Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law

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.

Many of my all time favourite TV shows haven't been the ones hyped to death, but the obscure ones that you "discover" for yourself. 'Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law' is a case in point. I don't know if it achieved any kind of audience in the US, but it suddenly appeared out of nowhere here in Australia and was shown at an odd time slot with little fanfare. A friend caught the Scooby Doo episode and when he described it to me, I knew this was a show I just HAD to see! So I managed to catch the "Unabooboo" episode, then the one where Jabbajaw and The Neptunes are accused of plagiarism, and last night I watched the Flintstones/Sopranos episode, which was pure genius! I am now hooked for life! For anybody who hasn't seen the show it features Birdman the 60s Hanna Barbera cartoon character reinvented as Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. Each episode he defends a cartoon client accused of some crime e.g. Shaggy and Scooby Doo for dope, Fred Flintstone for racketeering. Plus there are lots of strange gay in-jokes and surreal bits and pieces which make it one of the most demented things I've seen since vintage 'Ren and Stimpy'. My favourite characters are Reducto and Birdman's nutty eye-patch wearing boss. This is an utterly brilliant show and I can't wait to see more episodes!

I was a huge fan of Space Ghost Coast to Coast when it was introduced back in 1994 (it has lost a lot since 2000). It was hilarious to see these 60's characters making references to their past incarnations (which were awful) and how they made fun of them. It was great to see Space Ghost believe he was greater than he actually was. I consider this aspect and the idea of the talk show with live action stars to be not only creative but also one of the most original and funny concepts ever.

Now we have Harvey Birdman, based on the same principle as Space Ghost C to C, but expanding on the "let's make fun of all the crappy Hanna Barbera animations of the 60's" concept, which is simply great.

The series were introduced in 2001 when Cartoon Network launched Adult Swim, but after a few episodes it disappeared. Thankfully, it wasn't because of low ratings but because they were making more episodes, and each one is even funnier than the one before.

The constant reference to old cartoons and characters is just amazingly funny and, contrary to what some people have posted here, I am well under thirty but I have seen all the re- runs from the original shows in CN, so I believe that it has a larger audience than some people give it credit for.

All the characters are great, starting with Birdman himself. I just finished watching one where the judge is Mentok. That character is hilarious. He is constantly trying to show how great his mental control powers are. It's crazy.

If somebody hasn't seen it yet, please give it a try. Cartoon Network has probably one of the funniest lineups with shows like this and Family Guy, all great and edgy animated sitcoms.

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.