| Creator: | Mark Cope Carlo Moss |
| Executive Producer: | Mark Cope Carlo Moss Tiffany L. Gray Lily Vonnegut |
| Producer: | Lily Vonnegut (seasons 1–4) |
| Language: | English |
| Country: | United States |
| Company: | Extra Credit Studios Universal Cable Productions (season 5) |
| Network: | YouTube |
| Num Seasons: | 5 |
| Num Episodes: | 82 |
| List Episodes: | List of The Most Popular Girls in School episodes |
The Most Popular Girls in School (abbreviated MPGIS) is an American adult stop-motion animated comedy web series that debuted on YouTube on May 1, 2012. Created by Mark Cope and Carlo Moss, the series animates Barbie, Ken and other fashion dolls, usually with customized costumes and hairstyles, as various characters. MPGIS follows the exploits of a fictional high school cheer leading team in Overland Park, Kansas and their friends, family and enemies. Variety described the series as "Mean Girls meets South Park".[1] The first episode has been viewed over 11 million times,[2] and many episodes have received views in the millions.
In April 2013, MPGIS parodied the viral email rant of Delta Gamma sorority member Rebecca Martinson by having the character Brittnay Matthews (voiced by Lily Vonnegut) reenact the so-called "Deranged Sorority Girl Email". The MPGIS video went viral itself.[3] [4] [5] [6] On May 1, 2018, Extra Credit Studios announced a sixth season to be in development, as well as a Patreon to crowdfund MPGIS in addition to new spin-off shows The Most Popular Girls in Quarantine, Keeping Up With The Van Burens, and Models.[7] [8]
The first season begins with the arrival of new student Deandra at Overland Park High School. Deandra is sought as an ally on both sides of a long-simmering feud between head cheerleader Mackenzie Zales and socialite Shay van Buren, which comes to a head as both are nominated for prom queen. Mainly concerned with bathroom privileges, Deandra plays both sides until she is literally torn apart. Other storylines this season include Mackenzie's second-in-command Brittnay Matthews breaking up with her boyfriend Blaine only for him to begin dating her rival, foreign exchange student Saison Marguerite; lonely lurker Jonathan "Than" Getslinhaumer attempting to ingratiate himself with the football team; and unpopular student Rachel Tice's sinister plan to win the title of prom queen for herself.
In the second season, the cheer squad must defend their turf when the cheer squad from Atchison begins hanging out at their mall after their own mall burned down. They agree to give the mall to whoever wins the upcoming Nationals competition, but they don't realize one of their own squad members is a double agent. Meanwhile, Saison and Blaine prepare for the birth of their baby, while Brittnay pretends to be friends with Saison in order to get on a reality TV show about teen mothers, and later is forced to let her join the squad when they are a member short. Than, deeply in denial about his sexuality, begins a relationship with Brittnay, and later kisses openly gay football player Tanner Christiansen to prove he wouldn't enjoy it; he does, and immediately comes out. Other storylines include the budding friendship between Overland Park's Trisha Cappelletti and a cheerleader at Atchison also named Trisha, Mackenzie's battle with stress-induced female pattern baldness, and Deandra's attempts to defuse the situation between Overland Park and Atchison, the school from which she transferred after an embarrassing incident.
In the third season, former squad member Jenna Darabond returns to Overland Park to enact revenge on Mackenzie, revealing that she orchestrated the events of the previous two seasons, including burning down the Atchison mall. Her newest scheme is to upset the school's social order by turning the student body into conformity-hating hipsters, which she successfully does with Rachel, Than and former cheerleaders Ashley Katchadourian and Jenna Dapananian. Having lost half the squad, Mackenzie and Brittany reluctantly team up with Shay van Buren and Saison Marguerite, while Trisha invites the other Trisha to join the squad. The cheerleaders and hipsters wage a culture war, the situation escalating when Brittnay's car is set on fire. Meanwhile, Deandra, who received bionic implants after losing her arms, joins the football team and leads them to the state championships. Than also joins the football team, but is torn between his friendship with the guys and his relationship with Jenna when she asks him to throw the game. In the end, the students renounce hipsterism and Mackenzie has Jenna arrested for the arson of the Atchison mall. Mackenzie also reveals that she was the one who destroyed Brittnay's car to manipulate Jenna's downfall. Brittnay quits the squad and renounces Mackenzie, and, in prison, Jenna is stabbed by Atchison's head cheerleader Tanya.
The fourth season takes place over the last few weeks of the girls' junior year. Brittnay is on the warpath after being betrayed by Mackenzie, and becomes a "mercenary cheerleader" for any squad that will hire her. Shay quits the squad too, and she and Brittnay plot to embarrass Mackenzie at Justin Michaelson's end-of-year party. Meanwhile, Deandra becomes a pop music sensation to get free food from the concert venues, but continually mistreats her backup artists Rachel and Judith. While helping to prepare for Justin's party, Than becomes taken with Shaw, Tanner's boyfriend's cousin with a very similar personality to Than's own, much to the chagrin of the guys, who see Shaw as a poor influence. Mackenzie hires her own mercenary cheerleaders to help with the feud, but accidentally hires real mercenaries who Brittnay is forced to fight off. Those mercenaries accidentally kill Jenna, who is in the hospital recovering from Tanya's attempted murder. At the party, Rachel and Judith abandon Deandra, ending her music career, while Than and Shaw leave the party to have sex. Trisha, who turns to the works of Ben Affleck in times of crisis, helps the two friends reconnect, and reveals that she has manipulated events so that Shay will play an embarrassing video of herself instead of the planned one of Mackenzie. Brittnay agrees to forgive Mackenzie if she trades cars with her; once Brittnay's bullet-riddled Nissan Leaf is officially in Mackenzie's possession, Brittnay blows it up.
