Designing Women

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Southern-Fried Golden Girls

A Work Com by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason about four Southern women who operate an interior design company in Atlanta, Georgia. The cast included:

• Julia Sugarbaker (Dixie Carter): The head of Sugarbaker Designs (which operates out of her living room) and an unapologetically feminist Democrat whose frequent tirades are a trademark of the series.
• Suzanne Sugarbaker (Delta Burke): Julia's younger sister, a former beauty queen who supports herself through alimony payments from her many ex-husbands and is the main financial backer of the company.
• Mary Jo Shively (Annie Potts): A single divorced mother who performs unspecified duties at Sugarbaker's and spends much of her time sitting around the office/living room tossing out one-liners.
• Charlene Frazier (Jean Smart): The office receptionist whose rural background and naïveté are frequent sources of humor.

The cast was rounded out by ex-con Anthony Bouvier (Meshach Taylor) and Bernice Clifton (Alice Ghostley) and a steady parade of children, boyfriends, ex-husbands and assorted oddballs. After half the cast left in 1991, some new characters appeared to replace them, but they were not as well-received. The series ran on CBS from September 29 ,1986 until May 24, 1993 and spawned an unsuccessful spin-off (Women Of The House).

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Tropes used in Designing Women include:

• Arch Enemy: It was pretty much Allison vs. Everyone during her brief tenure on the show.
• Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Julia and Suzanne rarely saw eye-to-eye on anything and argued frequently, but one of the show's most memorable moments proved just how much Julia loved her baby sister.
• Big Beautiful Woman: Suzanne, as played by Delta Burke, is quite the looker, the only thing that actually detracts it is the horrible eighties clothing and hair that most of the cast suffered from time to time. Unfortunately in real life, Burke had been a favorite target of the tabloids because of her putting on weight as the show progressed. Worse, she had always struggled with her weight, and the depression and eating disorders that came with it; all of which that stretched as far back as her pageant days in the early 1970s. The press treatment of her was so terrible that it led Burke into asking the show to have an episode addressing her weight and the discrimination fat people have to go through. The episode in question has Suzanne go to her high school reunion and ending up hurt by the way everyone treats her because of her appearance now.
• Brainless Beauty: Suzanne Sugarbaker.
• The Cast Showoff: In exchange for performing Julia's decidedly left-wing rants, Dixie Carter (a Republican) requested that the character be allowed to sing in a number of episodes.
  • Jean Smart also sang on the show. Pretty much everybody performed at one point or other, once even in blackface (Suzanne).
• Character Filibuster: When Julia begins her "Terminator" rants, the show stops so everyone can listen.
• Christmas Cake: This was a rare show showcasing single women over 30 but below 65.
• Cloudcuckoolander: While the Frazier sisters had their moments, Bernice Clifton takes the prize here. The only thing keeping her from being truly dim are her rare profound moments.
• Coincidence Magnet: Charlene and Anthony tended to have all kinds of weirdness happen to them.
• Deep South: The Frazier sisters hailed from Poplar Bluff, Missouri. And the Sugarbaker's staff also have several Deliverance-like encounters with the hillbilly Jones clan.
• Drop-In Character: Bernice did not work at Sugarbaker's nor did she have a financial stake in the company, yet she spent much of her time there (much to the annoyance of the others, particularly Anthony).
  • She was Julia and Suzanne's deceased mother's friend. Keeping her around reminded them of their mother.
• Eighties Hair: Thankfully toned down by the end of the series.
• Five Woman Band: For the first five seasons...
  • The Heroine: Julia.
  • The Lancer: Suzanne.
  • The Smart Girl: Mary Jo.
  • The Big Girl: Charlene.
  • That One Guy: Anthony.
• Fur and Loathing: Spoofed in an episode.
• Gay Aesop: Combined with AIDS to boot, and Julia chewing out a client.
• Hollywood Pudgy: Delta Burke, a former Miss Florida, was Oprah before Oprah was Oprah... at least when it came to her weight.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Charlene's taste in men to date.
• Miscarriage of Justice: Naturally, Anthony was completely innocent of the crime that caused his "unfortunate incarceration" and spent the entire run of the series getting his life back in order (earning his GED, going to college, becoming a partner in Sugarbaker's, etc.) and trying to put his past behind him. This fact did not stop Suzanne from constantly expressing her displeasure with having a black ex-con around the office.
• The Mistress: Spoofed.
• Odd Couple: For a time, Allison and Anthony reluctantly shared Suzanne's home after her departure and attempted to force each other out. Hilarity ensued.
• Odd Friendship: Despite their many differences and occasional unpleasant encounters (including an accidental shooting), Suzanne and Anthony became close friends during the series and reunited on the Spin-Off.
• Pimped-Out Dress
• Prepositions Are Not to End Sentences With: If someone calls on you for this, correct the sentence with calling the Grammar Nazi a fitting name.
• Pretty in Mink: Except for the instance of the other trope, Suzanne wore furs with no comment. And, on rare occasions, so did the others.
• Soapbox Sadie: Julia Sugarbaker's soapbox tendencies have continued well past her teenage years.
• Southern Belle: Suzanne and Allison Sugarbaker. But really, the main characters all fit the bill one way or another.
• Stood Up: Happened often during the ladies' dates.
• Sweater Girl
• Theme Tune: "Georgia", by Ray Charles, and done as an instrumental in some versions.
• Widow Woman: Julia Sugarbaker.