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23 Years Ago, a Forgotten DC Series Debuted Its Final Episode (But It Returned in the Best Way Possible)
The DC Universe has had quite the history in the realm of television, with shows like Smallville, Arrow, Lois & Clark, and Penguin all immediately coming to mind. In the midst of all those projects sits a forgotten DC series that debuted its final episode 23 years ago, but while it might often be forgotten, it made its grand return in the best way possible.
On February 19th, 2003, CW’s DC series Birds of Prey aired its final episode. The show featured the core trio of Huntress, Oracle, and Black Canary as they protected Gotham in Batman’s absence, and while the show was cancelled after just 13 episodes, it would get another moment in the spotlight. That happened in 2019 when the show became part of the Arrowverse’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, and though the world the show was based in would be wiped out of existence thanks to the Anti-Monitor, it would feature the return of Huntress with the original actress reprising her role on the biggest DC stage.
Why Was Birds of Prey Cancelled?
Birds of Prey took the core team concept from the Birds of Prey comics, but there were a host of other changes in how they met and the individuals themselves. Huntress, who was played by Ashley Scott, was named Helena Kyle and was the daughter of Batman and Catwoman. She had metahuman powers from her mother in this iteration, who she was also much closer to thanks to not even knowing her dad was Batman until her mother was murdered by The Joker’s hitman.
That’s what brought her into Oracle’s orbit. Oracle was played by Dina Meyer, and during the show fans also got falshbacks that showed her time as Batgirl before the Joker shot her, causing her to be paralyzed. This brings us to Black Canary, who was played by Rachel Skarsten. Dinah ends up having visions of the tragedies that befell both Oracle and Huntress, and after seeking them out and proving herself, she joins the group full time.
You can see the tethers to the original comics, but with host of tweaks and changes. Having Huntress be the daughter of Batman and Catwoman is already a promising premise, and there was plenty to explore in the mystery around why Batman abandoned Gotham as well. The series also had a compelling villain going for it, as the main antagonist was Harleen Quinzel.
The show even performed well in its debut with 7.6 million viewers, and it also clicked with the always coveted 18 to 34 demographic. Unfortunately the ratings took a sharp downturn over the course of several weeks, and the show would only air 13 episodes in total before being cancelled.
The final episode “Devil’s Eyes” did set up some promising threads for more episodes or even a season 2, as the final scene of the episode features Alfred talking to “Master Bruce” on the phone about Helena. That never gets followed up on obviously, but the show would get included in Crisis on Infinite Earths and bring the show into the fold with the Arrowverse.
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