Designing Women - General Discussion

[fernsehen]

I'm surprised to be the first to post this here.

 

Meshach Taylor, who played Anthony, died of cancer the day before yesterday.

 

,https://tv.yahoo.com/news/meshach-taylor-star-tvs-designing-women-dead-67-144500210.html

[Shannon L.]

No could get all fired up like this women.  I was always looking forward to whatever the next rant was.

[Shannon L.]

I loved he relationship with Anthony and how she grew throughout the series. 

[Shannon L.]

RIP Meshach Taylor. 

[Shannon L.]

Thank you, @sugarbaker design for coming up with the title for this one!

Edited June 30, 2014 by Shannon L.

[Shannon L.]

Thanks to @Bastet again for the thread title.  There were some great quotes from this series. 

 

"Suzanne, if sex was fast food, there'd be an arch over your bed!"

Edited June 30, 2014 by Shannon L.

[Shannon L.]

I'm surprised it took so long for someone to request this show.  I was considering it, but would get busy and forget. 

 

I'll never forget when this show first came out--I laughed so hard during the pilot that I knew it was going to be a winner. 

[Bastet]

There were just so many terrific quotes to choose from, but a lot of them made the thread title too long.  But with this one, I figure everyone can just hear Julia in their head doing the rest of it.  If not, this is it in all its glory:

 

"There's no need for introductions, Ray Don, we know who you are. You're the guy who's always wherever women gather or try to be alone. You want to eat with us when we're dining in hotels. You want to know if the book we're reading is any good, or if you can keep us company on the plane. I want to thank you, Ray Don, on behalf of all the women in the world for your unfailing attention and concern. But read my lips and remember, as hard as it is to believe, sometimes we like talking just to each other, and sometimes we like just being alone."

[Bastet]

I thought of doing it when I first got here, but was in a hurry and didn't have thread titles at the ready, and then unfortunately it took news of Taylor being on his deathbed to make me think of it again.

 

I absolutely adore the original cast years of this show.  The episodes where they would all go on vacation, along with the guys, are among my very favorites.   

[Bastet]

"Around the office, we call her The Terminator."

 

I am very much a Julia, so she was my favorite.  A few years after the show went off the air, a woman overheard me schooling some sexist jackass in a parking lot and came up to applaud me for speaking up -- She did so by saying, "That would have made Julia Sugarbaker proud." 

[Shannon L.]

Sweet! 

 

I don't think I have a favorite character--they were all written and acted so well.  Even the supporting characters like their boyfriends. 

 

I think one of my favorite non-rant moments from Julia was when she was talking to Bill about how to combine his love for his late wife with that of his new found love for Charlene.  Such a tender moment. 

[Shannon L.]

I absolutely adore the original cast years of this show.  The episodes where they would all go on vacation, along with the guys, are among my very favorites.

Those were some good ones.  I like the one where they're talking about the problems with the world and Julia's rant ends with "so, if world isn't exactly to your standards, then you've only yourself to blame!".  And, I'm not sure if it's the same episode or not (I don't think so) but many times over the years, when a friend has had a little girl and someone asks the name, I've said "Female".  Of course, we can't forget Ursula, who was just too much...and Suzanne could say that because she, too, was too much.  It didn't happen often, but Suzanne could really cut someone in a similar way to Julia, too--just a bit quieter. 

[Shannon L.]

We have a 15 year old son, so many times, when we're watching tv and an actress comes on with a revealing outfit, either my husband or I will say "She has a line on chest".  Our boy just smirks and rolls his eyes, but we're amused :)

[smiley13]

I love, love this show!  Delta as Suzanne was pure comedic gold.  And anytime Suzanne and Anthony were together, you knew it would be hilarious.  

 

And Jean Smart's Charlene was a hoot.  I loved when Suzanne, Anthony and Charlene went to Atlantic City so Suzanne could win some of her money back, while Julia and Mary Jo were left at home.

