Designing Women (1986)
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Linda Bloodworth-Thomason — Writer
Episodes 73
Designing Women
Suzanne visits a new gynecologist, Mary Jo's ex-husband Ted, and a maelstrom of emotions is unleashed when she announces she is dating him.
Read MoreThe Beauty Contest
Charlene sponsors Mary Jo's daughter in the Miss Pre-Teen Atlanta contest, and despite her depression over her own upcoming 30th birthday, Suzanne coaches Claudia on how to walk and smile.
Read MoreA Big Affair
Suzanne's intimate dinner party, planned to impress an important client, goes awry before it begins when she arranges a date between a more-than-hefty man and a reluctant Charlene.
Read MoreJulia's Son
Julia's nineteen-year-old son, Payne, is bringing his girlfriend home from college for a visit, and Julia wants everything to be perfect for her ""baby."" Payne then presents his girl, Primmie, who is tall, attractive...and forty years old!
Read MorePerky's Visit
Perky Sugarbaker, Julia and Suzanne's mother, and her friend Bernice hope to escape the dull routine of their lives in the retirement home by joining the girls and their ex-con handyman Anthony for the festive occasion, considering it an exhilarating change.
Read MoreThe Slumber Party
Arriving at work one morning, Suzanne tells Julia, Mary Jo, and Charlene that when she tried to fire her maid, she put a voodoo death curse on her and proclaimed that Suzanne would be gone by midnight. Mary Jo invites Charlene, Julia and Suzanne to help her with Claudia's slumber party.
Read MoreOld Spouses Never Die (1)
Mary Jo is brooding about her ex-husband's interference in her life, while Charlene distrusts her doctor's cavalier attitude toward the lump he found in her breast.
Read MoreOld Spouses Never Die (2)
Mary Jo is brooding about her ex-husband's interference in her life, while Charlene distrusts her doctor's cavalier attitude toward the lump he found in her breast.
Read MoreReese's Friend
A disagreement over the theme for the annual country club fund-raiser has Julia and Suzanne at odds, but the quibbling is forgotten when Reese appears with a gorgeous young women on his arm, explaining that she is a new attorney in his law firm.
Read MoreNashville Bound
The news that Charlene's family--all ten brothers and sisters--will be in town at the same time is overshadowed by the news that she is going to become a recording star!
Read MoreOh, Suzannah
While in Reese's office to sign legal papers, Suzanne off-handedly volunteers to keep a Vietnamese boat child, Li Sing, who is being adopted but needs an interim home for the next four weeks while final papers are being completed. Suzanne becomes attached to Li Sing quickly and doesn't want to give her over to her new family.
Read MoreMary Jo's Dad Dates Charlene
When Mary Jo's divorced father arrives in Atlanta for a four-day visit and dances cheek to cheek with Charlene, Mary Jo becomes very protective.
Read MoreGrand Slam, Thank You Ma'am
Suzanne's baseball player ex-husband, Jack Dent, writes in his autobiography that he had more groupie action than all the rock ""n"" roll bands in North America, and Suzanne vows revenge.
Read MoreBachelor Suite
When Mary Jo undertakes the decoration of Hence Winchester's new home, she finds herself the object of sexual harassment by her wealthy client.
Read More101 Ways to Decorate a Gas Station
A scruffy gas-station owner wins free interior decoration from Sugarbakers, Charlene consults a psychic about her future.
Read MoreTed Remarries
Mary Jo can't face her children being with her ex-husband's new wife, who is spoiling them.
Read MoreAnthony, Jr.
Anthony goes to extremes to impress his girlfriends' wealthy parents, inventing a pedigreed family -- then an uninvited dinner guest informs him he is the father of her child.
Read MoreKilling All the Right People
"Killing All the Right People" is the 26th episode of the sitcom Designing Women. Originally airing on October 5, 1987, as the fourth episode of the second season, it features Tony Goldwyn as Kendall Dobbs, a young man dying of AIDS who asks the women to design his funeral. Series creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's mother died of AIDS and her experience with her mother's disease and the prejudice associated with it inspired the episode.
Read MoreHalf an Air Bubble Off
When an eccentric client harasses the women with bizarre decorating requests, they decide to matchmake him with Bernice.
Read MoreDash Goff, the Writer
Suzanne's visiting ex, a novelist who loves flowery Southern words and women, is in a writer's slump and contemplating suicide.
Read MoreHeart Attacks
Reese's fitness demonstration - arm wrestling an old buddy and sometime-rival -- causes a heart attack, and subsequent different treatment from Julia.
Read MoreI'll Be Seeing You
Charlene dreams the Sugarbakers back to WWII and the USO.
