Tag Archives: Meredith MacNeill

CBC’s Small Achievable Goals and Son of a Critch embrace female stories

Howie Mandel has a joke/observation he told years ago that has stuck with me. In it, he is talking about being out on the town with his wife, who is dressed immaculately, interacting with guests and having fun. All this, he says, while she is menstruating.

“If we were the race that was menstruating, we wouldn’t go anywhere,” Mandel opines. “There would be no nights out. Your buddy could call you, ‘Do you want to come over for a beer?’ ‘No.’ ‘No? Why not?’ ‘Because my crotch is bleeding!'”

I couldn’t help but reflect on Mandel’s remarks while I watched the first episode of Small Achievable Goals because it plays a major part in world-building and character development.

Airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC and streaming on CBC Gem, Small Achievable Goals follows the adventures of Julie (Jennifer Whalen, top left) and Kris (Meredith MacNeill, top right), two women trying to navigate different stages of menopause. When they’re forced together to produce a podcast, Kris and Julie help each other through workplace challenges and office politics, dating disasters and relationship drama, health concerns and parenting woes. The project reunites co-creators Whalen and McNeill, who CBC viewers last saw on the award-winning Baroness Von Sketch Show. Whalen recalls how the pandemic caused her to reflect on her own menopause experiences and that a TV show could be made around it.

“I started to realize that some of my existential crisis was not actually just the pandemic,” she says. “Maybe I was in some stage of [menopause] and I realized that I knew nothing about it and what I did know was relentlessly bleak. I thought, ‘I can really use a laugh about this. I’m sure other people could.'”

The result? A series that is hilarious, shocking and touching. The first episode features Kris experiencing sudden, heavy perimenopause bleeding moments before she’s to participate in a photo shoot to promote her podcast … while wearing white. Kris’ emotions are already heightened thanks to learning a younger woman will be her podcast co-host (to pull in a younger audience, she is told), and furtively asking for help securing a tampon. The scene’s final, bloody conclusion may be shocking for some, but it’s about time the plight of half the population was shown on-screen. So too of Julia’s experience in that first episode, dealing with menopause hot flashes as she’s told she has, once again, been passed over for the top producer gig in favour of someone younger and, it should be said, male. What took it so long for this kind of storytelling to be shown?

“I think it is a function of our patriarchal society that it does feel like menopause is this dividing line that if you’re no longer fertile, you’re no longer a value to our society,” Whalen says. “And I think that a lot of people didn’t want to talk about it because you have a lot to lose by talking about it publicly.”

Claire Rankin as Mary on Son of a Critch

Ironically, CBC’s Son of a Critch is exploring a similar storyline. Season 4 of the veteran comedy, airing Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. on CBC and CBC Gem, and based on Mark Critch’s award-winning, best-selling memoir about growing up in Newfoundland, is all about pursuing one’s passion. And for the character of Mary (Claire Rankin), that means entering a new stage in her life.

With sons Mark (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) and Mike Jr. (Colton Gobbo) older and relying less on her, Mary is experiencing a loss of identity. Is she still a mother? Yes, of course. But what else? Upcoming storylines follow Mary as she goes back to school—igniting her passion for a possible career—and experiencing her first steps into menopause. The growth of Mary’s character came at the suggestion of Rankin herself.

“After the first season, Mark basically came to me and said, ‘You know, if you have any ideas please sort them out,'” Rankin says. “[I said] she’s going to need a menopause story, something that actually tells that journey.”

And, like Small Achievable Goals, Son of a Critch explores ageism through Mary’s eyes. An ego-boosting trip to have her pictures taken at a Glamour Shot-esque mall kiosk gets the wrong reaction from husband Mike (Critch) and her first college class results in trepidation until she’s called upon by the teacher.

“There’s still this unattainable standard that we’re somehow supposed to constantly be striving for in the sense that we even created a term ‘aging gracefully,'” Rankin says. “Do we use that for men? No. Guys are just allowed to age. They’re allowed to look rugged and wrinkles are kind of sexy in an older man, and so is gray hair”

“And yet we are somehow supposed to maintain this bizarre sense of looking 25 when we’re in our 50s.”

Son of a Critch airs Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. on CBC and CBC Gem.

Small Achievable Goals airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC and CBC Gem.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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CBC and Sphere Media start production on menopause comedy Small Achievable Goals from Meredith MacNeill and Jennifer Whalen

From a media release:

CBC and Sphere Media today announced that production is underway on new original comedy series SMALL ACHIEVABLE GOALS (8×30), co-created by and starring Meredith MacNeill and Jennifer Whalen. The series, which is currently filming in Toronto and Hamilton, will premiere in winter 2025 on CBC and CBC Gem. 

SMALL ACHIEVABLE GOALS follows odd couple Julie (Whalen) and Kris (MacNeill), as they are thrust together to produce a podcast while grappling with “the change” – aka menopause. The duo embark on a journey of transformation, helping each other through workplace challenges and office politics, dating and relationship drama, and some serious health concerns. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, they will be reborn as sexy, silver-haired, wizard women! Or at least wiser, less sweaty versions of themselves. 

