Designing Women

Designing Women is an American television sitcom created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason that aired on CBS from September 29, 1986, to May 24, 1993, producing seven seasons and 163 episodes. It was a joint production of Bloodworth/Thomason Mozark Productions in association with Columbia Pictures Television for CBS.
The series centers on the lives of four women and one man working together at an interior designing firm in 1980s Atlanta, Georgia, called Sugarbaker & Associates. It originally starred Dixie Carter as Julia Sugarbaker, president of the design firm; Delta Burke as Suzanne Sugarbaker, the design firm's silent partner and Julia's ex-beauty queen sister; Annie Potts as head designer Mary Jo Shively; and Jean Smart as office manager Charlene Frazier. In the third season, Meshach Taylor was given a starring role for his previously recurring character of delivery man and later partner Anthony Bouvier. Later in its run, the series gained notoriety for its well-publicized behind-the-scenes conflicts and cast changes. Julia Duffy and Jan Hooks replaced Burke and Smart for season six, but Duffy was not brought back for the seventh and final season, and she was replaced by Judith Ivey.
Premise
Julia Sugarbaker (Dixie Carter) is an elegant, sophisticated, outspoken woman who is the co-founder and president of Sugarbaker & Associates, an interior design firm located in her own home in Atlanta. She is partnered with her younger sister, Suzanne (Delta Burke), an attractive, selfish, self-centered former Miss Georgia World, who invested her money but does not have an official position within the business. Naïve but sweet-natured Charlene Frazier (Jean Smart), who worked as a secretary for Julia's late husband, Hayden, also invested half of her savings at Sugarbaker's and works as office manager. Charlene's next-door neighbor and recently divorced best friend, Mary Jo Shively (Annie Potts), is the main interior designer of the firm and also a full partner.
Alongside the women, there is Anthony Bouvier (Meshach Taylor), an ex-convict who is hired as the company's deliveryman and later becomes a full partner. By late 1986, Julia and Suzanne's mother, Perky (Louise Latham), comes for a visit with her outrageous best friend Bernice Clifton (Alice Ghostley). Perky does not stay long and moves to Japan, leaving Bernice in Atlanta, where she begins to spend time with the others.
At the end of the fifth season, actress Delta Burke left the show after a much-publicized feud with the show's producers, so her character, Suzanne, moved to Japan to join her mother, Perky. Actress Jean Smart also left at the beginning of the sixth season after deciding she wanted to spend more time with her young child.
To handle Smart's departure, her character, Charlene, moved to England with her Air Force husband and their daughter. Julia and Suzanne's obnoxious cousin Allison (Julia Duffy) acquires Suzanne's share of the design firm and also rents her home. Anthony and Charlene's sister, Carlene (Jan Hooks), move in with her. Carlene also begins working at Sugarbaker's, filling the office manager vacancy that older sister Charlene left behind.
Allison (Duffy) left after the sixth season. Texan widow Bonnie Jean Poteet (Judith Ivey), was written in for season seven. These changes failed to hold the attention of viewers who enjoyed the original cast of the first five seasons. Designing Women was cancelled after the seventh season.
Main cast
Dixie Carter as Julia Sugarbaker, president and founder of Sugarbaker & Associates interior design firm. Elegant and classy, but outspoken and opinionated, Julia is known for her no-nonsense speeches from a feminist and liberal perspective. She is very protective of her sister Suzanne, even though she is usually the first one to criticize her egocentric statements. Julia is notable as a very talented singer, usually performing in her church choir, and, later on, she also pretends to be a cabaret singer under the pseudonym "Giselle".
Annie Potts as Mary Jo Shively, Sugarbaker's main designer. Mary Jo is a sarcastic but kind person and a devoted single mother of two.
Jean Smart as Charlene Frazier-Stillfield (seasons 1–5; guest star: season 6), Julia's late husband's former secretary and now office manager of Sugarbaker's. Originally from a large family in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, Charlene is naïve and sweet-hearted, whose ditziness can be annoying for her co-workers. She's one of Elvis' biggest fans and worked with several big names while secretary in Arkansas, including Fred Smith, Sam Walton and Bill Clinton. Eventually, Charlene marries Colonel William Stillfield and they have a baby, Olivia. By 1991, they move to England, leaving her younger sister, Carlene, to fill in for her at Sugarbaker's.
Delta Burke as Suzanne Sugarbaker (seasons 1–5), Julia's younger sister and a silent partner at Sugarbaker's. A former beauty queen and alumna of Ole Miss, Suzanne is self-centered and vain, and generally more laissez-faire and traditional in contrast to her sister's views. Thrice-divorced, Suzanne usually dates wealthy elderly men who are terminally ill. During the series, she deals with weight gain and confronts issues of body image for women. In 1991, Suzanne sells all of her shares and moves to Japan to live with her mother.
