Girls Rule

Girls Rule is an American animated television series, created and written by Chris McKay for Cartoon Network and HBO Max; Mckay also serve as showrunner with Sam Register as executive producer along with Dan Lin and Roy Lee. Based on parts of "Gotham City Sirens", the series follows the group of Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Catwoman, as they survive in the criminal underworld after being kicked out of the Joker's gang and is part of the broader franchise. The series stars the voices of Jenny Slate, Zoë Kravitz and Riki Lindhome.

Girls Rule received a straight-to-series order in November 2019. The series premiered on October 17, 2022 with the first season consisting of seven episodes. The series received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the animation, voice acting, and soundtrack, but criticized it for being overstuffed plot. In November 29, 2022, the series was renewed for a second season, with Mckay returning as showrunner.

Main

 * Jenny Slate as Harley Quinn, the Joker's ex-girlfriend. She was abandoned and expelled by the mafia after betraying them in a strange event.
 * Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Joker's former smuggler and hacker. She, like many other henchmen, were also kicked out of the mob. Now it is limited and stealing in the streets with a knife.
 * Riki Lindhome as Poison Ivy, an expert doctor in silver. After directly attacking the Joker, she was forced to escape and hide. Later in the season he accepts a job at STAR Labs.
 * Rosario Dawson as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl, the newly-elected police commissioner of Gotham.
 * Will Arnett as Batman, a billionaire by day and superhero by night, who defends Gotham City from crime.
 * Nolan North as Thomas Elliot, also known as Hush, he is a supervillain hoping to take down Batman due to a childhood trauma.

Recurring

 * David Hayter as Boneblaster, a new supervillain from Gotham. He gets to have a few run-ins with the girls and develops a grudge against Catwoman before she defeats him.
 * Conan O'Brien as Riddler, a Gotham City criminal mastermind, he colludes with Hush in his plan until he betrays him. He ends up in Arkham Asylium after a confrontation.
 * Will Friedle as Maxwell Burton, a STAR Labs doctor who discovers Poison Ivy by investigating hidden files. After passing some incidents, both become boyfriends.
 * Héctor Elizondo as James Gordon, the retired police commissioner of Gotham and Barbara's father.
 * Jason Liebrecht as William, a bank manager who was robbed by Harley Quinn. Later he is one of those kidnapped by Elliot.
 * Griffin Burns as Tony, a bodyguard of the Joker.
 * Fred Stoller as Harold Allnut, a genius partner of Batman's for a long time. He is manipulated with pheromones to betray Batman, then redeems himself.
 * Kate Micucci as Clayface, one of Batman's villains, he is mind-controlled by Hush and joins as one of his henchmen, before escaping.
 * Billy Dee Williams as Two-Face, he briefly appears as a controlled ally of Hush.
 * Ralph Garman as Lowery Arnet, a scientist in charge at STAR Labs and the experiments performed there. He is remote and controlling with his employees.
 * Chris Hardwick as James Olsen, a Daily Planet television reporter.

Guest

 * Billy West as Alex, a Daily Planet interviewee
 * Patrick Warburton, as Orlando, a kidnapped.
 * Kath Soucie, as Miranda, a kidnapped.

Release
Girls Rule had airing on HBO Max and Cartoon Network simultaneously as a premiere of two first episodes on October 17.

Critical response
On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 86% with an average rating of 8/10, based on 417 reviews. The site's critical consensus summary states: "Girls Rule is an exciting and addictive series, tied together by a salvage ride to the finish line." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the series has received a score of 79 out of 100 based on 32 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Girls Rule was mostly praised and criticized positively for its characters, animation, tones, and voice acting, however it received mixed reviews towards an "overloaded" plot. Hank Stuever, television critic for The Washington Post, gave the series a perfect score. In his review, he stated: "In the magnificent and utterly engrossing new series based on DC Comics themes, the unpredictable characters take us on a thrilling ride filled with the full gamut of emotions and plenty of action, all brought vividly to life." IGN gave it a score of 8 out of 10 and called the series "Great", saying "Girls Rule is an easy recommendation, offering not-so-young viewers a more atmospheric and endearing series than Cartoon Network usually gives." , although with some setbacks in its development". In a negative review, cultural critic Grafton Tanner called the series "late" and "boring", describing, "Over the course of viewing, the series becomes increasingly tiresome to watch, and its plots and story-folds they just make it a little worse".

According to Io9 's James Whitbrook, it's a "rewarding watch" for kids, but with a story that will always appeal to adults; Wired 's Eric Thurm has called it "one of the stealthiest and smartest things" ever released. According to The AV Club, over the course of its television run of just a few weeks, Girls Rule has attracted a rapidly growing fan base, discussion and "fan networks" that have spread all over the internet.

Viewership
The show's premiere averaged 2,0 million viewers in its time slot, a number that rose to 5.5 million across multiple Sunday and Monday night broadcasts following its premiere on Cartoon Network. The first season averaged 1.90 million viewers in the seven episodes, and by the season finale, which aired on October 27, ratings were up 31% to more than 2.25 million. Recorded the highest premiere audience for a Cartoon Network premiere show in 8 years. In a December 2022 Variety analysis, it was found that Girls Rule not only engaged its target audience, but "hooked" viewers in the 18-25 age range, indicating higher traffic from the fourth episode "which led at least 70 percent of viewers who watched that episode to complete the show's entire first season." Upon its premiere, the first two episodes were reported to have been viewed by approximately 4.20 million viewers in the US on their first night of availability, including linear viewers and broadcasts on HBO Max, which was the highest single-day audience for an animated series debut in the service's history.

According to Nielsen, the first two episodes had an equal audience of 3.03 million viewers on HBO Max in the US on their first day. He later estimated that they were watched by 5.1 million viewers on HBO Max in the first four days, with the number rising to 8.5 million if the audience on Cartoon Network's main premiere channel is included. The third episode, which premiered on October 19, was watched by 4.8 million US viewers across all platforms when it premiered, according to data from Nielsen and HBO Max. This was a percentage increase from the first and second episodes; On Cartoon Network alone, it racked up 2.01 million viewers in its first two days. For its fourth episode, it racked up 6.21 million viewers on its first day across all platforms, making it the second most-watched series on HBO Max by minutes of viewing, behind Euphoria.