''Designing Women'' is an American television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

created by

Linda Bloodworth-Thomason Linda Joyce Bloodworth-Thomason (born April 15, 1947) is an American writer, director, and television producer. She is best known for creating, writing, and producing several television series, most successfully with the series ''Designing Women'' ...

that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

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 Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CPT) was launched on May 6, 1974, by Columbia Pictures as an American television production and distribution studio. It is the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gem ...

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 Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, called Sugarbaker & Associates. It originally starred

Dixie Carter Dixie Virginia Carter (May 25, 1939 – April 10, 2010) was an American actress. She starred as Julia Sugarbaker on the sitcom ''Designing Women'' (1986–1993) and as Randi King on the drama series ''Family Law (American TV series), Family La ...

as Julia Sugarbaker, president of the design firm;

Delta Burke Delta Ramona Leah Burke (born July 30, 1956) is an American actress, producer, and author. From 1986 to 1991, she starred as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom ''Designing Women'', for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards for Outstan ...

as Suzanne Sugarbaker, the design firm's

silent partner A silent partner is one who shares in the profits and losses of a business, but is not involved in its management. Silent partner or Silent Partners may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Silent Partner'', a 2005 film starring Tara Reid ...

and Julia's ex-beauty queen sister;

Annie Potts Anne Hampton Potts (born October 28, 1952) is an American actress. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for ''Corvette Summer'' (1978) and won a Genie Award for '' Heartaches'' (1981), before appearing in ''Ghostbusters'' (1984), ''Pretty i ...

as head designer Mary Jo Shively; and

Jean Smart Jean Elizabeth Smart (born September 13, 1951) is an American actress. After beginning her career in regional theater in the Pacific Northwest, she appeared on Broadway in 1981 as Marlene Dietrich in the biographical play '' Piaf''. Smart was ...

as office manager Charlene Frazier. In the third season,

Meshach Taylor Meshach Taylor (; April 11, 1947 – June 28, 2014) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Anthony Bouvier on the CBS sitcom ''Designing Women'' (1986–93), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstan ...

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 Julia Margaret Duffy (née Hinds; June 27, 1951) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She began her career in television, appearing in minor guest roles before being cast in the role of Penny Davis in the series ''The Doctors (1963 ...

and

Jan Hooks Janet Vivian HooksJan Hooks obituary
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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 Judith Lee Ivey (born September 4, 1951) is an American actress and theatre director. She has twice won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play: for ''Steaming'' (1981) and '' Hurlyburly'' (1984). She has also appeared in several film ...

Premise

Julia Sugarbaker (

) is an elegant, sophisticated, outspoken liberal who is the co-founder and president of Sugarbaker & Associates, an interior design firm located in her own home in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. She is partnered with her younger sister, Suzanne (

), 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 (

), 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 (

), is the main interior designer of the firm and also a full partner. Alongside the women, there is Anthony Bouvier (

), 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 Louise Latham (September 23, 1922 – February 12, 2018) was an American actress, perhaps best known for her portrayal of Bernice Edgar in Alfred Hitchcock's 1964 film ''Marnie''. Early years Latham came from Hamilton, Texas. She was from a fam ...

), comes for a visit with her outrageous best friend Bernice Clifton (

Alice Ghostley Alice Margaret Ghostley (August 14, 1923 – September 21, 2007) was a Tony Award-winning American actress and singer on stage, film and television. She was best known for her roles as bumbling witch Esmeralda (1969–70; 1972) on ''Bewitched'' ...

). Perky does not stay long and moves to Japan, leaving Bernice in Atlanta, where she begins to spend time with the others. Until 1991, these women spend much of their time debating about the everyday dramas around themes like being women in the business, the meaning of being southern, and many other subjects. These five years show four or five different characters and their singular personalities that were able to deal with many situations, each of them showing progress and changes about their way of acting, never losing their essence. By 1991, Suzanne decides to join mother Perky and moves to Japan as well, and Charlene moves to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

with her husband and daughter, and after that, Julia and Suzanne's obnoxious cousin Allison (

) buys Suzanne's share and rents her house with Anthony and Charlene's sister. With her, Charlene's recently divorced also naïve sister Carlene (

Jan Hooks Janet Vivian HooksJan Hooks obituary
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) also accepts a job as their receptionist while Charlene is off to England. This lineup does not last long and Allison decides to pull her money out after one year of partnership, and by that time, the women meet wealthy and sarcastic Texan widow Bonnie Jean Poteet (

), who also joins them. ''Designing Women'' quickly lost all popularity with the writing out of Suzanne and Charlene, with plummetting ratings leading to its cancellation by the network after seven seasons and 163 episodes.