Read MoreHoward the Date
It's the mercy date from Hell when the female Sugarbakers staff accompany dateless Howard the nerd to his high-school reunion. Their sympathy quickly wears off when he begins to boast about handling his ""four women.""
Read MoreI'll Be Home For Christmas
Charlene and Anthony scheme to outsmart Mary Jo's disbelieving son on Christmas Eve -- until their hired Santa beats them to it, by swiping the Sugarbakers' Christmas gifts.
Read MoreGreat Expectations
Anthony is dismayed when an old prison cellmate arrives at Sugarbaker's with a business proposition -- he wants Anthony to become his partner.
Read MoreSecond Time Around
Charlene withdraws after being dumped by her boyfriend Bill, who is still grieving the loss of his first wife.
Read MoreOh, Brother
Julia and Suzanne disagree on how to handle the arrival of their half-brother, a recently discharged mental patient with aspirations to stand-up comedy.
Read MoreThere's Some Black People Coming to Dinner
Mary Jo gives Claudia permission to go to a school dance with a black youth, contrary to his father's wishes.
Read MoreThe Return of Ray Don
A penniless Suzanne faces stiff fines for back taxes, so after trying to charm Ray Don at the IRS, she sells off her possession and considers marriage to wealthy octogenarian Wilmont Oliver.
Read MoreHigh Rollers
After Charlene unwittingly puts a bug in Suzanne's ear by relating the success story of Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express, Suzanne flits off to Atlantic City with Charlene and Anthony in hopes of winning a bundle to pay off debts by employing Anthony's gambling expertise.
Read MoreThe Incredibly Elite Bona Fide Blue-Blood Beaumont Driving Club
Suzanne and Julia clash over a posh club's offer of membership when Suzanne discovers discrimination in the club's by laws.
Read MoreHow Great Thou Art
Scruples cause Charlene to resign from her church after she loses faith in her minister when he votes against allowing women in the ministry.
Read MoreReservations for Eight
A romantic ski weekend becomes a battle of the sexes when an avalanche sidelines the Sugarbakers ladies and their boyfriends.
Read MoreReservations for 12, Plus Ursula
A voluptuous maid disrupts a romantic Thanksgiving at the beach.
Read MoreThe Candidate
Julia runs for a seat on the local board of commissioners, but her outspokenness may cost her the election.
Read MoreE.P. Phone Home
While touring Graceland on VIP tickets, Julia is touched when a truck driver tells how the King influenced his life.
Read MoreGetting Married and Eating Dirt
Bernice asks the ladies to be her wedding attendants when she receives a marriage proposal from a TV pitchman -- who habitually proposes to every woman he meets.
Read MoreBig Haas and Little Falsie
Mary-Jo contemplates breast enlargement after receiving an inheritance from her uncle Dude stipulating that she must spend it on something frivolous.
Read MoreHard Hats and Lovers
Suzanne convinces Charlene that Bill should date more before they get serious, and the ladies plan revenge on a bunch of sexist hardhats working across the street.
Read MoreBut They're Really Great Curtains
Striking laborers from a textile factory besiege the company, and the Sugarbakers women come to respect them for surviving their terrible working conditions.
Read MoreThe Wilderness Experience
The women embark on a wilderness survival course designed to build leadership -- but it's first-time camper Bernice who ultimately takes command.
Read MoreThe Naked Truth
Mary Jo, Charlene and Anthony feign nonchalance at a nudist colony, the Sugarbakers' nieces visit.
Read MoreMs. Meal Ticket
Mary-Jo overreacts to J.D.'s losing his job and moving in with her, but a psychic helps her sort out her feelings.
Read MoreCome On and Marry Me, Bill
Charlene's wedding is in jeopardy when she finds Bill handcuffed to a scantily clad dancer after his stag party.
Read MoreThe Women of Atlanta
A photographer shooting a magazine spread on the women of Atlanta asks the decorators to participate, but they become suspicious when he keeps encouraging sexier poses.
Read MoreThe Last Humorously-Dressed Bellboy in America
When she discovers him working as a bellboy/pianist, the accountant who absconded with her life savings offers Suzanne a deal.
Read MoreThe Proxy Pig and Great Pretenders
Mary Jo uses the mansion she's decorating to entertain, and Anthony suffers when his health insurance lapses and Suzanne must nurse his injured back.
Read MoreOne Night With You
A terminally-ill high school classmate's last wish is to spend one night with the girl of his dreams -- Julia. The catch is, she doesn't remember him at all.
Read MoreNightmare From Hee Haw
The Sugerbaker women and their mates take a canoe trip in the Georgia backwoods -- which turns into a nightmare when them encounter some good ole boys.
