Birdgirl (TV series)

Birdgirl is an American adult animated superhero comedy television series. It is a spiritual successor to the television series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law created by Michael Ouweleen and Erik Richter, which itself was a comedic spin-off of the original 1967 Birdman cartoon and Space Ghost Coast to Coast. The series stars the voices of Paget Brewster, Rob Delaney, Sonia Denis, Kether Donohue, John Doman, Negin Farsad, Tony Hale and River L. Ramirez. The series premiered on Adult Swim on April 5, 2021. Unlike in the original Birdman cartoon, the Hanna-Barbera-owned characters—including Birdman himself—are missing from the series.

On October 4, 2021, Kether Donohue, the voice of Gillian, posted on Instagram that Birdgirl had been renewed for a second season. This was confirmed on February 9, 2022. The second and final season premiered on Adult Swim on June 19, 2022, and HBO Max on June 20.

Plot
Judy Ken Sebben, the daughter of Phil Ken Sebben, fights crime as Birdgirl. When Phil Ken Sebben is killed in an accident, he names Birdgirl as the successor of Sebben & Sebben Worldwide. With help from her friend Meredith the Mind Taker, Birdgirl was able to get Judy to be the new CEO of Sebben & Sebben while still fighting crime on the side. In undoing the crimes her own father committed and combating other emerging threats of rivals while trying to balance between running the company and continuing her life as a superhero, Judy is aided by the Birdteam, an all-new crack team she forms with Meredith and other Sebben & Sebben Worldwide employees.

Reception
Reviewing the first 2 episodes, Den of Geek praises the "chaotic" pacing and characters, "sweet" backstory, and expresses hope in its potential; their review describes the show as an "exciting new Adult Swim venture that’s able to successfully carry on the unhinged atmosphere of the original Harvey Birdman while it takes the material to entirely different places."

The AV Club expressed joy towards Brewster's titular character and lamented that the supporting characters were not as interesting as those in Harvey Birdman, presumably because Birdman was contingent on the inclusion of Hanna-Barbera cartoon incidentals, whereas Birdgirl takes place in a human-centric world.