Meshach Taylor as Anthony Bouvier (recurring: seasons 1–2, main: seasons 3–7), an ex-convict and a law student, who works as Sugarbaker's delivery man until 1990 and then becomes a full partner. Anthony is very close to his co-workers but develops a special relationship with Suzanne throughout the series. After he is dumped by his girlfriend, Vanessa Chamberlain (Jackeé Harry), BJ sets up a trip to Las Vegas where a drunk Anthony marries a Folies Bergère singer, Etienne (Sheryl Lee Ralph). He eventually falls in love with her and tries to make the marriage work.
Julia Duffy as Allison Sugarbaker (season 6), Julia and Suzanne's conservative cousin who becomes a partner at Sugarbaker & Associates. Allison comes from New York City for a visit after buying Suzanne's shares and decides to move back to the South, taking possession of Suzanne's house as well, which Anthony had been renting. They eventually became housemates, but are always arguing because of her attempts to throw him out. After one year being a partner at the design firm, Allison decides to invest in a Victoria's Secret franchise, leaving Atlanta and Sugarbaker's behind.
Jan Hooks as Carlene Frazier-Dobber (seasons 6–7), Charlene's naïve younger sister from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, who becomes a receptionist at Sugarbaker's after divorcing her car salesman husband, Dwayne Dobber.
Judith Ivey as Bonnie Jean "BJ" Poteet (season 7), a lively and sharp-witted Texas millionaire who becomes a Sugarbaker & Associates partner after Allison sells her shares. Her late husband James Poteet, a successful tycoon, had a heart attack during their wedding reception, leaving her the control of his Atlanta-based company, Poteet Industries.
Recurring
Scott Bakula as Ted Shively (seasons 1–2), Mary Jo's ex-husband and a gynecologist
Douglas Barr as William "Bill" Stillfield (seasons 2–5), Charlene's husband, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force
Olivia Brown as Vanessa Hargraves (season 4), Anthony's girlfriend
Hal Holbrook as Reese Watson (seasons 1–4), Julia's love interest, a widowed and successful Atlanta attorney (the character was killed off in season 5 so Holbrook could appear on Evening Shade)
Alice Ghostley as Bernice Clifton, the Sugarbakers' eccentric family friend; Ghostley was billed as a "Special Guest Star" throughout the series
Richard Gilliland as J.D. Shackelford (seasons 1–5), Mary Jo's boyfriend, a talent scout for the Atlanta Braves
Michael Goldfinger as Rusty (seasons 4–6), the Sugarbakers' electrician
Brian Lando as Quinton Shively (seasons 1–6), Mary Jo's son
George Newbern as Payne McIlroy (seasons 1–6), Julia's son
Gerald McRaney as Dash Goff (season 2), Suzanne's first husband, a novelist and college professor at the University of Arkansas
Sheryl Lee Ralph as Etienne Toussaint Bouvier (season 7), a showgirl Anthony marries after meeting her while she was performing at the Tropicana Las Vegas
Lexi Randall as Randa Oliver (season 5), a young girl left in the care of Julia while her wealthy parents are in Europe
Priscilla Weems as Claudia Marie Shively (seasons 1–5), Mary Jo's daughter
Episodes
Filming locations
The exterior of the house seen in the series as the location of the Sugarbakers' design firm is the Angelo Marre House located in the historic Quapaw Quarter district in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The home of Suzanne Sugarbaker seen in the series is the Arkansas Governor's Mansion, also in the Quapaw Quarter. Both homes are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Critical reception
When the show debuted in CBS's Monday-night lineup in 1986, it garnered respectable ratings; however, CBS moved the show several times to other time slots. After dismal ratings in Sunday night and Thursday night time slots, CBS placed it on hiatus and was ready to cancel the show, but a viewer campaign saved the show and returned it to its Monday night slot. The show's ratings solidified, and it regularly landed in the top 20 rankings. From 1989 through 1992, Designing Women and Murphy Brown (which also centered around a strong, opinionated female character) aired back-to-back, creating a very successful hour-long block for CBS, as both shows were thought to appeal to similar demographics. The show was a top 30 hit for three seasons, from 1989 to 1992, in which the 1989–1992 seasons made it the most successful of the time and helped CBS, which struggled in the ratings around the late 1980s. A move to the Friday night death slot in fall 1992 caused ratings to fall again and the series to be canceled.