Read MoreThe Rowdy Girls
While she is helping the Sugarbakers women choreograph a Supremes lip-synch routine, Charlene's favorite cousin inadvertently reveals that she is a victim of domestic violence.
Read MoreBernice's Sanity Hearing
The Sugarbaker women testify for Bernice when her niece Phyllis attempts to have her declared legally incompetent because she sings Bobbie Gentry songs to strangers on the street and introduces Anthony as her illegitimate son.
Read MoreThey Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?
Fat as a feminist issue surfaces when Suzanne endures cruel jokes about her weight at her high-school reunion; Anthony enlists Julia and Mary Jo to join him in a two-day fast to focus attention on world hunger.
Read MoreThe First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century (1)
Suzanne and Mary Jo rush Charlene to the hospital when she goes into labor on New Year's Eve and conceives a desire to deliver the first New Year's baby. Dolly Parton plays Charlene's ""guardian movie star,"" who comes to her in a dream with news of her baby's birth, and Bernice goes for an unexpected ambulance ride.
Read MoreThe First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century (2)
Suzanne and Mary Jo rush Charlene to the hospital when she goes into labor on New Year's Eve and conceives a desire to deliver the first New Year's baby. Dolly Parton plays Charlene's ""guardian movie star,"" who comes to her in a dream with news of her baby's birth, and Bernice goes for an unexpected ambulance ride.
Read MoreThe Mistress
The ladies are hired by wealthy stockbroker Ancel Pollard to decorate a house for a client's wife -- and a condo for his mistress. Suzanne is sure that straight laced Julia and Mary Jo will never go through with the assignment.
Read MoreAnthony and Vanessa
Hired for a temporary job at Sugarbakers, Anthony's needy friend Vanessa learns the tricks of the trade from Suzanne, then goes to work reeling in Anthony.
Read MoreTornado Watch
A bizarre collection of characters is trapped inside Sugarbakers by a tornado warning, including hillbilly Daddy Jones who takes a liking to Bernice.
Read MoreTheir Finest Hour
An hour-long clip show of highlights from the previous seasons, including: razor-tongued Julia standing up for Suzanne against an insolent beauty pageant contestant, Julia defending Bernice's eccentricities, Mary Jo commenting on men and bra sizes, Charlene wondering about everything from killer bees to the personal habits of other women, Suzanne displaying a series of wacky dresses, and Anthony being plagued by a variety of indignities.
Read MoreAnthony's Graduation
An extremely anxious Anthony makes it to his college graduation despite a series of mishaps and his nervousness about his grandmother's visit and his performance as commencement speaker.
Read MoreLa Place sans Souci
At a plush spa, the sparse diet, vigorous exercise program and thermal mud baths bring out the worst in Suzanne -- especially when Julia and Mary Jo are encouraged to gain weight.
Read MoreThe Big Desk (1)
Cousin Alison Sugarbaker buys out Suzanne's share of the business and then moves in, complete with an enormous desk and a take-charge attitude, Charlene's divorcing younger sister Carlene arrives.
Read MoreThe Big Desk (2)
Cousin Alison Sugarbaker buys out Suzanne's share of the business and then moves in, complete with an enormous desk and a take-charge attitude, Charlene's divorcing younger sister Carlene arrives.
Read MoreThe Strange Case of Clarence and Anita
Perhaps the most famous episode, and a rare instance of a situation comedy making direct political comment on a current issue. The Sugarbakers women take sides on the controversial confirmation hearings of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill's accusation of sexual harassment: Mary Jo and Julia side with Hill and Allison with Thomas. Conflict spills over into Allison's birthday party, where Mary Jo and Julia turn up in costume just in time to hear a television interview about the hearings with Allison.
Read MoreJulia and Mary Jo Get Stuck Under a Bed
Mary Jo and Julia are trapped under anchorman Chuck Tremain's bed when a Christmas design contest inspires them to examine a competitor's handiwork for evidence of plagiarism.
Read MoreA Little Night Music
Julia strolls down memory lane while awaiting the results of hysterectomy tests at a hospital whose workers are on strike, and a surgeon turns out to be her prescription for romance.
Read MoreShades of Vanessa
The Sugarbakers women use Anthony as ""date bait"" to reel in a big account involving a hotelier's flamboyant debutante daughter, who's angling for a whopper of a deal, then Anthony announces he is marrying Vanessa, who intends to become a partner in Sugarbakers.
Read MoreOf Human Bondage
After cousin Allison leaves Sugarbakers, Julia needs cash but is refused a bank loan. To cheer themselves up, the women play poker with a wealthy client -- who wins the business from them. Sugarbaker's could use an infusion of cash, and at a rowdy party given by potential new client B.J., the gals kick up their heels in wild abandon.
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