What if William Hanna and Joseph Barbera worked for Warner Bros. after leaving MGM and retained the rights for Tom and Jerry?/Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law

***Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law*** is an American animated television courtroom black comedy 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 characters who had originally been featured in past Warner Bros. Animation shows, most notably *Birdman and the Galaxy Trio*.

The show is also a spin-off of *Space Ghost Coast to Coast*, where Birdman got his first name from. Both *Space Ghost* and *Birdman* original series were based on superhero script and, decades later, applied in comedic contexts.

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.

A special, entitled *Harvey Birdman: Attorney General*, premiered on October 15, 2018, and a spin-off, *Birdgirl*, premiered on April 5, 2021.

## 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 Warner Bros. cartoon series. Similarly, Harvey's clients are also primarily composed of characters taken from various Warner Bros. animated series, such as the *Looney Tunes*/*Merrie Melodies* franchise, *Scooby-Doo*, *The Flintstones*, *Histeria*, *Detention*, among others. Many of Birdman's nemeses featured in his former cartoon series also became 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. Also, because the series relies heavily on popular culture references to classic television animation, *Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law* constantly delves into parody, even 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 Warner Bros. Animation and Williams Street television series to maintain continuity through the entire series. Various episodes reference Harvey's (or another superhero's) former crimefighting career. The episode *Turner Classic Birdman* even serves to bridge the gap between *Birdman and the Galaxy Trio* and *Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law*.

Instead of rigid plot structure, much of the humor is derived from the fact that superheroes and supervillains are given more realistic and human qualities, such as a mad scientist named Dr. Myron Reducto, who becomes a paranoid prosecutor. Also, several of the plots revolve around the popular myths about classic Warner Bros. characters, such as Pepé Le Pew being a rapist, the Warners being mentally insane, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo being stoners and Magilla Gorilla being a homosexual prison convict.

## Episodes

### Season 1

1. ***Bannon Custody Trouble*** - Race Bannon fights for custody of Jonny Quest and Hadji for reasons unknown to Dr. Benton Quest, so Dr. Quest hires Harvey to help.
2. ***Illegal Hunting*** - Bugs and Daffy put Elmer on trial after trying to hunt them out of the season.
3. ***Very Personal Injury*** - Justice League/Superfriends former member Apache Chief spills coffee on his lap and loses his superpower, the ability to "grow large at will". Harvey represents the fallen superhero in his fight against the negligent coffee conglomerate.
4. ***Shaggy Busted*** - Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are arrested by the police when they're suspected of driving under the influence of marijuana. (TV-PG)
5. ***Death by Chocolate*** - Boo-Boo Bear is sent to court when he's accused of being a terrorist known as the Unabooboo.
6. ***My Damn Stalker*** - After years of being chased by Pepé, Penelope sues him by harassment. To avoid being charged as guilty, Pepé hires Harvey to help him.
7. ***Shoyu Weenie*** - Shoyu Weenie sue The Neptunes for stealing their song. (TV-14)
8. ***The Dabba Don*** - When Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble begin a Mafia business, Fred hires Harvey to make it legal, but when he's sent to court for violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, Harvey must defend him.
9. ***Busted Cat*** - Sylvester is brought to trial due to the events of *Tweety's High Flying Adventure* (including assassination attempt and making a false police report).
10. ***Tyke's Custody*** - Spike goes to court to retain his son Tyke's custody, which is taken by Yosemite Sam, who beats him.
11. ***X, the Eliminator*** - As a young man, X the Eliminator was commissioned by the evil organization F.E.A.R. to obtain the Crest on Birdman's helmet. After 26 years, he's acquired a paunch and an obsession for Birdman, but no Crest.
12. ***Deadomutt*** (two-part episode) - Unknownily crushing Harvey's hopes for promotion, Phil Ken Sebben hires outside attorney Azul Falcone as the firm's new partner. When Harvey accidentally kills Azul's assistant Dynomutt, Azul must defend him at court.

### Season 2

1. ***Blackwatch Plaid*** - Secret Squirrel is on the job, and needs to get a special spy gadget out. He keeps it where he keeps everything he needs, inside his trenchcoat. As he whips the coat open, the woman he was trying to help screams and collapses.
2. ***Trio's Company*** - Inch High P.I. is fired because all of his photos are poor quality due to their perspective being from an inch off the ground. He goes to Harvey for representation, but something's come up, and he's ignored for much of the episode.
3. ***Turtle Soup*** - After Bugs Bunny finally discovering that Cecil Turtle was cheating in during a race, he sues him to it in the court with Harvey's help.
4. ***Dodgers No More*** - Duck Dodgers and the Eager Young Space Cadet are taken to the court by Marvin the Martian after almost destroying the universe.
5. ***The Devlin Made Me Do It*** - A kid tries to imitate Ernie Devlin's deep ravine jump, and seriously injures himself. The family sues Devlin and Harvey is called to defend him. Things don't look good after Birdman almost kills the kid trying to prove he can move. Freezoid's case doesn't help much either.
6. ***High Speed Buggy Chase*** - A television changes from one channel to another, all of them showing a breaking news story. It's a high speed chase, involving Speed Buggy, a living car. The chase ends as Speed Buggy attempts to climb the median "on foot".
7. ***SPF*** - After years of getting his powers from the sun, Harvey notices a mole that resembles Frida Kahlo on his face, and Peanut suggests he has it looked at. He goes to a doctor, who suggests he wear SPF-710 sunblock and keep in the shade.
8. ***Back to the Present*** - The Jetsons travel to present day to sue humanlity for ruining the Earth in the future.
9. ***Grape Juiced*** - Grape Ape comes out to compete in the Laff-a-Lympics. He goes through his ribbon dancing routine flawlessly, but when he takes a bow, all manner of pills, including steroids, fall from his uniform.
10. ***Peanut Puberty*** - During a board meeting of Sebben & Sebben, Peanut's light shield starts growing uncontrollably, much to his embarrassment. He is going through "superty", the period in which a young superhero acquires his superpowers, and resents Harvey's efforts to help him.
11. ***Gone Efficien...t*** - To generate more money Phil hires an efficiency expert named Dvd (formerly David; he took out the vowels to save time, which Phil regards as brllnt). A new regime of efficiency is sweeping Sebben & Sebben, and one of its major parts is to keep only the top three earners.
12. ***Droopy Botox*** - Droopy Dog is suing his plastic surgeon for malpractice after he received an overdose of botox that has left his face essentially frozen. Though the case seems open and shut, Harvey produces an indemnity waiver signed by Droopy and wins the case.
13. ***Guitar Control*** - Quick Draw McGraw attempts to bring in the Dalton Gang (who were wanted for card cheating, cattle rustling, and running a crystal meth lab). After a short shoot out, Quick Draw pulls out his trade mark guitar, only to be arrested for carrying a concealed weapon.

### Season 3

1. ***Booty Noir*** - Phil reads a letter from Reducto detailing his affair with Norlissa, the curvaceous ex-girlfriend of Black Vulcan. She is possessed of enormous buttocks, and when Reducto finds himself unwilling to shrink it, and even begins to expand it, he falls into a state of existential angst.
2. ***Harvey's Civvy*** - In the opening, Murro the Marauder is fighting Birdman and Avenger. They defeat him, and fly away, not realizing that he has been paralyzed from the waist down. Decades later, Murro sues Birdman. Birdman needs a good lawyer, but somehow ends up with Potamus.
3. ***X Gets the Crest*** - X wins Birdman's Crest in a game of what appears to be poker, although Peanut claims it's gin rummy. He cannot collect his million dollar commission, however, as F.E.A.R. moved its headquarters and left no forwarding address.
4. ***Bird Girl of Guantanamole*** - It's 'Take Phil's Daughter to Work Day', so naturally Phil brings his daughter, Judy. Harvey agrees to defend Morocco Mole, who has been detained as a terrorist for two years after being discovered in the Middle East.
5. ***Turner Classic Birdman*** - A frame episode for the short "Busy Day for Birdman" and through it's made in 2005, the short purports to be from 1967, and features many of the modern show's characters in their original incarnations, albeit with modern ironic overtones.
6. ***Beyond the Valley of the Dinosaurs*** - Harvey is invited by Potamus to relax in his new hot tub, wearing a pink shower terry that Potamus has told him to put on. Potamus instructs Harvey to "hit the jets" on the tub and when Harvey does so he is enveloped in a blue light and sucked into the swirling waters of the tub.
7. ***Evolutionary War*** - The school that Cavey Junior is attending refuses to teach evolution, claiming that it is just a myth, so his father (Captain Caveman) takes legal action, through Harvey Birdman. Peanut is sent to help prove evolution, but ends up spending all his time at a local strip club.
8. ***Free Magilla*** - Magilla Gorilla gets freed from Mr. Peebles' pet shop by the People's Animals Freedom Front. Mr. Peebles comes to Harvey Birdman to get Magilla back.
9. ***Tom and Jerry Kidnappers?*** - Tom and Jerry are taken to court for "child abduction" on the night the baby disappeared into the construction site while babysitter Jeannie was on the phone chatting with her high school friends but, thanks to Harvey, Tom and Jerry are found not guilty and Jeannie is sentenced to 2 months in prison for child neglect.
10. ***Return of Birdgirl*** - Birdgirl brings to Harvey's attention a case where Dr. Quest and Race Bannon want to have a legal gay marriage to protect the boys.
11. ***Mindless*** - Peanut spots an abrasion on Harvey's neck from a cat scratch from Benny who enters and reports Top Cat's arrest for being a cat. Harvey gets Top Cat released but he is soon back in jail for illegal gambling in Harvey's house which Harvey is implicated in.
12. ***Sebben and Sebben Employee Orientation*** - The episode is presented as an orientation film for new Sebben & Sebben employees.
13. ***Identity Theft*** - Chemical Castration (né Yakky Doodle) wants his old name back, which requires photocopying paper work. So Harvey Birdman goes to Duplication Services but he unwittingly insults the employee by getting his name wrong