[smiley13]

 

"Suzanne, if sex was fast food, there'd be an arch over your bed!"

But what was ironic about that was Suzanne was not really shown dating much.  Other than the early episode where she was involved with Mary Jo's ex Ted, she did not have any real boyfriends.  

 

I remember two ex husbands of hers coming back though.

 

There were lots of fun quotes on DW.

[Bastet]

Suzanne changed a lot from the pilot, at least in terms of her dating life.  That quote doesn't match her characterization for much of the series at all, but it fit at the time (and cracked me up).

[Bastet]

The episodes where they would all go on vacation, along with the guys, are among my very favorites.

 

Quoting myself to say pretty much any time they left the office made for an extra funny episode: not just the vacations with the guys, but the convention in New Orleans, Suzanne and Anthony snowed in at a motel, Julia and Mary Jo at a frat party while Charlene is with Bill's family, Suzanne taking Mary Jo all over town for the latter's "man hunt," Bernice's sanity hearing ... the list goes on.

[Megan]

I was so sad to hear about Meshach Taylor.

 

I set my DVR to pick up episodes, because I love the show, and I haven't seen an episode in 5+ years. I was so excited a few weeks ago to see it pop up.

 

Man, this does not hold up. It makes me sad that I think it's kind of terrible now. Just OTT and stereotypes. The first episode I watched was when they were competing with some lame guys for a job and went bowling. Then the roof-top dinner for Charlene and her husband. Mary Jo dating the pastor. Suzanne's gay friend who she thinks likes her.

 

I don't know, but Mary Jo is the one I think is the most offensive and annoying watching it again. She's just terrible. Was she always?

They were just so bad. I used to love it so much, almost as much as Golden Girls - which holds up better I think.

 

I have 4 more episodes that I haven't watched yet because I just can't.

[babyhouseman]

Julia: Yes, and I gather from your comments there are a couple of other things you don't know, Marjorie. For example, you probably didn't know that Suzanne was the only contestant in Georgia pageant history to sweep every category except congeniality, and that is not something the women in my family aspire to anyway. Or that when she walked down the runway in her swimsuit, five contestants quit on the spot. Or that when she emerged from the isolation booth to answer the question, "What would you do to prevent war?" she spoke so eloquently of patriotism, battlefields and diamond tiaras, grown men wept. And you probably didn't know, Marjorie, that Suzanne was not just any Miss Georgia, she was the Miss Georgia. She didn't twirl just a baton, that baton was on fire. And when she threw that baton into the air, it flew higher, further, faster than any baton has ever flown before, hitting a transformer and showering the darkened arena with sparks! And when it finally did come down, Marjorie, my sister caught that baton, and 12,000 people jumped to their feet for sixteen and one-half minutes of uninterrupted thunderous ovation, as flames illuminated her tear-stained face! And that, Marjorie - just so you will know - and your children will someday know - is the night the lights went out in Georgia!

Julia: I guess I'm excited about seeing Mother again, visiting a totally new country. Of course, seeing Japan with Mother will be seeing the real Japan.

 

Suzanne: Julia, I am just here to visit Mother and pick up a car. I do not want to have any cultural experiences. As for seeing the "real" Japan, I've noticed that whenever people start talking about seeing the "real" anything, what they're talking about, basically, is hanging around with poor people. Now, I say I don't hang around with poor people at home, why should I do it on vacation?

[suzanne modeling a fur pull-over]

Protester: 50 animals died because of that coat!

Suzanne: Wanna make it 51?

Julia: Have you all just COMPLETELY lost your minds?

[Shannon L.]

Protester: 50 animals died because of that coat!

Suzanne: Wanna make it 51?

"Oh, so I suppose if I'd had a nice mink steak for dinner, this would be ok."

