Birds of Prey Officially Axed

With a nearly silent whimper, the show was officially canceled by the WB, but a finale may be in the works.

Gothem Clock Tower has more information for those of you that are still watching it. For those of you who will go into Dina Meyer withdrawl, she’ll be in the upcoming "Star Trek Nemesis" as Romulan Commander Donatra.

18 replies on “Birds of Prey Officially Axed”

  1. A shame, but not a horrible shame.
    I’m sad that it fell by the wayside, and a little curious why it failed where Smallville succeeded. My guess – Superman is better known and has a fanbase, while BoP had to gain fans on the quality of the show, it didn’t have a hook like other shows have had. The only bitch overall is that this got cancelled while other scifi schlock perseveres (hint – two of them are listed in the side panel on this site, one starts with A, and the other starts with ST:E).

    Overall, I liked it, though it didn’t change my life, and it was cool seeing one of my favorite band’s (Porcupine Tree) music used during one of the fight scenes.

    Good luck to cast and crew.

    • Re: A shame, but not a horrible shame.

      I’m sad that it fell by the wayside, and a little curious why it failed
      where Smallville succeeded. My guess – Superman is better
      known and has a fanbase, while BoP had to gain fans on the
      quality of the show, it didn’t have a hook like other shows have
      had.

      Well, I’m happy! From the first 10 minutes of the pilot, I knew this
      show wouldn’t last.
      Your guess is partly right, Superman is better know than
      Batman’s sidekick and unheard-of daughter (and lil’ miss Jean
      Grey wannabe), but that’s just part of it. I’ve bitched about this show
      before, but I can name a few again:

      • Top of the list: The changy-eyes SFX. Cheesy, dumb,
        overused.
      • Akward dialogues
      • Inapropriate costumes (ok, so Buffy has had worse, but still)
      • Oh god, the morphy eyes…that was SO lame!
      • The city looked fake
      • New Gotham? We already have to deal with
        mutan..er..metahumans (riiight), crippled sidekicks, inexplicable
        morphy eyes, and on top of that we have to deal with the fact that
        the made-up city of Gotham has been destroyed and rebuilt…sigh
      • Lame gadgets…I know its used by many shows and movies,
        but night-vision gogles that shine a light in your eyes…that’s lame.
        Now, nigh-vision gogles with a laser that goes “woooOOOsh”
        when
        it passes close to the camera…that’s beyond stupid.
      • So, before she can use her super strenght/speed/agility, she
        needs to make her eyes transform from human eyes to cat eyes
        huh? Yeah, that makes sense! Suuure! Hey, and that wildcat call
        we hear every damn time she uses her strength/speed/agility, is
        that coming out of her eyes as well? Sheesh!
      • Why bother to have believable acting or good dialogue when
        we have a blond chick, a brunette and a red-head?
      • A villain that needs to laugh maniacly all the time so we’ll get
        that she’s 1)insane and 2)evil. Sigh

      On the other hand, lets take Smallville:

      • The powers FX are all at the very least relevant, and quite often
        look very good on top of that.
      • Interesting dialogues, comes out natural, witty, in short: not
        dumb overacted one liners again and again.
      • Notice how Clark keeps dressing in primary red and blue?
        Notice how they keep pointing it out? (“blue looks good on you”,
        “Who’s the hunk in primary colours?”, etc)
      • The subtle demonstrations of Clark’s powers: He helps around
        the farm using his super strenght, he picks up hot plates from the
        stove, all subtle stuff that he does naturally while talking to his
        parents. No special FX, he just acts normal while people around
        him act like the bags are heavy or the plate is hot…no morphy eyes
        needed.
      • Kristen Kreuk and Allison Mack…drool….
      • Running gags (notice how in every show Lex is surprised to
        find someone in his house? That cracks me up.)
      • Subtle hinting (calling Clark “the man of tomorrow” on his
        election campaign, Lana asking him after he read some Nietzsche
        is he’s a man or a superman (ok, that one wasn’t subtle)).
      • And last but certainly not least: Lex Luthor. Clark’s best friend!
        he says stuff like “I swear I’m not a criminal mastermind”! He’s great
        at it too.

      But I guess some people like you got over BoP’s many many flaws
      and managed to enjoy the show…I’m sorry your show was
      cancelled.

      Now, we can only hope that the Fox people have met their
      cancellation quota and will keep the axe away from Firefly…knock
      on wood, cross fingers, etc : )

      • Re: A shame, but not a horrible shame.