### Season 4

1. ***Shazzan*** - Avenger inexplicably starts talking. Peanut discovers a vase that, when rubbed, releases Shazzan, now in servitude to Peanut. Shazzan accuses Mentok of having imprisoned him in the vase centuries ago for gazing on the king's intended.
2. ***Million Dollar Bankruptcy*** - Montana Max lost all his money after his last plan to get rid of Buster and Babs Bunny and takes them to the court and at the end, it's discovered that Monty practiced tax evasion and gets arrested and Buster and Babs are declared not guilty, mainly becuase Mentok has no idea what just happened.
3. ***Too Much Zany*** - The Warners are declared mentally insane and they need Harvey's help to prove that they're mentally stable.
4. ***Incredible Hippo*** - Peter Potamus consumes radioactive pellets that transform him into "the creature", turning him green and tripling his waist size. Meanwhile, Atom Ant is charged with having high radiation levels in his home.
5. ***Babysitter*** - Peter Potamus takes over Sebben & Sebben in Phil's absence. Reducto babysits Peanut on his birthday. Birdgirl/Judy is searching for her father Phil. Birdman goes to his high school reunion. While running across an intersection after Peanut's party, Reducto is hit by a clown-car and killed.
6. ***Birdnapped*** - Harvey takes over for the recently deceased Phil, performing paper work and firings. At the same time, X the Eliminator is busy planning the perfect supper date with Harvey....who has yet to be invited.
7. ***Grodin*** - Bobby files yet another lawsuit on Ernie Devlin after choking on a defective toy marketed by Devlin. X the Eliminator seeks outside assistance to make him more evil.
8. ***Rooster Trouble*** - Sick of Foghorn Leghorn's pranks, the Barnyard Dawg sues him for domestic abuse and seeks Harvey's help.
9. ***Pig Divorce*** - After their marriage not being the same for years, Porky Pig and Petunia Pig are filling for divorce.
10. ***Kid Court*** - Elmyra Duff is taken to justice due to "animal abuse".
11. ***Pinky Busted*** - Pinky and the Brain are finally arrested and they're judged by their world domination plans.
12. ***Juror in Court***/***The Death of Harvey*** (two-part series finale) -

