Inside the strange resurgence of Nanalan’, the decades-old TV show aimed at toddlers

Nanalan’ creators Jason Hopley, left, and Jamie Shannon with their puppets, at Shannon's studio on Toronto Island, on Jan. 17.Sarah Palmer/The Globe and Mail

Nanalan’ may no longer be on TV, but it seems like it’s everybody’s happy place these days.

The Canadian show, aimed at toddlers, follows a two-and-a-half-year-old puppet named Mona as she spends time at the home of her endlessly loving nana, making discoveries and experiencing new things. It last aired in 2003, but it’s found a new home on social media – along with a swell of adult viewers – as its clips consistently go viral. On TikTok, the Nanalan’ hashtag has more than 320 million views.

“What Nanalan’ offers is a truly unconditional, loving space to grow up in and experience joy,” said co-creator Jason Hopley. “Mona experiences it and Nana gives it, and people really need and want that,” he says, especially “if they didn’t have it in their own childhood.”

Hopley (who plays the puppets for Nana and Russel the dog) and his co-creator, Jamie Shannon (who plays Mona), attended arts school in Toronto together beginning in the sixth grade. After high school, they started a puppet troupe called the Grogs and formed a partnership with Nickelodeon and YTV, for which they created Nanalan’.

Nana, Mona and Russel the dog are the original Nanalan' puppets, which are still being used in the new videos.Sarah Palmer/The Globe and Mail

From 1999 to 2000, Nanalan’ began as three-minute shorts for YTV – about 60 of them – that played during commercial breaks. The series was then picked up by the CBC, resulting in roughly 40 episodes at 23 minutes each. They are all improvised, though they always include both an original song and an original story that Nana reads to viewers.

“We both had these really quirky nanas and fond memories of being in our nana’s house,” Hopley said. “We also started trying to break apart what is really important for an almost three-year-old and we realized that, being a little kid in the world, everything is exciting. Those two things combined became what Nanalan’ really was.”

'We’re creating stuff for adults now while being ready to make the new kid generation of Nanalan’,' Shannon said.Sarah Palmer/The Globe and Mail

The show has found its way back into the conversation several times, including with a viral Tumblr post in 2016. And then it happened again, in 2023, when Shannon began breaking the episodes up into short clips and posting them on social media. Slowly but surely, viewers rushed to tune in, including both long-time enthusiasts and brand new fans. Soon, the duo started filming new content, also for their social-media channels.

For a series that was created for children under the age of 3, Nanalan’ has quite a mature audience. The majority of its viewers are millennials who watched the show 25 years ago and now have children of their own, promising to usher in a new generation of Nanalan’-loving tots soon enough.

“We’re creating stuff for adults now while being ready to make the new kid generation of Nanalan’,” Shannon said.

Hopley performing with Nana for a new Nanalan' video.Sarah Palmer/The Globe and Mail

The reason adults can’t get enough may be because it’s healing for their inner child, the show’s creators said. Mona’s world, filled with kindness, love and patience, is soothing to grown-ups facing a world that is more often “gloomy,” as Hopley described it, than anything else. It also features lessons that are valuable to learn at any age.

“We just wanted to make a show that teaches emotional intelligence and how to experience your emotions,” Shannon said, “and it’s nice that it’s really translated.”

The series has an authenticity that is becoming increasingly hard to find in the digital age. Things often feel “phony” nowadays, as Shannon put it, but Nanalan’ is performed with a genuineness that comes from improvisation and theatre-trained actors.

It’s also quite generic, but that may just be precisely what makes it so endearing.

Hopley and Shannon, with Nana, Mona and Russel, in 2004.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail

“The more you take away the details of something, the more it becomes everybody,” Shannon said. “With puppets, you can create characters that everybody can relate to. Everybody is Mona and everybody is Nana.”

The Nanalan’ resurgence is going strong, and its creators are hoping it’s not temporary. Shannon has built a mini Nanalan’ set at his studio on Toronto Island, called Puppet Island, where they film new content. They’re trying to encourage more viewers to move over to YouTube, where they post full episodes, in the hopes of getting picked up by Netflix.

“What I find interesting is that people are going over to YouTube to watch an episode before they go to bed,” Hopley said. “It’s like having a warm bath with candles for your soul.”