5 gibbles out of 5

Taking cases.

Creators: Michael Ouweleen and Erik Richter

Harvey Birdman was the most prime example of what Adult Swim originally started out to do.  While the channel has blessedly branched out into all forms of entertainment befitting its absurdist image, it did spring from Cartoon Network’s hope of roping in older viewers, and thus the initial Adult Swim shows – Aqua Teen, Space Ghost, Brak, and Birdman – can all be said to have taken cues, at least tangentially, from Hanna Barbera and classic animation in general.

That sentence is stretching things as much as my point, but the first four shows did have a more unified feel.  But Space Ghost tended toward dead pan, with some semi-celebrity cameos to garner attention, Brak leaned heavily on silly (though is dear to me), and Aqua Teen went for random.  Birdman took its cartoon premise and spun off a cast of recognizable yet flexible characters who allowed for smart show plottings with equal doses of dead pan, and parody, and complete randomness.  That’s not to say it’s all over the map, just that it’s easier to watch in long, large chunks for how heavy the comedy hits on all points.

Shows follow a basic formula: classic cartoon character is accused of whatever crimes it would commit if it existed in the real world (i.e. Secret Squirrel is a flasher), Harvey Birdman takes the case.  Though it would stray more from the courtroom in its later seasons, the sense of grounding that kept the show running remained, making every episode worthwhile as it built on gags upon gags from previous episodes or older cartoons and, moreso than any other AS cartoon, the backgrounds of Harvey are generally littered with randomness here and there, enough so that frequent viewings are rewarding.

While I wish it were still on, it’s nice to have a capsule of perfection to return to every now and then, enough episodes to hop around but not so much that they sit dauntingly on a DVD shelf.  Adult Swim offers some of the most interesting animation around, but few of their shows so consistently succeed as did Harvey Birdman.