Small Achievable Goals made its debut on CBC TV and CBC Gem earlier this year and has been winning rave reviews and viewers ever since. The new eight-episode Canadian comedy series from Jennifer Whalen and Meredith MacNeill is about two wildly different women who are forced to work together to produce a podcast just as they have both begun to experience the symptoms of menopause and perimenopause.
As the series opens, Julie Muldoon (Whalen) and Kris Fine (MacNeill) run into each other on their way to work. Julie is the successful podcast producer who’s just turned 50 and is expecting a big promotion, and Kris is a 40-something makeup influencer about to expand her brand with her first podcast. The pair are an archetypal odd couple and ultimately embark on an unpredictable journey of transformation, helping each other through workplace challenges, office politics, dating disasters, relationship drama, and some serious health concerns.
Haven’t started watching Small Achievable Goals yet? Season one may be coming to a close (the final episode of season one airs on Tuesday April 15), but that’s no excuse. The show is now available to stream on CBC Gem. Here are five reasons to tune into Julie and Kris’ hilarious hormonal adventures.
Small Achievable Goals is from alumni of Baroness Von Sketch Show
Meredith MacNeill and Jennifer Whalen are the brains behind Small Achievable Goals and it isn’t the first time that they have worked together. The two are alumni of Baroness Von Sketch Show, the hit comedy that was made by four Canadian women over forty and debuted on CBC Television on June 14, 2016. (Carolyn Taylor and Aurora Browne also worked with Whalen and MacNeill as co-producers, writers and stars of the beloved series)
Baroness von Sketch Show was unlike anything Canada had ever seen and it was picked up by IFC in the US a year after it made its debut. The sketch show elevated joking about women’s issues to an art and was a true Canadian crossover hit with Vogue once calling the series “the best thing to come out of Canada since Ryan Gosling.”
Even if you didn’t watch Baroness, you’ve probably seen it, or at least one of its hilarious sketches. Most of the hype surrounding the show came from a number of the shoe’s sketches circulating online: one of the series’ earliest sketches, “Welcome to Your 40s” — about middle-aged nudity in the locker room — instantly went viral across social media. Need a trip down memory lane? You can scroll through the CBC Comedy YouTube channel and the show’s official Facebook page.
The award-winning Baroness von Sketch Show ran for five seasons with its final episode airing on February 2, 2021.
Small Achievable Goals makes menopause and perimenopause funny
Small Achievable Goals was designed to chip away at the stigma associated with menopause and perimenopause: the hot flashes and night sweats, the mood swings, the erratic periods, the sleep issues, the sexual dysfunction. This workplace sitcom is meant to be a conversation starter that is at times hilarious, surprising, and revealing as it looks at a very normal part of aging that affects half the population but is still spoken about in hushed tones.
“We want to make a joyful comedy about menopause because in this time of life we could all use a laugh,” Whalen said in a CBC press release when the series entered production. “For those of us going through it, we see you. For everyone else, enjoy the ride.”
Whalen and MacNeill openly admit that they are not experts on menopause, but they did do a lot of research for the show and have written in many of their own personal experiences. Luckily the topic of menopause and perimenopause is getting more attention these days, through authors like Dr. Jen Gunter or and celebrity influencers like Naomi Watts, but there are also gaps in the information—for instance, how menopause is understood in different cultures—as well as a lack of answers about how to handle it. Given that research into menopause and perimenopause is constantly evolving, and different people experience it differently, the series touches on what Whalen called “some greatest hits that a lot of people experience.” The main point is to minimize the shame associated with those experiences.
It’s Canadian!
“O Canada!” Of course, Small Achievable Goals is proudly Canadian. In fact, the entire first season of the series was shot completely in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, between October 16 and November 28, 2024. Watch out because you may recognize some of the locations.
Then there’s the cast of Small Achievable Goals
Small Achievable Goals stars Baroness Von Sketch Show alum Jennifer Whalen and Meredith MacNeill as main characters Julie Muldoon and Kris Fine.
Alexander Nunez (Moonshine, Avocado Toast) plays Evan, the Managing Director of The Podcast Folx, Paul Braunstein (Hudson & Rex) plays Mo, the HR Manager, Jon Dore (Humour Resources, The Lake) plays Julie’s husband, Pete, and Tricia Black (Pretty Hard Cases) plays Robyn, a Millennial, queer, non-binary, polyamorous producer at the podcast company.
Rounding out the cast are Leslie Adlam (Bria Mack Gets a Life), Kevin Whalen (Baroness Von Sketch Show, Handmaid’s Tale), Peter Keleghan (Murdoch Mysteries, Workin’ Moms), Georgie Murphy (SafeHaven, Gen V), Kiori Mirza Waldman (No Idea!) and Evan Mok as additional supporting characters. There are also a few surprise cameos as the season progresses, including iconic Canadian musician Peaches and fashion aficionado Jeanne Beker.
Small Achievable Goals isn’t just for menopausal women
Of course, Small Achievable Goals isn’t just a TV show for menopausal women…it’s written for everyone to enjoy!
“This is really for everybody because it is a story about transformation,” Whalen said. “Everybody has gone through a change in their life that (makes them feel) helpless. It’s also funny and I think that will appeal to men. From Baroness we know that men like a peek behind the curtain and they’re getting to see some stuff that they normally are not privy to.”
“If half of the world is going through it, and the other half knows someone in it, and it’s a word we can barely spit out, then I think we need to do a show about it,” MacNeill explained at CBC’s 2024-2025 Season Preview last year.
“I think that comedy is the best way to deal with things that are difficult,” Whalen added. “The degree of difficulty involved and the danger level of doing this appealed to both of us. And I think it’s just about time.”
When and where to watch Small Achievable Goals
Season one of the conversation-starting Small Achievable Goals premiered on CBC Gem on Tuesday, February 25, 2025 and will wrap up on Tuesday, April 15. All episodes of the CBC Original Series are available to stream for free on the CBC Gem streaming platform.
You can watch the trailer for season one of Small Achievable Goals below:
