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The CBS Years
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (1969-1972)
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? debuted in the Fall of 1969 as the lead-in for The Archie Comedy Hour, joining a list of legendary Hanna-Barbera titles. It was an instant hit, getting a 65 Share for the premiere. This means 65% of the people watching TV at 10:30 AM on that Saturday morning
In 1970, CBS added new opening music performed by Austin Roberts that became one of the classic theme songs of all time
The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972-1974)
The show was rebranded in 1972 as The New Scooby-Doo Movies. The episode length was increased from 30 to 60 minutes. And, perhaps the biggest change at the time, a special guest or group would meet the Scooby Gang in each episode. Some were real-life celebrities such as musicians Cass Elliot or Jerry Reed. Others were fictitious characters such as Batman or The Addams Family.
The show ended after two seasons. However, CBS continued to air reruns for the next two years before taking it off the air. Remember, VCRs were nearly non-existent at this time, and there was no home video market whatsoever. Reruns were still a common practice for television networks.
At some point during this time, Fred Silverman left CBS and became the president of ABC. He would soon bring about the next chapter of the Scooby-Doo story