longer periods of time). Shaggy also has athletic, disguise, and ventriloquism skills which often help the gang. On a couple of occasions, he took his disguise skills so far he even dressed up as Scooby-Doo himself (in the "Never Ape an Ape Man" episode of Scooby-Doo, Where are You! and the 2003 What's New, Scooby-Doo? episode "A Scooby-Doo Halloween"). Shaggy is also a miniature golf champion from the '60s, and was described by Daphne as "the swingingest gymnast in school," in the pilot episode of Scooby-Doo, Where are You! ("What a Night for a Knight"), as he helps the gang break into a museum by leaping from the top of a ladder and swinging through an open window a few feet above. In the episode, "Mystery Mask Mix-up," Shaggy claimed to know Judo, but this was most likely a bluff. Also, in the episode "Bedlam in the Big Top" (episode 10, Scooby-Doo, Where are You!) Shaggy describes himself as a "track man" who can run very fast. In the series A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Shaggy is called "Norville" by his dad.

Originally, "Shaggy" was merely a reference to his appearance, which resembled shag carpeting. However, in Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, it is implied that the nickname "Shaggy" comes from an abbreviation of the name "Shaggleford," the last name of Shaggy's rich uncle.

• Don Messick (1969–1997)
• Hadley Kay (1997)
• Scott Innes (1998–2001)
• Neil Fanning (2002 & 2004 live-action films)
• Frank Welker (2002–present)