[sugarbaker design]

My fave Suzanne rant, from Julia Gets Her Head Stuck in a Fence:

 

You know, I'm sorry, but I don't think we like your tone of voice. Who do think you're talking to? For your information, we are the Sugarbaker sisters of Atlanta. We had people living here long before it burned. Our great great grandfather was Robert E Lee's roommate in college. Our other grandfather helped write the Georgia constitution. I, myself, have stood in the rose garden with Jimmy Carter. So, even if we do, on this particular day, happen to have our head temporarily stuck in a fence, we are not going to take any crap off some 2-bit low level bureaucratic usherette.

[sugarbaker design]

Man, this does not hold up. It makes me sad that I think it's kind of terrible now. Just OTT and stereotypes. The first episode I watched was when they were competing with some lame guys for a job and went bowling. Then the roof-top dinner for Charlene and her husband. Mary Jo dating the pastor. Suzanne's gay friend who she thinks likes her.

 

 

Granted, there are average and less than average episodes, not everyone is a winner.  The sweat shop ep comes to mind.  The ones  you mention, save the one about Eugenia Weeks, Suzanne's lesbian friend, are all pretty weak entries.  I never get tired of hearing "Well, excuse me for not being up to date on my homosexual history and latest lesbian lingo!".

[Princess Sparkle]

Man, this does not hold up. It makes me sad that I think it's kind of terrible now. Just OTT and stereotypes. The first episode I watched was when they were competing with some lame guys for a job and went bowling. Then the roof-top dinner for Charlene and her husband. Mary Jo dating the pastor. Suzanne's gay friend who she thinks likes her.

 

 

Some of the "issues" episodes are very dated, but some I think still do hold up extremely well - "Killing All the Right People" springs to mind, as does "They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?"  The latter episode is one of Delta Burke's best dramatic turns, I think.

[Princess Sparkle]

In honor of Meshach Taylor, I have to throw in my favorite Anthony line:

 

When Alison pretends she didn't hear him in the basement: "You heard something?  Did it sound like 'Let me out of here, bitch!'?"

 

It's all in the inflection, but when Suzanne is trying to argue that she should get to perform as Diana Ross in blackface, I just die.  "You wouldn't let Dustin Hoffman play Martin Luther King Jr?  Well, I think THAT'S racist!"

[sugarbaker design]

still do hold up extremely well - "Killing All the Right People" springs to mind,

 

 

Sure does!  Definitely in my top five.  

 

"Imogene, get serious! Who do you think you're talking to?! I've known you for 27 years, and all I can say is, if God was giving out sexually transmitted diseases to people as a punishment for sinning, then you would be at the free clinic all the time!"

 

Pasted that awesome quote from wiki, funny, I always thought of that character's name as Ima Jean, never once thought it could be Imogene.

[prican58]

I love the episode where Suzanne bonds with the little Asian girl who becomes Suzanne's Mini Me. The scene where they have to part is so heartbreaking.

The shows with the big pig she adopted was also a hoot and any interaction with Suzanne and Anthony was always funny.

 

Meshach was so wonderful as Anthony. That nervous laugh and his utter befuddlement with Alice Ghostley's character's comments were priceless. "Black man, black man!"  He was my favorite character. 

[Bastet]

Meshach was so wonderful as Anthony. That nervous laugh

 

My favorite example of this is when he gets roped into impersonating Consuela at the INS hearing.  He keeps doing the laugh, apologizing for "her" enormous teeth, etc.  I love when Charlene wonders what is keeping them and Julia says, "A six-foot black man dressed like Hazel just left here with Suzanne, his co-conspirator to defraud and deceive the United States government. And you're wondering what's keeping them? Well, it's been three and a half hours. I don't think you have to wonder anymore. I think it's pretty obvious. They are in prison."

 

Anthony's sweet relationship with Julia, him grateful to her giving him a chance after his "unfortunate incarceration" and her so proud of him, is nice, but my favorite is the wonderfully bizarre relationship he wound up having with Suzanne.  He was even better at calling her on her shit than Julia. 

[Shannon L.]

