Class of 3000
Class of 3000 was an American Emmy Award-winning comedy animated television series on Cartoon Network that was created and executive produced by, and starring, André 3000 of the hip-hop group OutKast. He played superstar and music teacher Sunny Bridges, who taught at Atlanta, Georgia's Westley School of Performing Arts. Mr. Bridges is a jazz and blues artist who occasionally lectures in Atlanta's Little Five Points neighborhood.
The series made its world premiere (previously advertised as a live premiere with performances by Chris Brown) on November 3, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT with a one-hour special, came to Cartoon Network UK on May 28, 2007 and premiered on Cartoon Network Australia/New Zealand on February 4th 2008. Due to budget problems, the show was cancelled in October 2007 (though new episodes kept airing until May 2008). (It's likely the writer's strike of 2007-2008 didn't help, either.) The show was co-created and developed by Thomas W. Lynch & Patric M. Verrone, who was the head of the WGA at the time of the strike.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Japanese ending theme is called "Funky Teacher" by SEAMO.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: When characters are shown as just masses.
- Amusing Injuries: In a rare aversion of its type, this show rarely shows them.
- Art Shift: Every episode has a musical sequence where the art style changes in varying ways from psychedelic to live action to puppetry.
- Another one came during the episode "The Hunt for Red Blobtober", when the kids are being chased, it somehow turns into Pac-Man.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: These seem to be on almost every non-main character.
- Amongst the central eight, Philly Phil, Eddie and Sunny have thicker eyebrows than the others, but nowhere near the extent of most of the side characters.
- Book Dumb: Sunny's students show great dealings with their music...but they all vary on school work and such.
- Brick Joke: Radios For Rabbits and the hobbit in "Home".
- Not just "Home". These types of jokes are a staple of this series.
- Butt Monkey: Let's just say each of the main cast is this at one point.
- But Kam's just a wee bit more vulnerable...
- Christmas Episode
- Class Trip
- Coincidental Accidental Disguise: The episode, The Hunt for Red Blobtober, where the gang mistook Sunny for a pirate. The items were: sunglasses half-off (as in, only one lens), him wearing a blouse but the hanger became a hook in a sleeve, and Bianca accidentally writing 'Sunny Blidges' on the grain of rice thus making him say, 'R! R I say! R!'...then the parrot came and lampshaded the whole thing with, "Sunny's a pirate, do the math."
- Completely Missing the Point: Madison could very well be the queen of this.
- Also Bianca Moon, the hippie who owns the new age store.
- The Danza: Phil LaMarr as Philly Phil
- A Day in the Limelight: Quite a few of the Season 2 episodes do this.
- Deal with the Devil: Not really the devil, but a record company executive who fills the role rather well. Although at one point he started to refer to himself as the devil, but stopped himself.
- The episode in question is called "The Devil and Lil'D", and it was implied he was the Devil throughout the entire episode (using blue demons that can replace their heads when they're chopped off as henchmen, belching fire, using zombies as a 'research and marketing' division, etc...)
- Disappeared Dad: In the pilot episode, Madison points out that Lil' D never met his father.
- The Ditz: Madison
- Dumb Blonde: Madison, though she's gone beyond just dumb
- Epunymous Title
- Fan Service: Sunny and Leela Lopez in swimsuits.
- Maybe the kids in their swimsuits as well. Except for Kam.
- Fell Off the Back of a Truck: "Where did you get a rocket?"
- Fiction 500: Eddie is so rich he has five fingers on each hand instead of four.
- Five-Man Band
- The Hero: Lil'D
- The Lancer: Eddie
- The Smart Guy: Philly Phil
- The Big Guy: Tamika
- The Chick: Madison
- Those Two Guys: Kim (who can also be a Chick) and Kam (who can also be a Smart Guy)
- The Mentor: Sunny
- Five-Token Band: Lil' D and Tamika are African-American, Kim and Kam are of Asian descent, Madison is Greek-Italian, Eddie has Swiss heritage, and Phil's heritage is unknown.
- Girl Posse
- Gonk: Ms. Squattenchowder, and likely more.
- Hands Go Down:
Sunny: Who can tell me what the key to winning a regional music competition is?
(hands go up)
Sunny: And don't say 'musical ability'.
(all hands go down except Tamika and Madison)
Sunny: Or wedgies.
(Tamika's hand goes down)
Sunny: Or dolphins.
(Madison's hand goes down)
- Hartman Hips: Multiple older female characters have this.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: Not only is there Andre 3000, there's Lee and Sonya, Wilt and Henry as well.
- I Need to Go Iron My Dog
- Indy Escape: The Raiders of the Lost Ark was parodied in "Eddie's Money", with Sunny Bridges as Indy. The boulder is just one of the hazards involved in accessing what turns out to be the world's most inconveniently located gift store. (Turns out they do most of their business on-line.)
- Indy Hat Roll: Sunny Bridges does it in the episode "Eddie's Money"; grabbing his hat with his feet for a few extra style points.
- Inexplicably Awesome: Sunny Bridges
- Instrument of Murder: In "Funky Monkey", Tamika uses her harp as a bow to fire a drumstick at Lil' D.
- Jerkass: Lil' D acts like this most of the time.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Tamika
- Literal-Minded: Madison brought fleas to a flea market and a garage to a garage sale.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Eddie. He even gets a song about it: "A Richer Shade of Blue".
- Louis Cypher: Big D in "The Devil and Lil' D".
- Love Triangle: "Love is in the Hair...Net"
- Magical Negro: Sunny
- The Men in Black: The S.U.A.M.A. (Shut Up and Move Along) agents from "Brotha from the Third Rock".
- Noodle People: Sunny and Phil, compared to most of the other characters.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Kim and Kam
- The Psycho Rangers: The band met Sunny's old school rival who has a class that's exactly an evil version of them.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: The band's evil version dresses in black-and-red, Third Reich-inspired uniforms.
- Running Gag: An item thrown out of view at any given time tends to cause the offscreen response of "Ow, my eye!" right after a crash. A related item meeting the same fate will cause the same person to call out "Ow, my other eye!" right after a crash.
- Safety Worst: "Safety Last" shows Eddie's parents locking him in a tower in order to protect him.
- School Play
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Eddie
- Sometimes Screw the Money, I Have Rules!
- Shout-Out: Leela Lopez dressed like Marge Simpson in "Love is in the Hair...Net".
- Philly Phil's yellow jumpsuit is reminiscent of April O'Neil from the 80s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- And in one episode both Godzilla and Mothra make an appearance.
- Team Dad: Sunny
- Tongue on the Flagpole: Madison gets her tongue stuck on an ice sculpture at Eddie's birthday. Twice.
- Totem Pole Trench: Done to pose as an alien in "Brotha from the Third Rock".
- Trope 2000
- Uncle Pennybags: Both Sunny and Eddie.
- Unrequited Love: Eddie to Tamika.
- Use Your Head: Philly Phil is used as a human battering ram in the episode "Too Cool for School"
- Villain Song: Despite being a musical show, this is actually surprisingly rare. However, Big D gets a rather epic one called "All We Want Is Your Soul".