Western Animation / The Bremen Avenue Experience

Left to right: Jessica, Simon, Tanner and Barrett rock the house — literally.

"5,6,7,8!"

— Tanner

The Bremen Avenue Experience is an Animated Show whose five episodes were made by writer Steve Patrick and director Adam Fuchs in 2008 for Cartoon Network's "Wedgies" program. It's a modern adaptation of "The Bremen Town Musicians", a Fairy Tale from Germany popularized by The Brothers Grimm.

The titular characters are four Funny Animals who have formed a Garage Band. The series revolves around the group's rehearsals, where they deal with each other's quirky personalities while trying to make music together (and sometimes succeeding). The band members are Barrett the donkey, the keyboardist who's (more or less) in charge; Simon the dog, the enthusiastic guitarist; Jessica, the feline bassist who's a little more sensible than the others; and Tanner the rooster, the lovably eccentric drummer.

All five episodes can be watched on the Cartoon Network website.

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The Tropen Avenue Experience:

• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: None of the band members have natural fur colors. Barrett is blue, Simon is orange, Jessica is purple and Tanner is yellow.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parent: In "Tanner's Story", Tanner's dad seems to be one at first, but turns out to be a Cool Old Guy after all.
• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Jessica and Tanner wear full outfits except for shoes. Simon wears sandals, and we never get a good look at Barrett's feet.
• Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Jessica wears a shirt that doesn't quite cover her stomach.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Tanner is kind of spacey. For example, he's known Jessica for years, but has forgotten (or never noticed) her gender.
  Tanner: Wait a minute...Jessica, you're a girl!
• Control Freak: Barrett tries hard to keep the BAE focused on music—sometimes, a little too hard.
• Cool Old Guy: Pete Donnelly is a former roadie — and a pretty good drummer in his own right.
• Fake Band: Inevitable, given that the protagonists are a Funny Animal Garage Band. More are mentioned in "Tanner's Story", where we learn that Pete has worked for such notables as Jake Python, The Screams and The Pow Wow Federation.
• Fake Brit: Invoked in "Barrett's Story", where Barrett tries singing a ballad with a Cockney accent.
  Simon: What's with that accent?
  Barrett: Okay! It's just, a lot of classic rock music came from England! The Beatles, The Stones. I just think that—-
  Tanner: English guys don't sing with that accent!
• Flashback: Used in "Simon's Story" to illustrate that the band members have known each other since childhood.
• Four-Fingered Hands: Simon and Tanner have them. However, Jessica doesn't have thumbs, and Barrett has hooves instead of hands. How can these two play their instruments? Rule of Funny and/or Impractical Musical Instrument Skills.
• Funny Animal: The entire cast (all five of them).
• Humanoid Female Animal: Jessica has quite a shapely and curvy figure.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The first episode is titled "Introducing The Bremen Avenue Experience." The other four are titled "Simon's Story", "Jessica's Story"...you get the idea.
• Kinda Busy Here: In "Jessica's Story", the incessant ringing of Jessica's mobile phone disrupts a rehearsal—until the band starts incorporating it into the song they're playing.
• Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: A borderline example; the "London Town" sequence in "Barrett's Story" includes a human British Royal Guard and the human Giant Foot of Stomping from the Monty Python's Flying Circus Title Sequence. Other than that, the show probably takes place in a World of Funny Animals. (It's hard to be sure, due to the limited cast and setting.)
• Mad Artist: Simon, and it's Played for Laughs. In "Tanner's Story", he tries to get the others to wear costumes and makeup. In "Simon's Story", he attempts to put "the wow factor" in the band's act by shooting off fireworks during a rehearsal. Hilarity Ensues.
• Minimalist Cast: The series has exactly one guest star (Pete Donnelly from "Tanner's Story").
• Mixed Animal Species Team: A donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster, just as in the original story.
• The One Who Wears Shoes: Or sandals, in Simon's case.
• Only One Name: The entire cast, except for Tanner and his father Pete; in "Tanner's Story", their last name is revealed as Donnelly.
• Short-Runners: Not only did the show last only five episodes, each episode is a little over two minutes long. You can watch the whole series in about 11-12 minutes.
• Shout-Out: Several. For starters, the band/series name is a tribute to The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
  • In "Barrett's Story", the "London Town" video includes Shout-Outs to Doctor Who, William Shakespeare, The Office (UK), Harry Potter, Wallace & Gromit, Monty Python and The Beatles (specifically, an Abbey Road Crossing).
    • Also, Tanner's unique countdown on the drums (quoted above) may be a reference to all-female Japanese Power Trio The 5-6-7-8's (of Kill Bill fame).
• Stock Footage: Each episode begins with the same Establishing Shot of the house where the band rehearses. Also, a shot of three of the band members as seen over Barrett's shoulder appears fairly often.
• To Be a Master: In the Pilot Episode, Barrett says he wants the BAE to become "one of the truly great bands".
• Women Are Wiser: Played With in Jessica's case. She is usually the Only Sane Woman among the group, valiantly trying to keep the peace when her bandmates argue or otherwise get out of hand, but she gets out of hand herself in two of the episodes.
• World Limited to the Plot: The band rehearses in the garage of a suburban house. The entire series is set within that garage.

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