After Smallville took off like a runaway rocket for the WB, the network commissioned producers Mike Tollin & Brian Robbins to develop another DC Comics series for TV. Unfortunately, something got lost in the transition & translation of Birds of Prey from comics to TV.
Writer Laela Kalogrodis took liberties with the established comic books that had spawned the series, perhaps a few too many, as only 13 episodes were produced. Ironically, it aired on the same night, though not the same time slot, as the current Arrow. Some might argue that it was ahead of its time, but in truth, it was a mess.
The core characters were not always together in the comics:
Barbara Gordon, aka Oracle (Dina Meyer): The then-former Batgirl (shown in costume in a flashback in the open) was well reestablished in her new ID by this point. Her paralysis at the hands of the Joker (from Alan Moore's The Killing Joke) was retained, but Meyer plays Barbara as a glorified distaff copy of Ironside, although on this show, she has a day job as a school teacher.
Helena Wayne, aka The Huntress (Ashley Scott): Kalogrodis went with the Earth-2 origin of Huntress as the daughter of the alternate earth's Batman & Catwoman, with the twist being that Catwoman was killed by Clayface, working for the Joker, and Batman has left Gotham City behind (the town was rechristened New Gotham for no real reason).
Dinah Redmond, nee Lance (Rachel Skarsten): No, she's not meant to be the Black Canary. That was her mother (Lori Loughlin, ex-Full House), who turns up in one episode. Instead, this Dinah is a developing telepath.
Joker's girlfriend, Harley Quinn, aka Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Mia Sara) was set up as the show's primary antagonist, seeking revenge for her beloved, who'd been recast as a major league crime boss in flashbacks. Mark Hamill lent his voice to "Mr. J" in flashbacks while a stuntman played the Clown Prince of Crime. Quinn was posited as a "player on the other side" opposite Barbara, but it seemed as though they rushed the ending of the series, as this could've gone much longer.
Where WB made a mistake was not placing Birds on Thursdays, in back of Smallville. Letting it stand alone to sink or swim was not a good idea, and the mish-mash with the characters didn't help at all. The outside the box thinking has worked for Arrow, now halfway thtough its 2nd season, but didn't do anything for the Birds.
Co-star Shemar Moore (ex-Young & the Restless) moved over to Charmed to replace Dorian Gregory, and is currently on Criminal Minds. Ian Abercrombie (Alfred) provided the only real link to the Bat-family in the series, but was not much of a factor in the episodes I'd seen.
Here's the open:
Rating: D.
2 comments:
I didn't get to see much of this show but I can understand why it didn't do well. Scheduling wasn't the only problem - part of it was the backstory. People had a problem with Bruce not being there for his daughter (he knew she existed) and just abandoning Gotham as well.
Not to mention having Helena as a meta human - something she (nor her mother) was not.
Rowdy C reviewed this a while back and he identified another problem - which I agree with: rather than Dinah being the newbie and Helena/Huntress being the more experienced fighter, the two should have been switched. Dinah should have been Black Canary in all her battling glory, while a teen runaway with an attitude (Helena Bertinelli) trains with the others to eventually become Huntress. Or they could have had her as Helena Wayne who defied her parents to become an avenger.
BTW - and as far as I know - Shemar Moore was never on Charmed. When the Morris character left in season 7, he was never replaced nor mentioned again.
I thought for sure there'd been a change. I guess I was mistaken.
As I noted, the implication with Dinah was that she wasn't the new Canary---her mother's name on the show was Carolyn, which was another mistake---and had different powers never used in the comics (telepathy). Huntress was nearly spot on, but the mistake was in fact the metahuman factor, something neither of her parents were, really. All that says is that the creative staff didn't do their homework.
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