“Nanalan’” hasn’t been on TV in years, but it surely’s the most well liked present on TikTok.

A Canadian kids’s program that made its debut in 1999, it has had a resurgence in current weeks, because of its rising reputation on the social media platform, the place it has been watched tens of millions of instances.

An enormous a part of the present’s attraction lies in its fiendishly catchy songs. One in all them consists of the strains: “Who’s that fantastic woman? May she be any cuter?”

The woman in query is Mona, slightly inexperienced puppet with pigtails protruding from either side of her head. No, she couldn’t be any cuter.

The “who’s that fantastic woman?” earworm comes from a scene during which Mona enters a room dressed as a princess. Her grandmother, Nana, is singing the tune whereas accompanying herself on organ. Nana’s canine, Russell, then seems within the garb of a royal courtier.

The clip took off in mid-October, after a TikTok person posted it with the caption “When the garments you ordered arrive and also you deal with the household to a trend present.” The video has been considered over 9.5 million instances.

“Nanalan’” joined TikTok, YouTube and different social media platforms this yr. Nevertheless it didn’t make a lot of an impression till the video of Mona in her princess regalia started circulating, stated Jamie Shannon, who created the present with Jason Hopley. The pair began making “Nanalan’” shorts in 1999, and the collection ended up airing on CBC, Nickelodeon and PBS for Children.

Along with reposting outdated content material, Mr. Shannon, 51, has began making new movies with the “Nanalan’” puppets for social media. He mentioned the present’s newfound viewers and weighed in on why nostalgia reigns supreme on-line. The dialog has been edited and condensed.

How did you get into the puppet enterprise?

I used to be touring in Europe, I believe it was 1990, and Jim Henson handed away. He was such a giant a part of my childhood. And I used to be like, “Properly, that’s precisely what I need to do.” I used to be already sort of a puppet maker and an actor. So I sort of mixed all of it.

For many individuals on-line, that is their introduction to your present. What ought to they know?

It’s wild. Fifty-two % of our viewers on TikTok is American. “Nanalan’” is brief for Nana Land, which is what I referred to as my nana’s yard. It’s about slightly woman in that yard. Mother drops Mona off at her nana’s on a regular basis and goes to work, identical to lots of people’s conditions. We have been so fortunate to do it with out scripts, improvised.

When did the present finish?

In 1999, we made the unique set of three-minute shorts. We did that once more in, I believe, 2000. In 2003, we made a bunch of half-hour episodes, and that was it.

Till social media found “Nanalan’.”

We had an enormous viral breakout in 2016 as nicely. Any individual did this hilarious factor. In one of many three-minute episodes, Mona’s describing the backyard to Russell: “There’s a cooshie and a peepo.” Somebody put the phrases up on the display, simply the foolish phrases after which it went loopy on Tumblr. It grew to become one in all this stuff the place individuals have been like, “Strive to not snort.”

Sorry — a peepo?

A pea pod. I’m making an attempt to mimic a child imitating what a guardian advised them, however they don’t fairly bear in mind the phrase.

Why do you assume TikTok has embraced Mona?

The world is so, so troublesome and scary proper now, and the present’s very comforting. Every little thing seems mushy. There’s no particular results. It heralds to what I believe individuals need to see, which is simply one thing that’s actual and genuine within the, you recognize, pretend, pretend, pretend world. Every little thing’s A.I., and folks don’t know what’s actual.

Mona lately joined Cameo, a platform that enables celebrities to ship video messages to followers for a price. What’s that like?

I used to be making an attempt to hitch Cameo so way back, and I assume they weren’t accepting puppets. It’s nice, I like it. It’s like 4 or 5 movies a day. Touching stuff, too. Individuals say, “Grandma died, are you able to …?” So I do a whole lot of pep talks.