The fifth season takes place over the following summer, when Mackenzie, Brittnay, Trisha and Trisha 2 are called to represent Team USA in a modeling competition in Paris. Upon arriving, the squad learns that the rest of Team USA has gone missing, and they are forced to recruit Deandra, Cameron van Buren, Than, and the football team, all coincidentally in France for various reasons, to replace them, though they stop short of allowing Shay to join them. As the competition commences, the gang goes out for a wild night of partying, and Tanner is horrified to wake up next to Than. Meanwhile, Brittnay, who has always believed that Saison Marguerite is French-Canadian, rather than French as she claims, follows her to gather information, but she and Deandra are kidnapped by the American-hating Team France, who were responsible for the original Team USA's disappearance. In the end, only Rachel Tice can go on for Team USA, and they win by default when Rachel's competition gets diarrhea, courtesy of a laxative placed in everyone's drinks by Shay. Tanner is relieved to find out he and Than never had sex, but Brittnay never learns that Saison is indeed from Montreal. The group are offered five-year modeling contracts, but, with the exception of graduates Trisha 2 and Cameron, they all elect to return to Overland Park for their senior year, where they vow to make Shay van Buren pay for her actions in France.
| Voice actor | Character | Seasons | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||
| Main | |||||||
| Kate Frisbee | Mackenzie Zales | colspan="5" | |||||
| Ashley Katchadourian | |||||||
| Lily Vonnegut | Brittnay Matthews | colspan="5" | |||||
| Judith Dinsmore | colspan="2" | ||||||
| Mikayla Van Buren | |||||||
| Garrett Mendez | Trisha Cappelletti | colspan="5" | |||||
| Andrew Delman | Shay Van Buren | colspan="5" | |||||
| Saison Marguerite | colspan="3" | ||||||
| Carlo Moss | Deandra the New Girl | colspan="5" | |||||
| Rachel Tice | colspan="5" | ||||||
| Blaine McClaine | colspan="4" | ||||||
| Haley Mancini | Trisha 2 | colspan="3" | |||||
| Afton Quast | Jenna Darabond | ||||||
| Recurring | |||||||
| Pete Capella | Tanner Christiansen | colspan="5" | |||||
| Mark Cope | Jonathan "Than" Getslinhaumer | colspan="5" | |||||
| Ray Hebel | Tristan McKie | ||||||
| Dave Hill | Matthew Derringer | colspan="5" | |||||
| Amberlynn Weggers | |||||||
| Brian Konowal | Justin Michaelson | colspan="5" | |||||
| Aaron Krebs | Cameron Van Buren | ||||||
| Oisin McGrann | colspan="2" | ||||||
| David Razowsky | Mrs. Van Buren | ||||||
| Bill Sindelar | Lunch Lady Belinda | ||||||
| Christine Tarbet | Bridget Tice | ||||||
| Jessie Schneiderman | Jenna Dapananian | ||||||
| Chloe & Zoe | colspan="5" | ||||||
| Carla Henderson | Taylor McDevitt | colspan="3" | |||||
| Grace Helbig (season 2) / Betsy Beutler (season 5) | Jeannie Halverstad | ||||||
| Lee Newton | Tanya Berkowitz | colspan="2" | |||||
| Katelynn Zales | |||||||
| Sofia | |||||||
| Michelle Visage | Mrs. Zales | ||||||
| Janel Benisch | Juliette Bonnet | ||||||
See main article: List of The Most Popular Girls in School episodes.
The Most Popular Girls in School animates Barbie, Ken and related Mattel fashion dolls,[3] [4] generic fashion dolls and various branded dolls, usually with customized costumes and hairstyles, as various characters. Other dolls used include Disney's, Ariel, Belle, Merida and Mother Gothel,[9] Finnick Odair from The Hunger Games, Tyr Anasazi from Andromeda, and Oscar and Evanora from Oz the Great and Powerful. Guest voice talent has included Grace Helbig, Jason Earles, Lee Newton, Tyler Oakley, Michelle Visage, Kingsley, EpicLLOYD, Hannah Hart, and Mamrie Hart.
A March 2013 Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign funded season 2 of the series,[10] a November 2013 Indiegogo campaign funded season 3,[11] and a November 2014 Indiegogo campaign funded season 4.[12]
MPGIS premiered on YouTube on May 1, 2012.[2] The fourth season concluded on May 31, 2015, and a fifth season was not announced until April 4, 2017.[13] A sixth season was announced at the end of the fifth-season finale episode on August 29, 2017.[14]
, the series' YouTube channel has over 1 million subscribers and over 170 million views.[15] MPGIS has also produced spin-off shows The Trisha Show and Judy and Red, as well as bonus material like "Making of" and "Behind the Scenes" videos, viewer mail Q&A and "Extra Credit" (outtakes). On May 1, 2018, Extra Credit Studios opened a Patreon to crowdfund MPGIS in addition to new spin-off shows Keeping Up With The Van Burens and Models.[16]
Variety described the series as "Mean Girls meets South Park in this trash-talking, boundary-busting high-school-set Web series, acted out by stop-motion Barbie dolls."[1] The first episode has been viewed over 11 million times,[2] and most episodes have received views in the millions.
In April 2013, MPGIS parodied the viral email rant of Delta Gamma sorority member Rebecca Martinson by having the character Brittnay Matthews (voiced by Lily Vonnegut) reenact Martinson's so-called "Deranged Sorority Girl Email". The MPGIS video went viral itself.[3] [4] [5] [6]
In January 2015, Variety reported that Charlize Theron's production company Denver and Delilah was developing a stop-motion animation series based on MPGIS with comic book writer Greg Rucka.[17]
In August 2015, MPGIS was nominated for a Streamy Award for Costume Design.[18] [19]