I often think of the episode where Suzanne was dating the rich, blind man--partly because it showed her insecurities (Delta really could do great at dramatic parts), partly because of the actor who played the rich guy.  We had a friend from Uruguay,  but he moved to another state a while ago, so our kids don't know him.  When we talk about him, they'll ask which friend he is and I can't resist saying "He's the one from Paraguay or Uruguay--one of those guay countries".  Bamanicious has come up a few times, too  :)

 

I also think a lot of them hold up well. 

Edited July 2, 2014 by Shannon L.

[smiley13]

I think the show holds up very well.  There were so many wonderful episodes with the original four ladies.  It was not the same once Delta and Jean left.

[sugarbaker design]

but my favorite is the wonderfully bizarre relationship he wound up having with Suzanne.  He was even better at calling her on her shit than Julia.

 

 

There was that wonderful scene on Suzanne's porch with Suzanne and Anthony, she says the girls are always trying to make her act right, Anthony says he knows something they don't, and I paraphrase:

 

You ain't never gonna act right!

 

That pretty much summed up their relationship.

[Princess Sparkle]

There were so many wonderful episodes with the original four ladies.  It was not the same once Delta and Jean left.

 

 

You got that right.  I like, quite literally, one episode after Delta and Jean left and that's the one where Carlene gets a new apartment and invites everyone over for a sleepover.  Jan Hooks' line reading of "YOU HUNG UP ON THE QUEEN?!" gets me every time.  

 

What's a real shame is that I like Julia Duffy, Jan Hooks and Judith Ivey as actresses, but their characters just never worked for me.

 

Meshach was so wonderful as Anthony. That nervous laugh and his utter befuddlement with Alice Ghostley's character's comments were priceless. "Black man, black man!"

 

It's so un-pc, but I swear, Bernice singing "Black man! Black man! Where have you come from? Black man! Black man! Where have you gone?" is never not funny to me.  Anthony's face the first time she sings it is priceless.

[Brooklynista]

For me it's Suzanne vs Ursula the chesty Au Pair

"I think you're one of those people who's just Too Much"

"Your smile is too big, your heart is too big and quite frankly your breasts are too big. Take your big knockers and hit the road"

Edited July 3, 2014 by Brooklynista

[janeyjay]

I paraphrase this gem on a regular basis. God bless Julia Sugarbaker:

"I’m saying this is the South. And we’re proud of our crazy people. We don’t hide them up in the attic. We bring ‘em right down to the living room and show ‘em off. See, Phyllis, no one in the South ever asks if you have crazy people in your family. They just ask what side they’re on."

[Bastet]

"And which side are yours on?"

"Both."

 

Bernice's Sanity Hearing makes me laugh from beginning to end.

[WhitneyWhit]

Bernice's Sanity Hearing gave us the all time classic "Two dicks and a hat".

[babyhouseman]

Suzanne: Happy New Year to you too, Bernice.....ya little fruitcake.

 

Mrs. Perky Sugarbaker: [explaining Bernice's odd behavior to Suzanne and Julia] She has an arterial flow problem above the neck.

[yeswedo]

I don't remember the exact phrasing because I haven't seen the episode in years. Charlene hears there is a swarm of killer bees heading towards the US.

 

"I bet our bees are really scared." 

[ButterQueen]

I love the episode where the girls follow Mary Jo's daughter on a date and get arrested for being in their jammies. They stop by Suzanne's, who has been getting pig threats, and when they throw a rock at her window, she shoots at them with her automatic weapon.

[janeyjay]

I love the beginning of that episode  -- Juila accidentally moons the audience at a charity fashion show as she goes down the runway with the back of her dress caught in her panty hose. Classic.

[Bastet]

She's talking to them about an article she's reading, as she so often does, and says, "I can't believe it. Did you see this? Droves of vicious killer bees are headed toward the United States. They're from South America and are expected to arrive in three to four years. That is terrible; can you imagine? I'll bet our bees are scared to death."