Main cast

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 Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

singer under the pseudonym "Giselle". *

as Mary Jo Shively, Sugarbaker's main designer. Mary Jo is a sarcastic, but kind person and a devoted single mother of two. *

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 Poplar Bluff is a medium city in Butler County in Southeast Missouri, United States. It is the county seat of Butler County and is known as "The Gateway to the Ozarks" among other names. The population was 16,225 at the 2020 census. The Poplar B ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, 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 Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, including Fred Smith,

Sam Walton Samuel Moore Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992) was an American business magnate best known for founding the retailers Walmart and Sam's Club, which he started in 1962 and 1983 respectively. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. grew to be the world's l ...

and

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. 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. *

as Suzanne Sugarbaker (seasons 1–5), Julia's younger sister and a silent partner at Sugarbaker's. A former

beauty queen A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

and alumna of Ole Miss, Suzanne is self-centered and vain, and generally more

laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. ...

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 Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

to live with her mother. *

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 being dumped by his girlfriend, Vanessa Chamberlain ( Jackeé Harry), BJ sets up a trip to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

where a drunk Anthony marries a

Folies Bergère The Folies Bergère () is a cabaret music hall, located in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trév ...

singer, Etienne (

Sheryl Lee Ralph Sheryl Lee Ralph OJ is an American actress and singer. She made her screen debut in the 1977 comedy film '' A Piece of the Action'', before landing the role of Deena Jones in the Broadway musical ''Dreamgirls'' (1981), for which she received a ...

). He eventually falls in love with her and tries to make the marriage work. *

as Allison Sugarbaker (season 6), Julia and Suzanne's conservative cousin who becomes a partner at Sugarbaker & Associates. Allison comes from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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 Janet Vivian HooksJan Hooks obituary
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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. *

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 Scott Stewart Bakula (; born October 9, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in two science-fiction television series: as Sam Beckett on ''Quantum Leap'' and as Captain Jonathan Archer on ''Star Trek: Enterprise''. For ''Quantum L ...

as Ted Shively (seasons 1–2), Mary Jo's ex-husband and a gynecologist *

Douglas Barr Douglas Barr (born May 1, 1949), also credited as Doug Barr, is an American actor, writer, and director. He has starred in movies and on television. Barr was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His big role came in the American Broadcasting Company, ...

as William "Bill" Stillfield (seasons 2–5), Charlene's husband, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force *

Olivia Brown Olivia Margarette Brown (born April 10, 1960) is an American actress, best-known for her role as detective Trudy Joplin in the NBC crime drama series ''Miami Vice'' (1984–1989). Life and career Brown was born in Frankfurt, West Germany, and ra ...

as Vanessa Hargraves (season 4), Anthony's girlfriend *

Hal Holbrook Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. (February 17, 1925 – January 23, 2021) was an American actor, television director, and screenwriter. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show that he developed called ''Mark Twain Tonight!'' ...

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 ''Evening Shade'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from September 21, 1990, to May 23, 1994. The series stars Burt Reynolds as Wood Newton, an ex-professional football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who returns t ...

'') *

as Bernice Clifton, the Sugarbakers' eccentric family friend; Ghostley was billed as a "Special Guest Star" throughout the series *

Richard Gilliland Richard Gilliland (January 23, 1950 – March 18, 2021) was an American television and movie actor, best known as JD Shackleford in ''Designing Women'' (1986–1992). Life and career Gilliland was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He attended high sc ...

as J.D. Shackelford (seasons 1–5), Mary Jo's boyfriend, a talent scout for the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The 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 George Young Newbern (born December 30, 1964) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Charlie in the ABC show ''Scandal'' and Bryan MacKenzie in '' Father of the Bride'' (1991) and its sequels ''Father of the Bride Part II'' and '' Fat ...

