A joyful comedy about menopause? Every woman needs to watch this show
If there’s one thing the menopause has taught us it’s if you can’t laugh, you’ll cry…
While menopause isn’t acknowledged enough in mainstream TV and film - thank you Sex And The City, The Change and Riot Women for your contributions! - Small Achievable Goals is a Canadian comedy created by Jennifer Whalen and Meredith MacNeill, who also star in it as the two main characters, with menopause front and centre. And humour is used to tackle the topic we often struggle to find funny. Cue sex shop outings, peri-menopausal horniness, sweaty bras and hot flashes scenes, underpinned by shocking ageism too many women experience in the workplace during midlife.
“I just thought, what if we could make a really joyful comedy about something that people perceived to be negative?” Jennifer has said, having started experiencing menopause symptoms during the pandemic. “We want to make a joyful comedy about menopause because in this time of life we could all use a laugh.”
Julie (played by Jennifer) and Kris (played by Meredith) are two very different women, forced to work together producing a podcast, just as both are beginning to navigate stages of menopause. With 50-year-old seasoned podcast producer Julie realising she’s in menopause just as she’s passed over for promotion at work and 40-something beauty influencer Kris experiencing a random heavy period indicating she’s in perimenopause, it’s a realistic yet hilarious portrayal of how menopause impacts every part of women’s lives.
When going through menopause herself, Jennifer was desperate for an honest depiction in the media and dose of advice. “Honestly, I was like, ‘Where the f*ck is Judy?’” she’s said, referring to the author of 1970’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. “I could really use a good old Blume novel about what I’m going through.”
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The show doesn’t sanitise menopause. It embraces “the messy bits”, including unpredictable bleeding, libido changes, bad moods, feelings of shame, body odour, brain fog, irritability… With over 34 major menopause signs to choose from, there really is a smorgasbord of symptoms for the show to find the funny in. And the creators don’t shy away from the reality of menstrual madness with missed periods, heavier flows, leaking and longer cycles. “We fought hard to put [fake] period blood in the show,” Meredith has said.
Like her character, Meredith’s been experiencing perimenopause in real life and is keen to show the reality for women struggling with menopause symptoms and work.
“There’s studies done that show women start to actually leave their jobs as well because there’s so much shame and they don’t want to talk about it,” she says.
And Meredith has experienced crippling anxiety during perimenopause, another topic tackled by the show. “With anxiety, you tend to attach it to self-worth or your job or a relationship. The gift of menopause is you can say, ‘I can’t attach it to anything.’ It’s just a feeling that you’re having in your body,” she says.
“For those of us going through it, we see you. For everyone else, enjoy the ride!” says Jennifer.
Bravo Jennifer and Meredith on creating a feelgood show that helps millions of menopausal women feel seen!
Season 1 of Small Achievable Goals is available to stream on ITVX and globally on Apple TV.
ohhhh, interesting!