Nanalan is a Canadian children's television series created by Jamie Shannon and Jason Hopley. It began in 1998 as a series of three-minute shorts originally broadcast on YTV; it later ran for two seasons of full-length (21 minutes) episodes that were first broadcast by CBC. The series chronicles the small-scale adventures and discoveries of a three-year-old puppet girl named Mona in her grandmother Nana's backyard. The title is a contraction of the phrase "Nana Land," referring to the setting.
Hopley and Shannon produced the series through their puppetry troupe The Grogs in association with Lenz Entertainment. The show uses a blend of hand puppetry and the manipulation of cardboard cutouts, particularly in the opening theme. While the shorts do not follow a structure, the half-hour episodes follow a loose format that includes at least one song or reading an original story to the viewers.
The show received three nominations at the 2004 Gemini Awards and was fairly well received by Canadian and U.S. press, with some critics calling attention to the show's surreal presentation and genuine approach to its concept. In 2004, select shorts were released across several DVDs and VHS in the U.S. In the mid-2010s and mid-2020s, the series went viral with a resurgence in popularity on websites such as Tumblr and YouTube for its bizarre nature.
Interest in the series was renewed in late 2023 after video clips of it went viral on TikTok. The new success led to Hopley and Shannon reuniting for the first time since disbanding The Grogs in 2009, reprising Nana and Mona for interviews and online videos.
Premise
The show focuses on Mona, a three-year-old girl
Characters
- Mona (Jamie Shannon) is the main character of the series. She is an almost-three-year-old with lime green skin, lime green hair styled in pigtails, a spherical head, and large bean-shaped eyes. In the original shorts, she cannot speak in full sentences and can only say a few words, but quickly started speaking more coherently in the full-length series. She has a tendency to mispronounce words; for example, she says pea pod as "peepo" and mushroom as "shoosh."
- Nana (Jason Hopley) (Bea) is Mona's grandmother, who Mona stays with every weekday while her mother goes to work. Nana has bright orange skin and a very tall forehead. She wears a multicolored dress and large, round glasses. In the original shorts, her hair is auburn; in the full-length episodes, her hair is white.
- Russell (Ali Eisner) is Nana's pet Dog Jack Russell Terrier whom Mona plays with while visiting Nana's house. Russell does not talk, but often attempts to communicate by barking and gesturing. Mona often pronounces his name incorrectly, calling him "Russer."
- Mr. Wooka (Todd Doldersum) (Hank) is Nana's next-door neighbour who is a main character in the full-length episodes. He is an elderly man with yellow skin and a white mustache who wears green corduroy pants held up with suspenders. Whenever Mona visits his yard, he puts on his own puppet shows to entertain her.
- Mom (Marty Stelnick) is Mona's mother and Nana's daughter. She has a similar appearance to Mona, but is taller and has brown hair in a bob. She is married to Mona’s unnamed father. She works during the day and leaves Mona in Nana's care while she works.
- Alice is Nana's pet cat. She appears infrequently, but when she does appear, she is often at odds with Russell. Like with Russell, Mona mispronounces her name, and often calls her "Ally".
Episodes
Season 1 (2003)
NOTE: All episodes in this season were written by Jamie Shannon and Jason Hopley and directed by Tim Williams.
Season 2 (2004)
NOTE: All episodes in this season were written and directed by Jamie Shannon and Jason Hopley.
Production
The show was filmed in a building "reputed to be an old munitions factory" in the television production district of Liberty Village in Toronto, Ontario. The shorts were produced in 1998 & 1999.
Broadcast and home media
Nanalan first aired as one of the short series broadcast during program breaks on YTV's YTV Jr. block. In the United States, Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block and its sister channel Noggin ran 21 of the 72 Nanalan shorts beginning in 1999. Repeats of the shorts continued to air on Nick Jr. until late 2003, when the first full-length season began airing. International distribution for the shorts was handled by Sunbow Entertainment.
CBC premiered the full-length episodes beginning September 1, 2003 and aired the series until 2007. through 2013.
In 2004, Quality Special Products released a set of six DVDs and VHSes including selections of the three-minute shorts. The discs and were mainly sold in the U.S. Rather than simply Nanalan, the home media billed the show as Welcome to Nanalan: As Seen on Nickelodeon. The full-length seasons were neither released to DVD nor VHS.
The episodes were uploaded to YouTube in 2007 (but have since been deleted). In 2023, an official YouTube channel for the show was created. Shorts and full-length episodes are uploaded weekly.
Reception
During its short run, the series received mostly positive attention from media critics, some of which felt that the show's bizarre and unconventional nature made it more appealing and watchable by viewers of all ages. Although, the demographic for the show is geared toward children ages 3 to 11 years old. The Toronto Star said that "the series' surprising sweetness, simplicity and humour strike a universal chord with both young adults and kids." Writers for the Windsor Star enjoyed its surreal approach to depicting early childhood, saying that "the creators have captured the essence of what it is to be three."