Prey

Before writer-producer Laeta Kalogridis struck out with Bionic Woman, she’d already struck out with another much-hyped but short-lived show about posterior-kicking babes: Birds of Prey, a mish-mash of DC comics mythology about a trio of hot lady crimefighters protecting “New Gotham” after Batman bugs out: Helena (Ashley Scott), the daughter of Batman and Catwoman; Dinah (Rachel Skarsten), a waif with some kind of power to see stuff and create big whooshing “vision” special effects; and Barbara Gordon (Dina Meyer), aka Batgirl, aka “Oracle,” who became a wheelchair-bound crimefighter after the Joker shot her (this comes from the comics). Warner Brothers is releasing a DVD of the complete 13-episode series this week, in honour of you-know-what, and the DVD set gave me a chance to get re-acquainted with an ancient time in TV history: 2002.