''The Smart Woman Survival Guide'' is a Canadian situation comedy, filmed in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, that aired from September 4, 2006, to January 5, 2008. It aired on the

W Network W Network (often shortened to W) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts general entertainment programming oriented towards a female audience. W Network was established in ...

and CosmoTV. It was renewed for 26 further episodes before season one had finished shooting. The show was originally conceived as a two-act show that grew to four acts with a teaser and tag.

Premise

''The Smart Woman Survival Guide'' is a half-hour hybrid that is part lifestyle and part comedy. Lifting the ‘Ironed Curtain’ on a ''

Martha Stewart Living ''Martha Stewart Living'' is a magazine and former television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of ...

''-type show, the series takes place behind the scenes of a fictional lifestyle program called ''Smart Woman'' and follows a group of women who bond over their work, lives and loves. The series stars Tricia Braun as Lana Pearson, the demanding host of ''Smart Woman'', and her trusty staff, producer Liz (Siobhan Murphy), associate producer Brooke (Joanne Alderson), and researcher Natalie (Laura McLean). As the women attempt to navigate the challenges of their personal and professional lives, the audience is presented with tips, how-tos and information for today's “smart woman”. When the Smart Women go into the real world to research segments for the show, they interact with real world experts who make guest appearances on the ''Smart Woman'' show. These include real-life Olympians, celebrity chefs and ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' bestselling authors.

Cast

*Tricia Braun – Lana Pearson, the host of ''Smart Woman'' *

Siobhan Murphy Siobhan Murphy is a Canadian actress who has appeared in ''The Smart Woman Survival Guide'' in 2006, ''Men with Brooms'' in 2010, '' Max & Shred '' in 2014, '' Murdoch Mysteries'' in 2016 and ''Merry Happy Whatever'' in 2019. Early life From ...

– Liz Duncan, the producer *Laura McLean – Natalie Knowles, the researcher *Joanne Alderson – Brooke Patterson, the associate producer *Riley Gilchrist – Alistair, Lana's assistant *Ryan V. Hays – Phil, the IT guy *Adam Seybold – Reggie, the make-up artist

Notable guest-starring cast

* Jean-Paul Saurine - Steve Duncan, Liz's husband * Megan Hutchins - Geneva, Lana's 19-year-old niece *

Boomer Phillips Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. Th ...

– Pete Sharp, Lana's nemesis and host of a rival show * Brad Hampton - John Smith

Guest experts

Alexandra Robbins Alexandra Robbins is a journalist, lecturer, and author. Her books focus on young adults, education, and modern college life. Five of her books have been New York Times Bestsellers. Biography She graduated from Walt Whitman High School in Beth ...

, ''

'' bestselling author of ''Conquering Your Quarterlife Crisis'', ''The Overachievers'', ''Pledged'', and ''Secrets of the Tomb''. *

Conrad Leinemann Conrad Leinemann (born April 2, 1971 in Kelowna, British Columbia) is a male former beach volleyball player from Canada who won the gold medal in the men's beach team competition at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, partnering wi ...

, Beach Volleyball Olympian, finished 9th at the Sydney Olympic Games, and is a Pan Am Games Gold Medalist, with a 100+ km/h serve. *

Mark Heese Mark Heese (born August 15, 1969) is a Canadian male beach volleyball player. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Heese began playing beach volleyball at the age of 19 at the Balmy Beach Club in Toronto, and is a graduate of McMaster University where he p ...

, Beach Volleyball Olympian. Mark brought home Canada's first medal in beach volleyball in the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996. * Marc Dunn,

Beach Volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

Olympian, finished 17th at the Atlanta Olympic Games. *

Craig Kielburger Craig Kielburger (born December 17, 1982) is a Canadian human rights activist and social entrepreneur. He is the co-founder, with his brother Marc Kielburger, of the WE Charity, as well as We Day and the independent, social enterprise Me to ...

, Founder and Chair of

Free the Children WE Charity (french: Organisme UNIS), formerly known as Free the Children (French: ''Enfants Entraide''), is an international development charity and youth empowerment movement founded in 1995 by human rights advocates Marc and Craig Kielburger. ...

, and three-time

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

nominee. * Barbara Coloroso, internationally recognized parenting expert and author of four best selling parental advice books: ''Kids are worth it''; ''Parenting Through Crisis, Helping Kids in Times of Loss, Grief, and Inner Discipline''; ''The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander''; ''Just Because it’s not Wrong Doesn’t Make It Right''. * Rick Gallop, Author o
''The G. I. Diet''
* Rob Stewart, Director of award-winning environmental feature film documentary,

Sharkwater ''Sharkwater'' is a 2006 Canadian documentary film written and directed by Rob Stewart. Helping to protect sharks, changing government policy, and inspiring the creation of shark conservation groups, ''Sharkwater'' is considered one of conservati ...

Episodes

Production credits

The series was edited at Visual Fixations. Audio post production and 5.1 surround mixing for the 39 episodes was completed at Rhythm Division. The re-recording mixer was Jim Longo, with additional editing on season 3 by Andrea Cyr. Music for season 1, as well as the show theme were composed by Tom Third. For seasons 2 and 3 the music was composed at Rhythm Division by Kevan Staples. Executive Producer Al Magee was the creative consultant for Showcase Network, contributing to numerous shows, including ''

Slings & Arrows ''Slings & Arrows'' is a Canadian television series set at the fictional New Burbage Festival, a Shakespearean festival similar to the real-world Stratford Festival. It stars Paul Gross, Stephen Ouimette and Martha Burns. Rachel McAdams appeared ...

'', ''

Kink Kink or KINK may refer to: Common uses * Kink (sexuality), a colloquial term for non-normative sexual behavior * Kink, a curvature, bend, or twist Geography * Kink, Iran, a village in Iran * The Kink, a man-made geographic feature in remote east ...

'', ''

Naked Josh ''Naked Josh'' is a Canadian comedy television series, which aired on Showcase from 2004 to 2006. It was created and written by Alex Epstein and Laura Kosterski. The show starred David Julian Hirsh as Josh Gould, a university professor in Mont ...

'', ''Show Me Yours'', ''

Kenny vs. Spenny ''Kenny vs. Spenny'' is a Canadian reality comedy television series starring Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice, where they face against each other in competitions. The loser of each episode performs an act of humiliation, usually selected by the winne ...

'', and ''

Trailer Park Boys ''Trailer Park Boys'' is a Canadian mockumentary sitcom television series created by Mike Clattenburg that began airing in 2001 as a continuation of his 1999 film bearing the same name. The show follows the misadventures of a group of trailer pa ...

''. Series composer Kevan Staples was a member of the Canadian new wave rock band, Rough Trade. He has won 4

Juno Awards The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

and a

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

. The photo of Liz and Steve on Liz's desk is a real photo of Siobhan Murphy (Liz) and Jean-Paul Saurine (Steve) taken years ago, when the two were classmates at theatre school.

External links

* (defunct) *

Press and media coverage

National Post 09/16/06

Globe Television 09/06

Toronto Metro 08/11/06

Etc News 08/24/06

Insider Entertainment 09/06
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smart Woman Survival Guide, The 2006 Canadian television series debuts 2008 Canadian television series endings 2000s Canadian sitcoms W Network original programming