Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law

[Heroine of the Dragon]

Have you watched Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law?
Which are your favourite episodes?

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law features ex-superhero Harvey Birdman of Birdman and the Galaxy Trio as an attorney working for a law firm alongside other cartoon stars from the 1960s and 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon series. Harvey's clients are also primarily characters taken from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series of the same era.

Many of Birdman's nemeses from his former cartoon series appear as attorneys, often representing the opposing side of a given case. Harvey usually fills the role of a criminal defense attorney, though he will act as a civil litigator or other similar roles when the plot calls for it.

The series uses a surrealist style of comedy, featuring characters, objects, and jokes that are briefly introduced and rarely (if ever) referenced thereafter. Because the series relies heavily on popular culture references to classic television animation, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law constantly delves into parody, featuring clips of these series or specially created scenes which mimic the distinctive style of the animation being referenced.

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Bi ... ney_at_Law

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

Oh yeah, great show. My favorite is Yabba Dabba Don, depicting the Flintstones as mafioso.

I think they have a spinoff called Birdgirl but I vaguely recall reading that it sucks. I can't see them getting away with some of the jokes and topics they used to, so I'm inclined to believe it. I'll still give it a shot, I just forgot it existed until I saw this topic.

[Booyakasha]

^Harvey Birdman: Attorney-at-Law' is my favourite Adult Swim show. It's super quick-snap clever, the sight gags are great, and the voice-acting is brilliant (Steven Colbert friggin kills me as both Phil Ken Sebben and Reducto). I love Harvey, and Birdgirl, Potamus, X the Eliminator, and Mentok the Mindtaker. And I have to say, they really nailed the performances of all the old Hanna-Barbera characters.

I was actually watching a few episodes last night (whole show's up on HBO Max, if you have that). Couple of my favourites pop up right in the same block, like the first couple Birdgirl episodes, the Captain Caveman episode, and the Top Cat episode (sorry, I'm not great with episode titles-----------I remember the characters involved). Ooh, and "Turner Classic Birdman", the ep where they just recut a bunch of episodes from the 60s TV show but with all the VAs from 'Harvey Birdman', and it's introduced by Robert Osbourne like it's being played on TCM. Hilarious episode. Ooh, man, and "The Incredible Hippo"----------man, that one's great. "Hah hah hah, numbitty nutkins!"

I checked out 'Birdgirl' a while back. You know, it's like a dry run for 'Velma'. I truly think that introducing these shows on streaming platforms, where the creators don't have to bust their humps in order to compete for airtime and advertisers (the way the 'Harvey Birdman' gang did) helped make the shows unbelievably lazy, weak and pathetic. Cable TV is cutthroat, man! You have to fight to survive, and it makes shows stronger!

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

^ Yeah, it is really snappy. That's something the other Adult Swim shows didn't capture as well (but I like them too, the Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021, etc).

Too bad to hear Birdgirl isn't good, but at least I'm not surprised. You just can't match the original stuff. Well actually, there was a game that captured the spirit of the show well. Of course, being point & click it lost any semblance of snappines we were just praising.

[Booyakasha]

Ooh, yeah. That Harvey Birdman PS2 game was great---------basically a Phoenix Wright game with a Harvey Birdman overlay. They were able to get most of the VA cast to reprise their roles, too (aside from Steven Colbert---------that was a shame. I mean, I'm not surprised, Colbert was onto bigger things, but it still would have been nice if they could have got him).

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

It was pretty good, I played it on PSP and it was a pretty good fit for playing in small bursts. But yeah, it's always a shame when the original voice actors aren't present. That's what I loved about DBZ games, right from the beginning they always had the real actors (well, aside from the PS1 game that came out before the show did).

[Gametrek]

Those was the good days of "Adult Swim" and late-nights with "Space Ghost", Gundam-wing, Sealab 2020/2021, and So many awesome originals. Even adult swim games had some nice creations as well.
I really hate it being called "Adult Swim" because you know what I never liked but only recently learn to appreciate?

"MegasXLR" ( from the creators of "Downtowners" and writers of "Daria" )

That was perfect heaven of a show. The show is so good some execs at CartoonNetwork put in limbo. It is literally used as some kind of write-off, or whatever.

We need to bring back MegasXLR and not change anything about it, not wide-screen, not content, and even include some Downtowners as background characters.

I mean the entire MegasXLR was the pinacle of western animation. It did everything we wanted, and needed, but I was too numb to understand why Megas was great at all. I was trying to convince myself how awesome Nintendo was, and my only escape was illustrating, asides learning about emulation.

Birdman was great to watch, I will admit. Even the actual show was okay. Birdman at law was just fun ( and especially being an "A-dult" makes it even fun-ner. It is like watching Sonic-Cartoons, or even Looney-Toons.... it is super funny then it was back then.

I can feel for the antagonists nowadays. Honestly thinking about it Birdman was also super-stupid at times.

Adult Swim shows are even better as an adult. I mean it made you laugh but knowing the context via experience was even funnier.

[Booyakasha]

Huh. So 'Harvey Birdman: Attorney-at-Law' ended back in 2007, but I've been rewatching the show, and evidently they got the whole cast back together for a new final episode in 2018. Phil has been elected president whilst in a coma, and he summons Harvey (back from the dead) to Washington in order to impeach him. You've got all the characters (Harvey, Potamus, Phil, Reducto, Birdgirl, X, Mentok) being played by the proper voice actors, and the episode is super funny. Naturally it doesn't appear on any of my DVDs, but again, it's up on HBO Max, and possibly elsewhere. I recommend.

I tried 'Birdgirl' on again for size. It's still about as funny as a dead child's crutch, especially as compared to 'Harvey'. I don't know what the hell happened to the creators (it's the same people who made 'Harvey', and Paget Brewster is reprising her role as Birdgirl)-----------maybe they really did just get super-lazy and uninspired.

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

^ Lol that's the most brutal description of unfunniness I've ever heard. That's too bad though, because there were some new super short Aqua Teen Hunger Force videos pretty recently, and the ones I saw were actually funny. It proves these shows can still be good.

[Booyakasha]

It's embarrassing, man. These old Adult Swim alumni are making worse shows than DC. DC! The creators of that garbagey 'Titans' show, and 'Aquaman'. Gods below, but 'Aquaman' is a horrible chore.

And yet...'Harley Quinn'. 'Harley Quinn' is good biz. It's a real good show. What a strange situation-----------the little guys are making dogsh*t like 'Velma' and 'Birdgirl', and the horrible gigantic corporation is making the fun stuff. It's Adult Swim turned on its head.