“We want to make a joyful comedy about menopause because in this time of life we could all use a laugh,” said Whalen. “For those of us going through it, we see you. For everyone else, enjoy the ride!”

“Making something hot and bloody with Sphere and the CBC — everyone’s revved up to take it all the way home,” said MacNeill. “Normally one would say that we stand behind the message, but the message is so strong, we believe it stands behind us.”

“This series 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,” said Trish Williams, Executive Director, Scripted Content, CBC. “This workplace sitcom is bound to become a conversation starter as audiences relate – and react – to the experiences of Kris and Julie as they discover what it means to experience menopause.”

“We’re so thrilled to be working with the talented Jennifer and Meredith, and with CBC on this fresh, funny look at menopause and midlife,” said Elise Cousineau, Executive Producer at Sphere Media. “It’s hilarious, highly relatable, and we’re excited to be a part of bringing it to the screen.”

A CBC Original Series, SMALL ACHIEVABLE GOALS is produced by Sphere Media. The series is created by Meredith MacNeill and Jennifer Whalen (Baroness von Sketch Show), who also serve as Executive Producers alongside Stacy Traub, and Sphere Media’s Jennifer Kawaja, Bruno Dubé and Elise Cousineau. 

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Pretty Hard Cases: Meredith MacNeill and Adrienne C. Moore talk Season 3 and being ‘naughty children’ on set

The relationship between Pretty Hard Cases’ Sam Wazowski (Meredith MacNeill) and Kelly Duff (Adrienne C. Moore) has faced some major challenges over the past two seasons. During Season 1, the detective duo had to learn how to work together despite their odd couple dynamic. In Season 2, they overcame a series of personal misunderstandings to forge a true friendship—even though it resulted in them being separated on the job.   

At the start of Season 3—kicking off Wednesday at 9 p.m. on CBC and CBC Gem—Sam, demoted to street cop, and Kelly, working undercover, have been apart for eight months. But worry not. Just a few minutes into the premiere episode, “Always A Bridesmaid,” written by series creators Tassie Cameron and Sherry White, the pair enjoys a glorious reunion that showcases the fabulous chemistry between series leads MacNeill and Moore. There is screaming and jumping. There are secret handshakes and goofy butt pats. And, of course, there is banter. 

But while Sam and Kelly are back together and stronger than ever, they still have to prove themselves to new Unit Commander Gloria Ballard (Wendy Crewson) before they’ll regain access to the OCE’s top cases—such as discovering the source of a deadly new drug that’s hit the streets of Toronto, or tracking down last season’s still at large villain Adeline French (Charlotte Sullivan). They also have to navigate their new romantic relationships, with Sam making another go of things with ex-husband Steve (Trevor Hayes) and Kelly testing the waters with fellow detective Nathan (Daren A. Herbert). 

During a recent chat with MacNeill and Moore, we found out more about Sam and Kelly’s upcoming adventures and why the actors sometimes feel like “naughty children” on set. 

Sam and Kelly’s friendship has grown a lot over the past two seasons. How will it evolve in Season 3?
Adrienne C. Moore: I think like any friendship, in Season 2, we had that tension that I think long-standing and long-term relationships must have in order to kind of jump that hurdle that they can get to a point where they know each other’s thoughts, they know what each other is thinking before they even say. And I think that was one of the balances that we tried to strike and establish this theory that they had a hard time getting to know each other, they went through the thick of it, and now they’re just like, they can read each other’s thoughts. They know how to support each other as friends, and they know what they need from each other in friendship.

Meredith MacNeill: Yeah, and then because of that, because that friendship has taken the next layer, they tend to add other things into their life. You see them involve each other in the other aspects of their life, which was interesting. So like, when we got the scripts, I was like, ‘Oh, this is your family.’

Both of your characters are in very different places with their personal lives than they were in previous seasons. Kelly is making a go of it with Nathan, and Sam is back with her ex-husband Steve, which may or may not be a good thing. 
MM: I feel that for Sam—and for Meredith MacNeill—there’s something about being in your 40s and admitting what it’s truly like to start over and all the mess and glory that comes with that. So I love the way Tassie and Sherry write. Yes, I’m back with my ex-husband,  but it takes it to this level that I think will be extremely relatable, that just because you’ve made a decision and you’re like, ‘I’m gonna go for this,’ it doesn’t automatically mean that once you make the decision, everything’s fine. When the scripts would come in, and we work on scenes. I was like, ‘Oh gosh, I really know this relationship. I know these people. These are people I have in my life.’

ACM: I think for Kelly, she’s shown a lot with being vulnerable and open in relationships. And not to give any spoilers, but there’s already some physical tension in the beginning between her and Nathan, and so through the course of the season, you discover how Kelly is really embracing being vulnerable. She knows she has a good thing with Nathan, but she’s still scared. And I think a lot of people when they get in relationships, become afraid of losing their own identity and their own individuality. And so she learned how to balance that, how to be in a relationship with a partner but yet still have her own identity. And I’ve loved that Nathan supports that for her.