Political views
Show creators Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and Harry Thomason were strong supporters of longtime friend and then-Democratic nominee for President of the United States, Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary. Midway through the seventh season, Julia is stranded in the airport while attempting to attend Clinton's first inauguration, in an episode ("The Odyssey") that aired five days prior. Earlier in the series, Charlene mentions working for Clinton during his Arkansas governorship. Another Clinton-related joke was the introduction during the sixth season of the prissy character, Allison Sugarbaker, who makes it quite clear to the others that she attended Wellesley College, Hillary's alma mater. An early third season episode ("The Candidate") also revolves around Julia running for commissioner; she debates on television against a conservative candidate, to whom she eventually loses.
In reality, Dixie Carter was a libertarian-leaning Republican who disagreed with some of the liberal views expressed by her onscreen character. However, she did support liberal causes, such as civil rights and same-sex marriage. Carter cut a deal with the Thomasons in which Julia would sing a song in a future episode for every liberal-leaning monologue.
Awards and nominations
Home media
Shout! Factory has released all seven seasons of Designing Women on DVD in Region 1.
On September 2, 2003, Sony Pictures released The Best of Designing Women, a single-disc DVD featuring five episodes ranging between seasons one through four: "Designing Women (Pilot)" (season 1), "Killing All the Right People" (season 2), "Reservations for Eight" (season 2), "Big Haas and Little Falsie" (season 3) and "They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?" (season 4).
On September 28, 2010, Shout! Factory released Designing Women, Volume 1, a single-disc DVD featuring seven episodes from the first season: "Designing Women (Pilot)", "A Big Affair", "Design House", "I Do, I Don't", "New Year's Daze", "Monette", "And Justice for Paul".
On June 5, 2012, Shout! Factory released Designing Women – 20 Timeless Episodes, aimed for casual fans to enjoy the series without buying full season sets. The 2-disc DVD set included the following episodes, ranging from seasons one through five: Disc 1 – "Designing Women (pilot)" (season 1), "New Year's Daze" (season 1), "Monette" (season 1), "Oh Suzannah" (season 1), "Ted Remarries" (season 2), "Killing All the Right People" (season 2), "Heart Attacks" (season 2), "Return of Ray Don" (season 2), "Big Haas & Little Falsie" (season 3), "The Wilderness Experience" (season 3). Disc 2 – "The Naked Truth" (season 3), "Stand & Fight" (season 3), "Nightmare from Hee Haw" (season 3), "Julia Gets Her Head Caught in a Fence" (season 4), "Julia & Suzanne's Big Adventure" (season 4), "Foreign Affairs" (season 4), "A Blast from the Past" (season 5), "And Now, Here's Bernice" (season 5), "This is Art?" (season 5) and "The Pride of the Sugarbakers" (season 5).
Syndication
CBS ran reruns of the show in their daytime lineup at 10:00 a.m. (ET) from April 1991 to June 1992. Subsequently, Designing Women aired on the Lifetime cable network for over a decade. Despite its popularity, the show left the network on August 4, 2006.
A 90-minute retrospective special, The Designing Women Reunion, aired on Lifetime on July 28, 2003, reuniting Burke, Potts, Smart, Carter and Taylor in which they shared memories from their time on the series, and also featured interviews with the Thomasons and various writers. Actors Alice Ghostley, Hal Holbrook, Gerald McRaney, and Richard Gilliland also took part in the special.
The series also aired on Nick at Nite beginning October 2, 2006; however, it quickly left and later appeared on its sister network TV Land, airing at various late-night and morning times occasionally until the network lost the rights to air the show in 2008. The series aired on ION Television in 2007 and has also aired on Comedy Gold, TV Guide Network, and Logo.
In recognition of the show's 30th anniversary, getTV began running the series in June 2017 with nightly blocks featuring 30 fan-favorite episodes, after which the series began airing regularly on the network.
As of Spring 2021, Antenna TV airs two episodes of the show on weeknights at 12:00 and 12:30 a.m. ET, while FETV airs the show weekdays at 3:00 and 3:30 a.m. as of March 2021.
As of August 28, 2019, the series is available for streaming on Hulu. The episodes are not the original versions aired on CBS, but syndication edits, which contain an altered opening credit sequence and choppy edits to allow more time for commercials.
Spin-off
Burke returned as the Suzanne Sugarbaker character in the 1995 spin-off series, Women of the House. The series ran for one season, airing on CBS from January 4, 1995, to August 18, 1995, with the final four episodes airing on Lifetime on September 8, 1995.
References
External links
1980s American sitcoms
1980s American workplace comedy television series
1986 American television series debuts
1990s American sitcoms
1990s American workplace comedy television series
1993 American television series endings
CBS original programming
English-language television shows
Television series by Sony Pictures Television
Television shows set in Atlanta
Television series created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason
Women in Georgia (U.S. state)