Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law

Another interesting late night cartoon short. I first saw the episode that was the dual Flinstones/Sopranos parody. Hanna Barbera keeps throwing out great material, and much of it, like this, will never have a wider audience. That's kind of sad, but at the same time, kind of good, too. It makes it more special, to know that only a small group of people are watching this.

This is my favorite 15 minutes of the week! Hapless, second-rate H-B superhero Birdman is now a hapless second-rate lawyer, defending various twisted former H-B stars like the cast of Jabberjaw and the now clearly homo-erotic Jonny Quest, etc. Race Bannon (well, sort of Race Bannon) suing Dr. Quest for custody of Jonny, Hadji, and Bandit after a, uh, lover's tiff? Hapless and hyper-paranoid former Birdman antagonist Dr. Reducto opining over the good old days ("Back when I was a kid, if a someone brandished a Shrink Ray, he'd get some respect!"), becoming smitten with a witness ("No one told me your feet would be so - tiny!"), and threatening everyone in the courtroom to "Back Off! I'll make you travel size!"?

Most people would be completely mystified as to why this would be funny. I thought about it for a while, and I think unless you had watched the old series' on which this show draws, you would have no idea whatsoever what the heck was going on. You pretty much have to be a male between 38-42 to truly appreciate it. That's a pretty small target audience.

Even if you do recognize the characters, it's so surreal that you will be amazed. Seeing a giant grab and the mechanical spider/eyeball monster testifying to Race Bannon's bond with the kids defies description.

One odd thing about this series is that the characters are much better defined than the originals. Back in the 60's, the writing was almost non-existent. Somebody must have written up one or two story outlines, and just randomly used them to generate every episode of Birdman, Space Ghost, The Herculoids, etc, by substituting characters. Could have done it with a computer. This show fairly well written and I think this is what ultimately makes it funny - these absurdly flat characters you remember have internal lives, and for some reason this makes it funny.

I'll admit not everything on adult swim tickles my fancy. I first stumbled upon it with friends on a Friday night in a hazy state of mind half way through an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. We believed to be a genuine cartoon and laughed hysterically. Needless to say the next week, stone cold sober, meatwad didn't quite have the same appeal. Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law, however, is downright hilarious. It has underhanded satire similar to a 'Family Guy' flashback. I believe this type of camp, sarcastic, pop humor only appeals to a limited audience, however if you don't find at least portions of this show amusing or clever then you're an empty cold shell of a human being.

The great appeal of the show is the cameo appearances of your favorite childhood cartoon stars. I guess I love to see Harvey Birdman ruin that childhood image. As I write this I picture the Jetsons overnight struggle to get to Harvey's desk without the aid of their futuristic travelators, half way through their plight Astro collapses and pleads with the rest of the family to go on without him. Besides, who doesn't want to see Shaggy and Scooby get busted? Hauled to jail because of the damning evidence in the Mystery Machine of empty pizza boxes and clips? Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law is definitely the best thing on adult swim, my only complaint is the episodes aren't long enough and it's not on DVD yet.

I am a big fan of the Adult Swim line up, and Harvey Birdman makes me laugh the most, which is what I look for on Sunday's Adult Swim. This attorney takes on the oddest cases involving prior famous cartoon stars, and they go to court, and is set up as a sort of spoof on a soap opera that is insane and makes no sense. These anecdotes are made of antics that are just for laughs, and it completes that task in such an impressive manner. If you are looking for a show that you want to take seriously, this isn't for you. And if you like Space Ghost, you will like this, and vice versa.

Harvey Birdman attorney at law is a mixture of sophomoric and sophisticated humor that is pure genius. I admit I was skeptical at first but once I watched the show I thought it was hilarious and I couldn't stop laughing. The idea to reincarnate Birdman and other second rate H-B characters is brilliant, its like they grew up and got real jobs. The writing is excellent, and so is the voice work, Stephen Colbert is at the top of his game playing the roll of Phil Ken Sebben and my personal favorite Myron Reducto. Another standout performance is given by John Michael Higgins as Mentok the Mindtaker. A mixture of Sophomoric and sophisticated humor may make a great show but it doesn't necessarily mean great ratings which is sad. It seems that, like its title character, Harvey Birdman attorney at law is destined to relative obscurity. But if like me you're a fan of shows like "The Critc" and "Duckman" you'll love this show.