## Voice actors

* Gary Cole as Harvey Birdman and Judge Hiram Mightor
* Stephen Colbert as Phil Ken Sebben and Myron Reducto
* Peter MacNicol as X the Eliminator
* Thomas Allen as Peanut
* John Michael Higgins as Judge Mentok the Mindtaker, Zardo and Grape Ape
* Frank Welker as Avenger (vocal effects), the Road Runner, Gogo Dodo, Furrball, Calamity Coyote, Little Beeper, Thaddeus Plotz, Ralph T. Guard, Runt, Buttons, Fred Jones, Jerry Mouse and Muttley
* Joe Alaskey as Peter Potamus (first), Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Plucky Duck, Sylvester, Sylvester Junior, Tweety, Duck Dodgers, Speedy Gonzales, Barnyard Dawg, Henery Hawk, Wile E. Coyote, The Tasmanian Devil and Marvin the Martian
* Chris Edgerly as Peter Potamus (second), DVD, Mr. Finkerton, The Funky Phantom, Augie Doggie, Montana Max, Cumulus the Storm King, Captain Caveman and Fancy Fancy
* Debi Mae West as Gigi
* June Foray as Judge Granny and Witch Hazel
* Maurice LaMarche as Azul Falcone, Stan Freezoid, Apache Chief, Pepé Le Pew, Yosemite Sam, The Brain, Dizzy Devil, Spike Bulldog, Butch Cat, Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear, Der Spuzmacher, Inch High, Speed Buggy, Hi-Riser, Doggie Daddy, Droopy, Quick Draw McGraw, Wally Gator, Morocco Mole, Dick Dastardly, Garok, Cavey Jr., Magilla Gorilla, Mr. Peebles, Benny the Ball, Dum Dum, Shazzan, Atom Ant and Nitron
* Kevin Michael Richardson as Barney Rubble
* Tress MacNeille as Lola Bunny, Penelope Pussycat, Babs Bunny, Fifi La Fume, Elmyra Duff, Dot Warner, Hello Nurse, Skippy Squirrel, Mindy, Tuffy Mouse, Wilma Flintstone, Pebbles Flintstone and Penelope Pitstop
* Grey DeLisle as Debbie, Melissa Duck, Petunia Pig, Shirley the Loon, Sweetie, Slappy Squirrel, Rita, Minerva Mink, Katie Ka-Boom, Daphne Blake, Betty Rubble, Dr. Gale Melody and Mary
* Michael McKean as Evelyn Spyro Throckmorton
* Tom Kenny as Boo-Boo Bear, Screwball Squirrel, Elroy Jetson, Top Cat and Choo Choo
* Wally Wingert as George Jetson, Astro, Hadji and Harry Twiddles
* Neil Ross as Vulturo, Dr. Benton Quest and Ding-A-Ling Wolf
* Bob Bergen as Porky Pig, George Bear and the Eager Young Space Cadet
* Billy West as Tom Cat, Elmer Fudd and Hamton J. Pig
* Scott Innes as Shaggy Rogers, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo
* Phil LaMarr as Black Vulcan
* Paget Brewster as Birdgirl
* Charlie Adler as Buster Bunny
* Rob Paulsen as Yakko Warner, Dr. Otto Scratchansniff, Pinky, Arnold the Pitbull, Tyke Bulldog and Baba Looey
* Jess Harnell as Wakko Warner and Walter Wolf
* Bill Farmer as Foghorn Leghorn, Barney Bear, Junior Bear and Secret Squirrel
* Dee Bradley Baker as Jonny Quest and Lizardman
* Diane Michelle as Jane Jetson and Orbity
* B.J. Ward as Velma Dinkley
* Lewis Black as Elliott the Deadly Duplicator
* Steve Blum as Yakky Doodle

## Trivia

* The Road Runner replaces the Bear in the cameos of this version.
* In this version, there's a recurring gag at the end of some episodes in which Magilla Gorilla, being in prison, is seen harassing (and raping) guilty male characters.
* Due to the unavailibility of Jim Cummings, Joe Alaskey voices Taz and Maurice LaMarche voices Dick Dastardly in the show.
* Due to the unavailability of Kath Soucie (Lola Bunny and Fifi La Fume), Cree Summer (Elmyra Duff), Russi Taylor (Pebbles Flintstone) and Nancy Cartwright (Mindy), Tress MacNeille voices their characters in the show, besides also voicing Skippy Squirrel.
* Due to the unavailability of Gail Matthius (Shirley the Loon), Candi Milo (Sweetie), Sherri Stoner (Slappy Squirrel), Bernadette Peters (Rita) and Julie Brown (Minerva Mink), Grey DeLisle voices their characters in the show.
* In this version, Daffy and Porky and Dodgers and the Cadet are shown as separate characters.