Three J's Productions (also known as Grogs Inc.) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...

company troupe active from 1992 to 2009. They produced a variety of television shows and short films for

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

, its sister channels YTV and

Nickelodeon Canada Nickelodeon is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel based on the American cable network of the same name owned by YTV Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment under a brand licensing agreement with the Paramount ...

Treehouse TV Treehouse TV (commonly known as Treehouse) is a Canadian English-language Discretionary service, discretionary specialty channel that was launched in 1997. Its name comes from sister network YTV (Canadian TV channel), YTV's former programming b ...

, and

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Career

The Grogs were founded by

Jamie Shannon Jamie Christopher Shannon (born February 26, 1972) is a Canadian actor, best known for his work in the Canadian television series ''Nanalan, as well as '' Ooh, Aah & You'', and the Canadian-American television series ''Mr. Meaty''. Career Hav ...

and Jason Hopley in 1992 in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. As a puppet troupe, they were somewhat unusual as they designed and moulded their puppets and sets as part of the creative process for writing, directing, and performing in their TV shows. They were present in the process from pre-production to post-production with the help of their partner

Jack Lenz John Frederick "Jack" Lenz is a Canadian composer. He has written, performed, and produced music for film, television, and theatre, along with working on non-soundtrack album ventures. He is also the founder of Live Unity Enterprises, an organizat ...

. The troupe's name comes from their work on interstitials for YTV featuring a group of monster puppets called the Grogs; by the end of the year, YTV had aired a Christmas special featuring the Grogs, and the duo were working on a series. After a stunt 12-hour "takeover" of the channel on New Year's Day 1994 by one of their characters, Warren Chester Grog, the channel's viewership soared. However, when the network wanted to merchandise the puppets, the relationship soured; the process introduced them to Lenz, who counseled them to start their own company—at which time the network fired Shannon and Hopley. In 1997, Hopley operated the titular monster in the ''

Goosebumps ''Goosebumps'' is a series of children's horror novels written by American author R. L. Stine. The protagonists in these stories are teens or pre-teens who find themselves in frightening circumstances, often involving the supernatural, the p ...

'' episode, ''The Blob That Ate Everyone''. In 1999, the Grogs began a partnership with

, producing a series of shorts called ''

Nanalan' ''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 ...

'' for the network and its sister channel Noggin, which aired in Canada on YTV and

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. In 2004, Nickelodeon released the shorts to DVD. ''Nanalan'' was developed into a full-length series that finished airing in 2004. In the same year, the Grogs appeared and worked on the Nick Jr. series ''

Whoopi's Littleburg ''Whoopi's Littleburg'' is a musical puppet animated television miniseries of three specials produced for Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block. It was created by Jonny Belt and Robert Scull, the latter of whom co-directed the show along with Tim Hill ...

''. In 2005, they produced a teen-oriented sitcom for Nickelodeon titled ''

Mr. Meaty ''Mr. Meaty'' is a teen sitcom created by Jamie Shannon and Jason Hopley. The show centers on two lazy teenage boys, Josh Redgrove and Parker Dinkleman, who work at a fast food restaurant called Mr. Meaty inside a shopping mall as they often enco ...

'', which likewise began as a collection of shorts. These were originally seen on

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and during commercial breaks on Nickelodeon's channels. It was picked up for two seasons of 22-minute episodes that aired from 2006 to 2009 on Nickelodeon and

Nicktoons Nicktoons is the brand name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Paramount Global) in their copyright bylines. Since ...

. Their other work has included ''Swami Jeff's Temple of Wisdom'', ''The Grogs'', ''Warren, Filth, Gidian, Iffer, Sorbet, Jasper and Cupcake'', ''Al's Tales of the Tank'', '' It's Alive!'', ''

Ooh, Aah & You ''Ooh, Aah & You'', also known as ''Ooh & Aah'', is a short-form children's series created by the Canadian puppeteer duo Jason Hopley and Jamie Shannon, who also created ''Nanalan and ''Mr. Meaty''. It was produced by Kick Start Productions. ...

'', the animated series '' Weird Years'', and '' Hotbox''. The Grogs were formally dissolved in 2009 after a successful 17-year partnership.Jamie Shannon: The Grogs (1992-2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grogs Canadian puppeteers 1992 establishments in Ontario 2009 disestablishments in Ontario Canadian children's television personalities Puppets