You’ve got a new unit commander this season, played by Wendy Crewson.
MM and ACM: Woo!

How was it working with her?
MM: She’s it. That’s it. She comes on set, you know you’re lucky, and you just stand there and hope you can keep up. That’s what you do. 

ACM: Wendy was working on another show also at the same time. She came in every day, on point, knew these chunky, chunky dialogue lines and was killing it. I was like, ‘OK, I can learn from her.’

Pretty Hard Cases effortlessly blends comedy and drama, and many scenes can be played either way. How do you decide which way you’re going to take a scene? Are you given a lot of freedom to improvise, or is it all on the page?
MM: I think because we’re both theatre-based, we’re pretty comfortable with both. I respect the work completely and the author of scripts, that’s just standard. And then also with theatre, you’ll learn really quickly to play in the moment, be in the moment, throw all your work away, and what’s happening isn’t to me, it’s what’s happening between the two characters. So I find what happens in the show is—because we get along and we want to have so much fun—sometimes I feel like we’re naughty children, but professional naughty children. We adore the writing by Sherry and Tassie, we’re respectful to that. But as soon as we can, we’re like, ‘Can we play? Can we go, can we go?’ And then they’ll give us some goes, and so it kind of balances out and then, in the end, it’s really great. 

As you said, you get along well and love working together. What have you learned from each other as actors over the last three seasons?
MM: I know that we get [each other] pumped. Like, if it’s a 16-hour day, we kind of look at each other, kind of give each other a soft high-five, and go in and kill it. We know we got it. 

ACM: I know that if she has a lot of dialogue to carry, or I have a lot of dialogue, what I love is that we can just kind of look at each other and I know where she’s at, she knows where I’m at, and I know what she needs, she knows what I need. 

MM: And we get there really quick. 

ACM: Yeah, we provide that for each other, and it’s like when you have those days, when you work every day and you’re doing 12-16 hour days like that, it’s good to look over and see your partner in crime. You’re going through it with someone that you trust. 

Pretty Hard Cases airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBC and CBC Gem.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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Production now underway on Pretty Hard Cases Season 3

From a media release:

On the heels of its Season 2 launch on Amazon Freevee (formerly IMDb TV), Cameron Pictures, CBC, and Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group, proudly announce the start of production for the critically acclaimed 11-time Canadian Screen Award-nominated, CBC Original comedy-drama series, PRETTY HARD CASES Season 3. Filming continues in and around Toronto for 10 one-hour episodes with season 3 set to air on CBC in winter 2023.

This season, PRETTY HARD CASES finds a miserably demoted Samantha Wazowski (Meredith MacNeill) and a deeply undercover Kelly Duff (Adrienne C. Moore) reuniting to win their way back into the OCE after eight long months apart. Although their professional relationship has never been stronger, Sam and Kelly need to prove they’re worthy of the department’s top cases to the new and exacting Unit Commander, Gloria Ballard, played by world-renowned and award-winning actor Wendy Crewson (Departure, Good Sam). Gloria has high standards, excellent clothes, spiky hair and is intimidating AF. She doesn’t quite throw a “Welcome Back” party in Kelly and Sam’s honour, but our favourite pair of detectresses have each other’s backs as they navigate big changes.

Cast members reprising their roles include Karen Robinson (Schitt’s Creek) as tough, sardonic and newly-promoted Superintendent Edwina Shanks; Al Mukadam (Miss Sloan) as Detective Taai Nazeer, reliable and responsible; the affable heart of the OCE; Daren A. Herbert (Kim’s Convenience) as Detective Sergeant Nathan Greene, as charismatic as he is tech-savvy; Trevor Hayes (The Girlfriend Experience) as Sam’s ex-husband, turned boyfriend, Steve Evans; and Amanda Brugel (The Handmaid’s Tale) As Detective Karina Duff, Kelly’s overachieving half-sister and new mom. Also returning for Season 3 is Homicide Detective duo Tara Swallows, played by Tricia Black (Band Ladies) and Dustin Chase, played by Miguel Rivas (The Beaverton).

Following its broadcast and streaming debut of the first two seasons on CBC and CBC Gem, PRETTY HARD CASES also premiered on Amazon Freevee (formerly known as IMDb TV). Season 3 premieres winter 2023 on CBC.

PRETTY HARD CASES is co-created by Tassie Cameron (Mary Kills People, Ten Days in the Valley, Rookie Blue, The Robber Bride) and Sherry White (Little Dog, Frontier, Ten Days in the Valley, Rookie Blue).

A CBC original series, PRETTY HARD CASES is produced by Cameron Pictures in association with CBC and Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group. Cameron and White also serve as Co-Showrunners. Sherry White, Tassie Cameron, Amy Cameron and Alex Patrick are Executive Producers. Wanda Chaffey is Producer.

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