        New Gotham? We already have to deal with
        mutan..er..metahumans (riiight), crippled sidekicks, inexplicable
        morphy eyes, and on top of that we have to deal with the fact that
        the made-up city of Gotham has been destroyed and rebuilt…sigh

        okay…I’m not knocking the rest of your points – I actually agree with you completely. This, however, isn’t exactly something to bitch about. The “canon” Batman story does entail the destruction and rebuilding of gotham….and I know that Batman Beyond at least makes extensive use of metahumans. The whole thing with the huntress and crippled barbara gordon (who, btw, in 90% of the “future gotham” things ends up being police commisioner, not a teacher) is way off canon…but new gotham and metahumans are playing pretty much straight.

        • Re: A shame, but not a horrible shame.
          Batman Beyond doesn’t make much use of metahumans, in the sense of people who were born as X-Men style mutants. There’s one episode about the Brain Trust (which has an awesomely animated telekinetic fight with a cane) where people were born with special abilities, but that’s it.

          The freaks and weirdos in BB are quite standardly made — irresponsible genetic engineering or cybernetic implants or scientific accidents. External forces. There is no ‘race’ of metahumans worth note who have the same angle they did in BoP.

          Gotham wasn’t completely destroyed and rebuilt in BB, either; it simply evolved as time went on, old buildings replaced by new ones, etc. Normal expansion for a city in a world where technology has evolved this far. A few old buildings from the Batman era are still around.

          • Re: A shame, but not a horrible shame.

            The freaks and weirdos in BB are quite standardly made — irresponsible genetic engineering or cybernetic implants or scientific accidents. External forces. There is no ‘race’ of metahumans worth note who have the same angle they did in BoP.

            Gotham wasn’t completely destroyed and rebuilt in BB, either; it simply evolved as time went on, old buildings replaced by new ones, etc. Normal expansion for a city in a world where technology has evolved this far. A few old buildings from the Batman era are still around.

            perhaps I’m thinking of another…..oh…shoot…do you remember a not-so-good cartoon…comething along the lines of “Static” or somthing like that? THAT’s where I’m thinking of metahumans from…has a similar feel to batman beyond – high school kid fights crime, only one of his friends knows he’s a superhero….not too bad, but not great. alright…sorry.

            as far as gotham…I’m not talking about BB. I’m talking about BATMAN. the joker, et. al, take advantage of batman’s either being gone due to illness….or something….Azrael ends up coming in to take care of things…during one of the fights that puts batman down for a loooong time, the big confrontation with Bane, an awful lot of the city is destroyed – and most of the rest is destroyed after that.

            now, I’m no batman historian or huge wealth of batman info – I just happen to have picked up the particular comics in which this took place (there was a big cross-title story arc) – and before we start talking about BB, it’s impossible for birds of prey and BB to both be canon (BB takes place AFTER Birds of prey, but batman is still around and barbara gordon is walking around just fine), but what I’m pointing out about the destruction of the city isn’t that big a thing to have to accept. (unless you’re pretty new to batman as many undoubtedly are). so I guess I’m arguing a moot point here. just wanted to make the point. wouldn’t be a geek if I didn’t. heh.

        • Re: A shame, but not a horrible shame.

          The whole thing with the huntress and crippled barbara gordon (who, btw, in 90% of the “future gotham” things ends up being police commisioner, not a teacher) is way off canon…but new gotham and metahumans are playing pretty much straight.

          Sorry for the nitpick, but the crippled barbara gordon is NOT off canon. It’s been established in the comics for about 10 years, since the Killing Joke storyline. Birds of Prey is (was?) based on the comic book of the same name, where Oracle, Dinah (Black Canary) and occaisionally Huntress star.

          • Re: A shame, but not a horrible shame.

            Sorry for the nitpick, but the crippled barbara gordon is NOT off canon. It’s been established in the comics for about 10 years, since the Killing Joke storyline. Birds of Prey is (was?) based on the comic book of the same name, where Oracle, Dinah (Black Canary) and occaisionally Huntress star.

            d’oh…I’d say that’s no nitpick. thanks for pointing it out. guess batman goes in about half a dozen different “future” directions…..

    • Re: A shame, but not a horrible shame.

      I’m sad that it fell by the wayside, and a little curious why it failed where Smallville succeeded.

      I think BoP’s main problems were that the writers couldn’t decide if this was an action/comedy, action/romance, action/tongue-in-cheek send-up, etc. It was like every episode they played out some new premise and then waited to see if the ratings went up or down.

      The acting wasn’t the best either (except for Dina Meyer, who was magnificent *g* ) with most of the character development directed towards their cleavage. I think the greatest disappointment for me was Harley Quinn, she could have been played up as a really twisted psychopath, instead we got mild PMS.

