Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is an American adult animated television sitcom created by Michael Ouweleen and Erik Richter for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim. The first season of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is the first adult animated production to be produced by Cartoon Network Studios. A spin-off of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, the series revolves around Harvey Birdman, originally a superhero from Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, and his new career as an attorney, defending characters who had originally been featured in past Hanna-Barbera cartoons.
Not to be confused with Birdman and the Galaxy Trio.Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
Birdman and the Galaxy Trio and other characters
by Hanna-Barbera
- Michael Ouweleen
- Erik Richter
- Richard Ferguson-Hull
- Robert Alvarez
- Ben Jones
- Vincent Waller
- Michael Ouweleen
- Erik Richter
- J. J. Sedelmaier
- Thomas Michael Allen
- Stephen Colbert
- Gary Cole
- Chris Edgerly
- Paget Brewster
- John Michael Higgins
- Maurice LaMarche
- Peter MacNicol
"Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law", performed by Erik Richter
"Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law" (Instrumental)
United States
English
4
39 (and 1 special) (list of episodes)
- Michael Ouweleen
- Erik Richter
- Evan W. Adler (Seasons 2–4)
- Christine Griswold (season 1)
- Jeffrey Goldstein (season 1)
- Evan W. Adler (seasons 2–4)
Jon Dilling
12 minutes
- J. J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc. (pilot)
- Williams Street (Pilot; S02E11–season 4)
- Allied Art & Science
(2001–02, 2004)
(Season 1, episodes 2–4; Season 2, episode 1 only) - Cartoon Network Studios
(2002–03)
(season 1, episodes 3–9) - Turner Studios
(2004–07)
(seasons 2–4)
- Cartoon Network (2000)
- Adult Swim (2001–07)
December 30, 2000 –
July 22, 2007
October 12, 2018
The pilot first aired as a sneak peek on Cartoon Network on December 30, 2000.[1] The series officially premiered on Adult Swim on September 2, 2001, the night the block launched.[2] It ended on July 22, 2007, with a total of 39 episodes, over the course of four seasons. The entire series has been made available on DVD, and other forms of home media, including on-demand streaming. A special, entitled Harvey Birdman: Attorney General, premiered on October 15, 2018, and a spin-off, Birdgirl, premiered on April 4, 2021.
Premise[edit]
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.[3]
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is the first Williams Street cartoon to maintain continuity through the entire series. Various episodes reference Harvey's (or another superhero's) former crime-fighting career. The episode "Turner Classic Birdman" serves to bridge the gap between Birdman and the Galaxy Trio and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.
Much of the humor is derived from giving superheroes and supervillains more eccentric qualities, such as transforming mad scientist Dr. Myron Reducto into a paranoid prosecutor. Several of the plots revolve around popular myths about classic Hanna-Barbera characters, such as Shaggy and Scooby-Doo being recreational drug users.
Production[edit]
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law creators Michael Ouweleen and Erik Richter were originally writers for Space Ghost Coast to Coast, which is where the titular character made his debut. The show was Adult Swim's most expensive original series at the time, and is the most expensive spin-off of Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
Although the first season was animated using digital ink and paint, the remaining seasons were animated using Adobe After Effects. The reason for the switch was that the animation studio was having difficulty maintaining the fast pace of the show, and thus the production of episodes slowed down due to constant retakes.
By animating the later episodes at Turner Studios in Atlanta with Adobe Flash, not only were problems corrected more quickly, but production costs were much lower.[4]
International broadcast[edit]
In Canada, Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law previously aired on Teletoon's Teletoon at Night block[5] and later G4's Adult Digital Distraction block.[6] The series currently airs on the Canadian version of Adult Swim.[7][8]
Reception[edit]
In 2009, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law was named the 91st-best animated series by IGN. They called the concept of the show "wonderful" and the show as a whole "especially clever." The review summarized that "Harvey Birdman worked as both a parody and homage to these animated characters we know and love, with plenty of funny, surreal jokes along the way."[9]
Music[edit]
The theme song is an edited version of the song "Slow Moody Blues" written by Reg Tilsley. Other notable songs used in the show include Charlie Steinman's "It Is Such a Good Night" (also known as "Scoobidoo Love") and a lyricless version of Gianni Morandi's "La Mia Mania" (also known as "Okay Maria").