Harvey Birdman: Attorney General

My sheer joy at seeing the return of characters from "Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law" was quickly tempered by the realization that this isn't *really* a new episode or a even genuine reunion; it's just another silly, surreal Adult Swim romp with modern-day references to things like America's current political dysfunction and Amazon Alexa.

This special takes after the weaker episodes of "Harvey Birdman's" later seasons, both in visual appearance and in tone. It's got the bouncy, colorful Flash animation style that replaced the sometimes choppy (though lovable) look of the show's earlier seasons. It's also got a zany, zippy, headache-inducing editing style and on-the-nose sense of humor -- all wrapped up in a barely coherent plot that employs a grab-bag of pop culture references to unsubtly remind the viewer that everything is set in 2018.

It's disappointing, because the best episodes of the original show were the ones that actually played within the framework of a legitimate legal procedural. It was still a goofy cartoon, with appearances aplenty by old Hanna-Barbera characters, but the writing was smart and witty, and the plots were coherent in their silliness.

This ain't that. You'll get to hear almost all of the classic voice cast, from Phil Lamar as the macho superhero Black Vulcan to Stephen Colbert as Phil Ken Sebben to Thomas Allen as Harvey's sidekick Peanut. But they're all utilized in service of a script that too often delivers limp satire and passable jokes when it could've served up something special. Peanut, my favorite character, is barely even present; there's far more (and perhaps too much) of Chris Edgerly's Peter Potamus, the purple loudmouth hippo whose slapstick humor should've been used sparingly to be effective.

And a word of warning: if you actually take the fates of any of these characters seriously, the ending, which retcons events shown in the series, may feel like someone flipped you the bird.

Overall, I laughed out loud a few times... but only a few times. Still, I'm not offended by it. In fact, I don't take it seriously - at all.

This new special finds lawyer Harvey Birdman trying to get his old boss Phil Ken Sebben impeached at the man's request, because Sebben doesn't even remember getting elected.

I was a big fan of the original show Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, at least the first two seasons. Things really went downhill in the last one. I don't blame Adult Swim for canceling. When I heard about this new special, which takes jabs at the current political climate, I was hopeful. Maybe the creators had enough time to creatively rejuvenate themselves. Unfortunately, this special makes the same mistakes as the last season.

Repeated mistake #1: The show made its name with classic Hannah Barbara characters on trial. But by the last season, it had strayed into too many-non court cases and the zany main cast just wasn't enough to sustain the show. The special does the exact same thing. Most of the jokes don't work. The story isn't interesting. They try to bring back as many of the main and recurring characters as possible, but in a very forced manner that doesn't add much. (Though to the cast's credit, they all do a pretty good job since its been a while since they voiced the characters.) Also, there's a pretty weak number sung by Stephen Colbert, who has weak pipes. On the plus side, Peter Potamus as an Alex Jones-type is a little funny.

Repeated mistake #2: Too much focus on Ken Sebben. The character was funny at first when he was a chaotic neutral supporting character. But the writers became too smitten with him. He took up more time than he was capable of carrying and became dislikable. Here he is just annoying as his constant apathy and randomness is just exhausting.

Repeated mistake #3: Too much dumping on Harvey. Near the end, Harvey became the punching bag too much. It was just lazy writing. Here, Harvey suffers an ending darker than anything the show ever did. It really felt empty and alien to the series.

If you're feeling nostalgic for the show, just watch it. This has nothing to offer.

After a decade-long break, Harvey Birdman is back with a one-off special.

In a loose Trump metaphor, Phil Ken Sebben (Stephen Colbert) is mysteriously made the 46.5th President of the United States. He calls in Harvey (Gary Cole), with Birdgirl (Paget Brewster) joining in, to help him get impeached and to stop a handful of nuclear missiles headed for Washington.

While the original series embraced its random and surreal humour, this special follows a more traditional path. And it feels slightly weaker for it.

Peter Potamus (Chris Edgerly) is the stand-out as an Alex Jones-style shock jock who is deeply involved in Sebben's presidency and impeachment plans. And X the Eliminator (Peter MacNicol) has an excellent and vital cameo. There's also a nice running gag about the books that Harvey ghostwrites for Sebben.

Unfortunately, 20 minutes isn't long enough (even though all the loose ends are tied up). This could easily have been the fifth series of "Harvey Birdman", with more episodes to do the story justice.

While fans should still enjoy it for the nostalgia trip alone, it's not as satisfying as the original series.

Finally the world is realizing Adult Cartoons are big business. Best of our past Dashing for the future. Youve got multiple generations frothing at the mouth to unplug, detach , get nostalgic an be happy. Cartoons are almost the perfect media , because the only limitation is our imagination. Can make a comedy , drama , scifi , ect category with ease with animation.

First reviewer jwwalrath is one of the very few that rather see a show get canned over things made up in his own mind then , be happy a great show is back , the only problem with the ending and last series of the original was it ended abruptly. It was still as funny as the rest and still left you wanting another series. For the 99% this is a great contribution to animation and well welcomed as most are. Because theres such a lack of support or originality

Harvey Is Great Watch It If you Like Adult Animation. (old and new)