Jennifer Whalen, left, and Meredith MacNeill star in CBC’s Small Achievable Goals.Jackie Brown/CBC
Menopause. Roughly 50 per cent of the population inevitably experiences it, yet it still blindsides many. The end of a woman’s reproductive years, not to mention that mysterious period known as perimenopause, comes with a slew of life-altering symptoms, roller-coaster emotions and confusing definitions.
Like many health stigmas, menopause and perimenopause aren’t widely discussed, leading many women to feel alone, ashamed and utterly perplexed about what’s happening to their bodies.
Jennifer Whalen and Meredith MacNeill are hoping to change that with their conversation-starting, eight-episode CBC comedy Small Achievable Goals. When the series debuts on Feb. 25 on the public broadcaster and its streamer, CBC Gem, the Baroness Von Sketch Show alumnae aim to address the health issues through humour and relatable characters who demand to be seen and heard.
“As I started to experience menopause, I was like, ‘Oh my God, everything you hear about it is so dire,’” Whalen says. “I felt like I could use a laugh about it.”
In Small Achievable Goals, Whalen and MacNeill star as two women with different backgrounds who are experiencing various stages of “The Change.” When they’re thrust together at work to produce a podcast, they embark on a wild journey of hormones, disasters, wins and health concerns.
This isn’t the duo’s first time tackling the subject. The 2019 Baroness Von Sketch Show bit, “Is It Peri-Menopause?” starring Carolyn Taylor went viral, proving that women are in need of such relatable content – and possibly some answers.
“If this is something that women have been going through since the beginning of time and we’re still asking the question, ‘Is it?’ I feel like it’s important,” MacNeill says.
Whalen recalls a moment during the pandemic when she was sitting with her husband on the couch, sharing a bottle of wine. She was trying to explain what she was going through and how overwhelming it was.
In Small Achievable Goals, Whalen and MacNeill star as two women with different backgrounds who are experiencing various stages of ‘The Change.’Jackie Brown/CBC
“When you get your period, it’s like a rite of passage and you’re now a woman,” she says. “This is another rite of passage but I didn’t know anything about it, nor could I see any role models on the other side.”
She felt at sea, like it was too much to deal with. That’s when she decided to break down her feelings and the changes she wanted to make into smaller pieces. She called them small achievable goals.
“That was the idea we brought into this,” Whalen says. “These two women have changes they need to make in their lives and they cannot do it all at once. They have to do it little by little, and they will get to where they need to go.”
In a way, the show itself is a series of small achievable goals in terms of representation and creating community for those who are struggling through a certain time in their lives. But it also goes beyond that to touch on an important and rising television trend: proving that older women should not be invisible.
With series such as Grace and Frankie, Hacks and the new Matlock starring Kathy Bates, older female characters are being presented in complex and interesting new ways. Whalen and MacNeill believe Small Achievable Goals falls into that category.
“It does feel like when you hit menopause, suddenly it’s like, ‘Goodbye,’” Whalen says. “You disappear. We live in this youth culture and it almost feels like you’ve sinned or broken a law by getting older. But you’re also a better version of yourself and this idea that you somehow let down the side because maybe your physical package isn’t as cute is stupid and it makes me mad,” she continues.
“We should reject that and change the needle on that in our culture because it’s damaging.”
Five years ago, there were even fewer conversations surrounding these topics than there are today. With the explosion of influencers and information seekers, the creators say that conversations about female health are finally sparking. That timing helps make the series even more relevant, particularly on the heels of other women, such as Pamela Adlon and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, incorporating menopause storylines into their respective shows, Better Things and Fleabag.
‘As I started to experience menopause, I was like, ‘Oh my God, everything you hear about it is so dire,’’ Whalen says. ‘I felt like I could use a laugh about it.’Jackie Brown/CBC
“We wanted to talk about things that we had not seen, particularly on TV,” Whalen says. “Meredith’s character has a journey with heavy bleeding. My character experiences sexual dysfunction. If you can show those things in a funny way and make some jokes about it, it makes it easier to talk about things that are hard.”
Physical comedy is an integral part of Small Achievable Goals. These characters aren’t always talking about what’s going on with their bodies as much as they are showing it. Hot flashes, leaking period blood, out-of-control emotions and outfit choices are used to highlight the female experience, particularly in the charged office-setting where the show takes place.
“Sometimes in life, I don’t have the words to express a feeling, there’s just nothing to express it,” MacNeill says. “That’s when physicality really shines through. Sometimes, especially with the subject matter that we’re talking about, there are just no words.”
That doesn’t mean there isn’t a ton to explore, especially over these eight initial episodes. MacNeill recalls a man recognizing her at the gym shortly after show promos went wide. He asked her how there could be so many episodes dedicated to the subject.
“I think there’s a lot to say. We could handle more shows about it,” MacNeill says. “I’d rather take a big swing and try something we haven’t seen and hopefully we succeed. But if we don’t, we gave it our best shot and I can sleep at night. Well, I can’t sleep because night sweats, but I can sleep at night!”
