“Nanalan’” hasn’t appeared on television in years, but it is the most popular show on TikTok.
A Canadian children’s show that debuted in 1999, has seen a resurgence in recent weeks thanks to its growing popularity on the social media platform, where it has been viewed millions of times.
A big part of the show’s appeal lies in its devilishly catchy songs. One of them includes the lines: “Who is that wonderful girl? Could she be prettier?
The girl in question is Mona, a small green puppet with pigtails sticking out of both sides of her head. No, she couldn’t be cuter.
The “who is that wonderful girl?” worm comes from a scene in which Mona enters a room dressed as a princess. Her grandmother, Nana, sings the song while she accompanies herself on the organ. Nana’s dog, Russell, then appears dressed as a royal courtier.
The clip took off in mid-October, after a TikTok user posted it with the caption, “When the clothes you ordered arrive and you invite the family to a fashion show.” He video It has been viewed more than 9.5 million times.
“Remote” joined tiktok, Youtube and other social media platforms this year. But it didn’t make much of an impression until video of Mona in her princess outfit began circulating, said Jamie Shannon, who created the show with Jason Hopley. The pair began making “Nanalan’” shorts in 1999 and the series ended up airing on CBC, Nickelodeon and PBS for Kids.
In addition to reposting old content, Mr. Shannon, 51, has started making New videos with the “Nanalan” puppets for social networks. She talked about the show’s new audience and weighed in on why nostalgia reigns online. The conversation has been edited and condensed.
How did you get into the puppet business?
I was traveling through Europe, I think it was 1990 and Jim Henson passed away. He was such an important part of my childhood. And I said, “Well, that’s exactly what I want to do.” I was already kind of a puppet maker and actor. So I combined it all.
For many people online, this is the introduction to their program. What should they know?
It’s wild. Fifty-two percent of our audience on TikTok is American. “Nanalan’” is short for Nana Land, which is what I called my nana’s backyard. It’s about a girl in that backyard. Mom drops Mona off at her nanny’s house every day and goes to work, as happens in many people’s situations. We were very lucky to do it without scripts, improvised.
When did the show end?
In 1999 we made the original series of three-minute shorts. We did that again, I think, in 2000. In 2003, we did a bunch of half-hour episodes, and that was it.
Until social media discovered “Nanalan.”
We also had a huge viral explosion in 2016. Someone did this hilarious thing. In one of the three-minute episodes, Mona describes the garden to Russell: “There’s a cooshie and a peepo.” Someone put the words on the screen, just the dumb words, and then went crazy on Tumblr. It became one of those things where people were like, “Try not to laugh.”
Sorry, a peepo?
A pea pod. I’m trying to imitate a child who imitates what a parent told him, but doesn’t remember the word well.
Why do you think TikTok has adopted Mona?
The world is so, so difficult and scary right now, and the show is so comforting. Everything seems smooth. There are no special effects. It’s a foreshadowing of what I think people want to see, which is just something real and authentic in the fake, fake, fake world. Everything is ai and people don’t know what is real.
Mona recently joined Cameo, a platform that allows celebrities to send video messages to their fans for a fee. How is that?
I was trying to join Cameo a long time ago and I guess they didn’t accept puppets.. It’s great, I love it. It’s like four or five videos a day. Touch things too. People say, “Grandma died, can you…?” That’s why I give a lot of pep talks.