as Payne McIlroy (seasons 1–6), Julia's son *

Gerald McRaney Gerald Lee McRaney (born August 19, 1947) is an American television and film actor. McRaney is best known as one of the stars of the television shows '' Simon & Simon'', ''Major Dad'', ''Promised Land'' and '' House of Cards''. He currently stars ...

as Dash Goff (season 2), Suzanne's first husband, a novelist and college professor at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

as Etienne Toussaint Bouvier (season 7), a showgirl Anthony marries after meeting her while she was performing at the

Tropicana Las Vegas The Tropicana Las Vegas is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Bally's Corporation, on land leased from Gaming and Leisure Properties. It offers 1,467 rooms, a gaming floor, and of convention ...

Lexi Randall Lexi Randall (born January 1, 1980) is a former child actor in films and television. She appeared in the film ''The Long Walk Home'' and ''The War'' with Kevin Costner and Elijah Wood. Randall starred in the three television movies made from the ...

as Randa Oliver (season 5), a young girl left in the care of Julia while her wealthy parents are in Europe *

Priscilla Weems Priscilla Weems (born January 18, 1972) is an American-born actress and singer. Weems started acting at an early age, and was on the first two seasons of ''Five Mile Creek''. Later, she had a recurring role for five seasons as Claudia Shively, d ...

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 The Angelo Marre House, also known as Villa Marre, is a historic house at 1321 Scott Street in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is a high style Italianate house, two stories in height, with a flared mansard roof and a -story tower set above its entry. ...

located in the historic Quapaw Quarter district in

Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...

. The home of Suzanne Sugarbaker seen in the series is the

Arkansas Governor's Mansion The Arkansas Governor's Mansion is the official residence of the governor of Arkansas and Arkansas' first family. The mansion is located at 1800 Center Street in Little Rock, and is included in the Governor's Mansion Historic District, a distric ...

, also in the Quapaw Quarter. Both homes are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

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 ''Murphy Brown'' is an American television sitcom created by Diane English that premiered on November 14, 1988, on CBS. The series stars Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for ''FYI'', a ...

'' (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 The "Friday night death slot" or "Friday evening death slot" is a perceived graveyard slot in American television. It implies a television program in the United States scheduled on Friday evenings (typically, between 8:00 and 11:00 p.m. ET) ...

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,

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

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 Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

, Hillary's alma mater. An early third season episode ("The Candidate") also revolves around Julia running for

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

; she debates on television against a conservative candidate, to whom she eventually loses. In reality, Dixie Carter was a

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

-leaning

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

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 Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

has released all seven seasons of ''Designing Women'' on DVD in Region 1. On September 2, 2003,

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...

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

, and

also took part in the special. The series also aired on

Nick at Nite Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET/Pac ...

beginning October 2, 2006; however, it quickly left and later appeared on its sister network

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cla ...

, 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 Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented enter ...

in 2007 and has also aired on

Comedy Gold Comedy Gold may refer to: * ''Comedy Gold'' (TV series), a 2008 Australian television series *Comedy Gold (TV channel) Comedy Gold, formerly known as TV Land Canada was a Canadian English language specialty channel that was owned by Bell Media fo ...

TV Guide Network The American cable television, cable and satellite television network Pop (American TV channel), Pop was originally launched in 1981 as a barker channel service providing a display of localized electronic program guide, channel and program listings ...

, and

Logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

. In recognition of the show's 30th anniversary,

getTV getTV is an American digital multicast television network owned by the Sony Pictures Television Networks subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television. Originally formatted as a movie-oriented service, the network has since transitioned into a genera ...

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 Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operati ...

airs two episodes of the show on weeknights at 12:00 and 12:30 a.m. ET, while

FETV FETV (abbreviation for Family Entertainment Television) is an American cable and satellite television network owned by the Family Broadcasting Corporation Family Broadcasting Corporation, formerly known as LeSEA Broadcasting, is an American ...

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 Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

. 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 ''Women of the House'' is an American sitcom television series and a spin-off of ''Designing Women'' that aired on CBS from January 4 to August 18, 1995, and the last four episodes airing on Lifetime on September 8, 1995. The series starred De ...

''. The series ran for one season, airing on

from January 4, 1995, to August 18, 1995, with the final four episodes airing on Lifetime on September 8, 1995.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Designing Women 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)