From Jennifer Whalen and Meredith MacNeill (Baroness von Sketch) and Sphere Media (Sort Of) comes Small Achievable Goals, a new comedy about two polar opposite women navigating the messiness of menopause and midlife as they work alongside the eccentric employees of The Podcast Folx.
Julie Muldoon (Whalen) has worked hard to curate the perfect life for herself: loving husband, great career, and award-winning podcast, “Big Important Ideas”. But suddenly Julie’s body has chosen violence and begins to betray her. Waning libido and painful sex threaten her marriage, hot flashes and an internal monologue that’s suddenly become external threaten her work life.
When she’s passed over for a promotion on her 50th birthday her rage and frustration erupt in front of the entire office.
The very same day, Kris Fine (MacNeill) joins The Podcast Folx as host of brand-new show “Glow Up with Kris”. Julie’s nemesis, Evan Vandergrift (Alexander Nunez), found Kris on TikTok, where her price-conscious beauty dupes and make-overs of mature women have found her a massive, but not lucrative following. Kris is thrilled for the opportunity to have a more stable gig to support herself and her daughter, Saffron (Kiori Mirza Waldman). But on her first day at her new job, she’s forced to battle her non-stop period, the realization that Evan’s vision of the show includes a younger co-host, and a very disgruntled new producer who seems to hate her: Julie.
From this inauspicious beginning, the series follows the women as they clash, connect, and ultimately bond over their shared frustrations and common enemy: menopause. Over the first season, Kris and Julie must work to build a successful podcast – without killing each other – while battling potential workplace irrelevance and tackling menopause, marriage, sex and parenting.
We watch as Kris seeks love – online, or maybe in the workplace with shy HR manager Mo (Paul Braunstein); Julie rediscovers her mojo in an office where Gen X feels suddenly very much over the hill; Kris struggles to get doctors to treat her extreme symptoms – before they cause her serious harm; and Julie battles painful sex and a waning libido in her loving marriage to Pete (Jon Dore).
Along the way, we get to know the eccentric employees of The Podcast Folx, including very Gen Z murder podcast host Chelsey (Georgie Murphy), easy-going queer Millennial producer Robyn (Tricia Black), no-nonsense shoe obsessed office manager Jamila (Leslie Adlam) and Beatles loving sound engineer Larry (Kevin Whalen).
As they work to make Glow Up with Kris a successful podcast, Julie and Kris tackle their troubles with humour and honesty, breaking their problems down into bite-sized pieces… or Small Achievable Goals.
EPISODE SYNOPSES
Episode 101: “Judy Bloomed”
Written by: Jennifer Whalen & Meredith MacNeill
Directed by: Zoe Hopkins
On her 50th birthday, Julie gets passed over for a promotion and realizes – to her horror – that she’s in menopause. Meanwhile, newly hired podcast host Kris’s first day at work is complicated by unexpected flash bleeding, a much younger co-host, and a new producer: Julie.
Episode 102: “The One”
Written by: Meredith MacNeill & Jennifer Whalen
Directed by: Zoe Hopkins
Polar opposites Kris and Julie butt heads as they try to work together, while Julie is faced with her worst nightmare about aging and Kris struggles to find the confidence to host her first episode while dealing with unexpected period woes.