Ask yourself a question: Was there ever a "real" ghost or goblin before Scrappy Doo came along? The "original" Mystery, Inc crew always seemed to figure out, by the end of an episode, that the haunting was the result of some real estate developer or gold prospector using a projector and some ropes. Once Scrappy appeared on the scene, the ghosts became real, and the rest of the gang departed to parts unknown (imprisoned by Scrappy?). Scooby also somehow acquired the power to walk on two legs and became even more "talkative" - but Scrappy was the odd one out, who's only relationship to being an actual dog was merely his appearance.

I leave it to you, the reader, to ultimately decide whether Scrappy was really an evil imp, but my opinion was further validated by the second live action Scooby Doo movie, where Scrappy sought to take over the world using hellish powers of evil. Clearly I was not alone in this line of thought...

Did Scrappy make the series better or worse? That's a harder question to answer, but it did boost ratings when he appeared, at least for a while. Like any annoying comedic device, however, his appeal faded over time, however. One might even say this is further proof of his real origins, that Scooby Doo's people made a deal with the devil, and were forced to take an incredibly grating character on as the price to save the show. In the end, the show unleashed ghosts, demons, vampires, and other evil minions upon the Earth - an evil not as easily locked up as old man Smithers was by those meddling kids.