Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is an American adult animated television series created by Michael Ouweleen and Erik Richter for Adult Swim. The show revolves around the activity of the Sebben & Sebben law firm, which is staffed mainly by superheroes and other characters who had originally been featured in past Hanna-Barbera cartoons, most notably Birdman and the Galaxy Trio.

The pilot first aired as a sneak peek on Cartoon Network on December 30, 2000.

The series officially premiered on Adult Swim on September 2, 2001, the night the block launched. 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 on Hulu.

A special, entitled Harvey Birdman: Attorney General, premiered on October 15, 2018.

Premise
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law features ex-superhero Harvey T. Birdman of Birdman and the Galaxy Trio as an attorney working for a law firm alongside other cartoon stars from 1960s and 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon series. Harvey's clients are also primarily composed of characters taken from 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 such job 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.

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 crimefighting 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.

Voice actors

 * Gary Cole as Harvey Birdman, Hiram Mightor
 * Stephen Colbert as Phil Ken Sebben, Myron Reducto
 * Joe Alaskey as Peter Potamus (first time)
 * Thomas Allen as Peanut
 * Paget Brewster as Birdgirl
 * Grey DeLisle as Debbie, Daphne Blake, Dr. Gale Melody, Mary
 * Chris Edgerly as Peter Potamus (second time), DVD, Mr. Finkerton, The Funky Phantom, Augie Doggie, Cumulus the Storm King, Captain Caveman, Gorak, Fancy Fancy
 * John Michael Higgins as Mentok the Mindtaker, Zardo, Grape Ape
 * Maurice LaMarche as Azul Falcone, Stan Freezoid, Apache Chief, Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear, Der Spuzmacher, Inch High, Speed Buggy, Hi-Riser, Doggie Daddy, Droopy, Quick Draw McGraw, Wally Gator, Morocco Mole, Garok, Cavey Jr., Magilla Gorilla, Mr. Peebles, Benny the Ball, Dum Dum, Shazzan, Atom Ant, Nitron
 * Peter MacNicol as X the Eliminator
 * Michael McKean as Evelyn Spyro Throckmorton
 * Matt Peccini as The Bear
 * Neil Ross as Vulturo, Dr. Benton Quest, Ding-A-Ling Wolf
 * Debi Mae West as Gigi

Additional voices

 * Paul Adelstein as Murro the Marauder
 * Jack Angel as General
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Jonny Quest, Lizard Man
 * Michael Bell as Zan
 * Jeff Bergman as George Jetson (1st Time)
 * Mary Birdsong as Chibo, Tana
 * Lewis Black as Elliott the Deadly Duplicator
 * Steven Blum as Yakky Doodle, Clamhead, Stavros
 * Bill Farmer as Secret Squirrel
 * Keith Ferguson as Bill Ken Sebben
 * Nika Futterman as Debbie
 * Mark Hamill as Ricochet Rabbit
 * Toby Huss as Ernie Devlin, Shado
 * Scott Innes as Shaggy Rogers, Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo
 * Tom Kenny as Boo-Boo Bear, Elroy Jetson, Top Cat, Choo Choo
 * Phil LaMarr as Black Vulcan
 * Tress MacNeille as Wilma Flintstone, Pebbles Flintstone
 * Diane Michelle as Jane Jetson, Orbitty
 * Laraine Newman as Sybil Schussler
 * Rob Paulsen as Baba Looey
 * Doug Pries as Thundarr the Barbarian, Beegle Beagle
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Barney Rubble
 * André Sogliuzzo as Dynomutt
 * Fred Tatasciore as Nikos
 * B.J. Ward as Velma Dinkley
 * Frank Welker as Fred Jones, Jabberjaw, Biff, Robot, Avenger
 * Billy West as Dr. Zin
 * Kym Whitley as Norlissa
 * Wally Wingert as Hadji, George Jetson (2nd Time), Astro, Harry Twiddles, Moby Dick

Production
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law creators Michael Ouweleen and Erik Richter were originally writers for Space Ghost Coast to Coast, which was where the titular character originally made its 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.

Special
On May 14, 2018, it was announced that there would be an upcoming special based on the series entitled Harvey Birdman: Attorney General. In the special, Harvey Birdman becomes the next Attorney General of the United States, under President Phil Ken Sebben. The original voice cast returned for the special. It premiered on October 15, 2018.

Reception
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law was named the 91st best animated series by IGN. They compared it to Space Ghost Coast to Coast, a show that is also based on an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon, and described it as a clever show.

Home release
Each DVD is in the shape of a law book. Each season's box art is nearly identical, and the only change for each season is the background color (Volume 1 is brown purple, Volume 2 is blue, and Volume 3 is black). The small picture next to the title and the title itself also appear different.

In April 2005, Adult Swim had a "Do Our Work For Us" contest for Harvey Birdman Season 1 on DVD. The objective for the contest was asking viewers to make their own fan made promo commercial for the upcoming DVD.

Music
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").

Video game
A video game based on the series has been released for the PlayStation 2, Wii and PlayStation Portable video game consoles. It was developed by High Voltage Software and published by Capcom, with gameplay mechanics similar to Capcom's Ace Attorney series. It was released on January 8, 2008.