[yeswedo]

Thanks @Bastet !

[TudorQueen]

I loved Julia. She was smart, committed, classy, elegant and funny. She could also be deliciously hypocritical (the fast food burger, the 'Princess Di' hotline) but it didn't really detract from her other qualities, it made her human. She could be witheringly sarcastic with Suzanne and their friends, but she never let anyone else get away with it (see the "Quotes" thread for her superb takedown of a condescending Pageant contestant). I also loved the chemistry between her and real-life husband Hal Holbrook when he was playing her beau (I noticed that they got him in the scene somehow nearly every time she sang, and you could see how much he loved hearing her. He must miss her so much!)

 

One of the reasons I drifted away from the show a bit in the last few seasons was that Mary Jo became the moral authority, always fighting with Julia and usually taking her down a peg or three, and it got to the point where I wanted to say, "Gee, Mary Jo, if you have such contempt for her, why are you even friends with Julia?"  (I also never liked Carlene, who was a poor substitute for Charlene)

[TudorQueen]

The other day I said to TudorPrince, "You thirst for knowledge," and then we both laughed softly because it was a riff on a Charlene quote. She really was just a 'big ole donkey girl scout' and we loved her for it.

[Giuseppe]

 

I like, quite literally, one episode after Delta and Jean left and that's the one where Carlene gets a new apartment and invites everyone over for a sleepover.

I bought the season 6 DVDs specifically for this episode because it makes me laugh so much.  The Dr. Smathers episode is also pretty good, but the rest of this season is dreck, which is funny because it was the first season I watched live and I thought it was hysterical at the time.  I do, however, hold a special place in my heart for the "bird on your head" speech Julia gives to Alison during the season premeire.

[Bastet]

Charlene was my least favorite of the original characters.  I came to like her as the show went on, but she was just too dumb to live in the first couple of seasons.  Fundamentally, that's not my type of character, and very few actors can make it work for me (perhaps no one other than Betty White as Rose on Golden Girls).  What made it worse was we were supposed to find it endearing that her friends had to keep cleaning up her messes; instead of telling her to get a clue, they'd just tell her it's sweet how trusting she is.  Even if it got them arrested.

[babyhouseman]

Charlene and her tabloids drove Julia crazy.

 

Julia to Charlene: Or, I've just never before noticed the extent of your unequalled ability to be fascinated at absolutely nothing.

[auntlada]

One of my favorites is when they go on the wilderness trek, and everybody does great except Julia and Mary Jo, who call Anthony to come get them. When the guide comes to their tent in the morning (set up where it's not supposed to be, I think), Anthony wraps up his head in a cloth and pretends to be a woman. The guide asks him who let him on the bus, and he says, "Some white girl." My husband and I still say that to each other when one of us asks who did something. We just don't say it to anyone else because I don't think anyone else will get the reference (and we're white, so it might be weird, too). I'm always disappointed when I realize no one else will get it.

[Bastet]

Cindy Birdsong.

 

You and your husband can come hang out with me; I use "some white girl" as the answer to who did something whenever it wouldn't be inappropriate to do so.  I usually have to explain the reference - <sigh> - but every once in awhile someone recognizes it.

[Brooklynista]

Raising my hand. "Some white girl" is always my response when someone asks who told me to do some of the outlandish things I do. There is only one other girl in the office who gets it.

We call all of the cleaning ladies Consuela. I know, it's terrible. Sorry.

And my favorite! I went on vacation with my new husband and there was a younger broad there who was doing all she could to catch his eye. I could up to her at the swim up bar one night to let her know that she was doing "too much" . I nicely let her know if she didnt take her big knockers and stay out of out face, I'd punch her in hers.

Thanks Suzanne.

[janeyjay]

Why have I never thought to incorporate "some white girl" into my personal vernacular... thanks, y'all!

 

However, every time I hear "Behind Closed Doors" I sing it like Daddy Jones, dancing with Julia.