PEN15

TV Series
2019–2021
12
30m

IMDb RATING

8.1/10

15K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

900

Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle in PEN15 (2019)

Pen15 is an R-rated "traumedy" set in middle school as it really happened in the year 2000. Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine play versions of themselves as thirteen year old outcasts, surrounded by actual thirteen year olds. In this world, seventh grade never ends and the pains of growing up are inevitable.

Play trailer2:20

18 Videos

99+ Photos

Buddy Comedy Quirky Comedy Teen Comedy Comedy Drama

The comedic story of middle school seen through the eyes of two 7th grade girls dealing with the awkwardness of being a teenager.The comedic story of middle school seen through the eyes of two 7th grade girls dealing with the awkwardness of being a teenager.The comedic story of middle school seen through the eyes of two 7th grade girls dealing with the awkwardness of being a teenager.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.1/10

15K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

900

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 4 Primetime Emmys
- 4 wins & 42 nominations total

Episodes25

Browse episodes

TopTop-rated2 seasons3 years

‘Snow White’ Stars Test Their Wits

Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot, and director Marc Webb take our Ultimate Disney Quiz.

Watch now

9:57

More like this

8.4

8.5

7.4

8.1

7.4

7.0

7.8

7.6

7.5

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

6.6

On sera deux!

8.2

Abbott Elementary

8.7

Fleabag

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
The character of Maya's mom, Yuki Ishii-Peters, is played by actress/co-creator Maya Erskine's real-life mother Mutsuko Erskine.

Crazy credits
The title sequence in most of the episodes showed real pictures of Maya and Anna as teenagers. But in "Yuki", they are replaced by pictures of Mutsuko Erskine.

Connections
Featured in MsMojo: Top 10 Most Underrated Teen Shows (2019)

Soundtracks
Demirep
(Opening Theme) (uncredited)
Written by Kathleen Hanna, Tobi Vail, Kathryn Wilcox and Billy Karren
Performed by Bikini Kill

User reviews210

Featured review

9/10

SO funny but also a bit painful.

This is such an odd series but I have to say "truthful" and due to that -- hysterical. Personally I was kind of put off by the first couple of episodes but after a while you will be drawn in. For me this was even more on the nose as my long time best middle school and high school friend was Korean and I think most modern shows might not think of that dynamic with girls.

The show is unique in that they have thirtysomething year old women playing their 7th grade selves along with real life 13 year olds. To my shock, it works well. I suspect they did so because no modern little kid could really capture the creators of this show at 12. Also, some of the plots are very grown up and that might not be fully available to real kids.

Definitely worth watching.