      As for Star Trek, it’s still around because of sheer inertia. Andromeda? Who knows, maybe they captured that all important frontal labotomy segment of the Neilson families.

      • Re: A shame, but not a horrible shame.

        Andromeda? Who knows, maybe they captured that all important frontal labotomy segment of the Neilson families.

        Actually, I think Andromeda’s popularity (if that’s the right word) has more to do with the fact that it’s syndicated, and it makes good filler on a Friday night when all the ‘cool’ people are out, and the nerds/geeks/sci-fi fans are at home.

        I’m hoping that this single fact combined with it’s being a much better show will save Firefly. I won’t especially miss BoP, but Firefly has a lot of potential.

        As to the comparison to Smallville, Clark Kent et al are in a much different class than Birds of Prey. The writers know what they’re doing, and it’s in a fictional world that is well known to everyone, not just fans of Batman (as is the case with BoP). To be truthfull, I never heard of Birds of Prey before I saw the preveiws on Space, and it never really got me as interested as Smallville has.

        • Re: A shame, but not a horrible shame.

          Actually, I think Andromeda’s popularity (if that’s the right word) has more to do with the fact that it’s syndicated, and it makes good filler on a Friday night when all the ‘cool’ people are out, and the nerds/geeks/sci-fi fans are at home.

          Umm….I’m a geek and a nerd and a sci-fi fan…and I’m out every weekend, pretty much all weekend. a fact which makes it all the more irritating that the moronic studio execs assume that Friday night is the perfect night to air half the shows I like!!

          I’m hoping that this single fact combined with it’s being a much better show will save Firefly. I won’t especially miss BoP, but Firefly has a lot of potential.

          Firefly is one of the…oooh….say 6 best shows on TV.

          That’s including shows that aren’t sci-fi, like West Wing.

          • Re: A shame, but not a horrible shame.

            Umm….I’m a geek and a nerd and a sci-fi fan…

            You can’t be both a geek and a nerd. The dividing line is whether you have an S.O. or not. Geeks: Yes. Nerds: No.

            JANET
            http://groomlake.net

            • Re: A shame, but not a horrible shame.

              You can’t be both a geek and a nerd. The dividing line is whether you have an S.O. or not. Geeks: Yes. Nerds: No.

              geez…no idea we were so protective of our own labels. well, then color me a geek. I’m gettnig married in March. (good thing I refer to myself as geek more often than nerd…)

    • Re: A shame, but not a horrible shame.

      … it was cool seeing one of my favorite band’s (Porcupine Tree)
      music used during one of the fight scenes.

      Heh. I saw Porcupine Tree playing at the Knitting Factory –
      Hollywood on Tuesday night, and before they played that song,
      Steve Wilson mentioned it was really weird hearing his music
      being used in a way he had never intended or expected.

      • Re: A shame, but not a horrible shame.

        Heh. I saw Porcupine Tree playing at the Knitting Factory –

        You. Suck. Grrr….

        On the plus side, I saw them 2-3 years ago. Saw them do 2 acoustic performances, and then a great night show, where they even played Voyage 34. *grin*

    • Re: A shame, but not a horrible shame.
      Andromeda is syndicated, which is a level of TV purgatory that’s below even cable. Enterprise is Star Trek (or is it Star Drek?); ‘nuf said. I haven’t watched Smallville, but I get the impression that it has a similar format to (early) Buffy, which is a known winner. And AFAIK, none of them run around in costumes inappropriate for their setting (ie. superhero outfits).

      IMHO the superheroes in costume bit has been done so badly so often that audiences aren’t willing to give it a chance anymore. As soon as I saw Huntress’ outfit (and even worse, a glimpse of that horrible Batgirl costume), I knew this show was going to have a hard time. My gut reaction was “Cheese Alert!”, and it took a lot for me to look past it and judge the show on its merits. As it is, I’m still not convinced that the show doesn’t deserve its fate, although perhaps would have blossomed given a few more episodes.

  2. Hrmmm

    For those of you who will go into Dina Meyer withdrawl…

    Why do I feel that this was directed at me? :)

    • Re: Hrmmm

      Why do I feel that this was directed at me? :)

      I don’t know, why do you feel that way? Tell me about you mother…

  3. I’m sad but not that sad
    I thought the show was fine and I probably would have continued to watch it (because I didn’t catch West Wing in the first seasons and I don’t like coming in late). I’ll miss it, but not too much. There are plenty of DC franchises left for the WB to try to get some shows going.

    I did enjoy, though, the “comic geek bonus” in last night’s episode: Showing the corner of O’Neil and Adams streets. :)

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