The BEST episodes of Designing Women

Every episode of Designing Women ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Designing Women!

Julia Sugarbaker, Mary Jo Shively, Charlene Frazier-Stillfield and Suzanne Sugarbaker are associates at their design firm, Sugarbaker and Associates. Julia is the owner and is very outspoken and strong-willed. Mary Jo is a divorced single-parent whom is just as strong-willed as Julia, but isn't as self-confident. Charlene is the naive and trusting farm girl from Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Suzanne is the self-centered ex-beauty queen whom has a number of wealthy ex-husbands.

Last Updated: 1/3/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
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The Junies
star
9.66
38 votes

#1 - The Junies

Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/20/1989

Charlene becomes a part-time saleswoman for "Lady Jun" cleaning products, and when she repeatedly succumbs to psychological pressure from her friend Libby despite her stated intention to quit, Julia determines to rescue her from this "cult" -- and winds up taking on Lady Jun herself. Meanwhile, Anthony receives an unusual nomination from his junior college -- as homecoming queen -- and gets unexpected support from Suzanne.

Directors: David Trainer
Writer: Pam Norris
Watch Now:Amazon
One Sees, the Other Doesn't
star
9.62
39 votes

#2 - One Sees, the Other Doesn't

Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/27/1989

Suzanne didn't spend one week and $2,000 at a spa to be asked out by a blind client who can't appreciate her radiance -- especially since she finds it difficult to believe that he is attracted by her personality.

Directors: Ron Troutman
Writer: Pam Norris
Watch Now:Amazon
Howard the Date
star
9.55
38 votes

#3 - Howard the Date

Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/14/1987

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."

Directors: Harry Thomason
Watch Now:Amazon
Odell
star
9.54
37 votes

#4 - Odell

Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 3/6/1989

Sugarbakers becomes the site of a Southern family feud after Charlene's brother arrives and announces he is marrying the daughter of a longtime family rival, Anthony partners Bernice in a dance contest.

Directors: Dwayne Hickman
Watch Now:Amazon
Heart Attacks
star
9.41
41 votes

#5 - Heart Attacks

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/9/1987

Reese's fitness demonstration - arm wrestling an old buddy and sometime-rival -- causes a heart attack, and subsequent different treatment from Julia.

Directors: Matthew Diamond
Watch Now:Amazon
New Year's Daze
star
9.34
44 votes

#6 - New Year's Daze

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/1/1987

It is New Year's Eve, and everyone is dressed in their finery, anticipating a fun-filled night on the town. The identity of Charlene's date is kept secret until a news flash reports that the infamous "Shadow" is the subject of a massive manhunt.

Directors: David Steinberg
Watch Now:Amazon
Dash Goff, the Writer
star
9.33
42 votes

#7 - Dash Goff, the Writer

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/26/1987

Suzanne's visiting ex, a novelist who loves flowery Southern words and women, is in a writer's slump and contemplating suicide.

Directors: David Trainer
Watch Now:Amazon
Stranded
star
9.33
45 votes

#8 - Stranded

Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/7/1987

While Charlene, Julia and Mary Jo get the flu on a trip to St. Louis, a snowstorm forces Suzanne and Anthony to share a motel room in Tennessee.

Directors: David Trainer
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Slumber Party
star
9.25
48 votes

#9 - The Slumber Party

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/18/1986

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.

Directors: Jack Shea
Watch Now:Amazon
Anthony, Jr.
star
9.20
40 votes

#10 - Anthony, Jr.

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/28/1987

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.

Directors: David Trainer
Watch Now:Amazon
This is Art?
star
9.20
5 votes

#11 - This is Art?

Season 5 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/25/1991

Amateur painter Julia inadvertently becomes the darling of Atlanta's art scene when someone tries to buy her handbag while she's attending a gallery opening; Suzanne inadvertently glues her lips shut.

Watch Now:Amazon
I'll Be Home For Christmas
star
9.20
41 votes

#12 - I'll Be Home For Christmas

Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/21/1987

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.

Directors: Harry Thomason
Watch Now:Amazon
Ted Remarries (Ted and Tammy)
star
9.16
43 votes

#13 - Ted Remarries (Ted and Tammy)

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/21/1987

Mary Jo can't face her children being with her ex-husband's new wife, who is spoiling them.

Directors: Harry Thomason
Half an Air Bubble Off
star
9.14
42 votes

#14 - Half an Air Bubble Off

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/19/1987

When an eccentric client harasses the women with bizarre decorating requests, they decide to matchmake him with Bernice.

Directors: Harry Thomason
Watch Now:Amazon
101 Ways to Decorate a Gas Station
star
9.11
46 votes

#15 - 101 Ways to Decorate a Gas Station

Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/14/1987

A scruffy gas-station owner wins free interior decoration from Sugarbakers, Charlene consults a psychic about her future.

Directors: Harry Thomason
Watch Now:Amazon
The IT Men
star
9.10
51 votes

#16 - The IT Men

Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/11/1986

When her boyfriend Mason takes a job in Japan, Charlene finds she has chemistry with another man, a man who happens to be married to one of the Sugarbaker clients.

Directors: Jack Shea
Watch Now:Amazon
Cruising
star
9.07
43 votes

#17 - Cruising

Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/16/1987

Suzanne and Mary Jo become romantic rivals while doing a job aboard a cruise ship.

Directors: Harry Thomason
Watch Now:Amazon
I Do, I Don't
star
9.06
49 votes

#18 - I Do, I Don't

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/4/1986

The dinner is perfect, the champagne flows, Julia is presented with a single rose, and on a lark she and her current beau Reese get married. The next morning both parties regret their hastiness, and Reese appears with annulment papers. An argument ensues, and Julia finally agrees to sign the papers, thereby annulling their marriage and their entire relationship.

Directors: Jack Shea
Watch Now:Amazon
Perky's Visit
star
9.06
50 votes

#19 - Perky's Visit

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/24/1986

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.

Directors: Jack Shea
Watch Now:Amazon
Design House
star
9.03
59 votes

#20 - Design House

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/17/1986

Since Suzanne has money invested in Sugarbaker's and is tired of her image as a front bimbo for the firm, Julia assigns her to do the decorating of their next project. Unfortunately, the house burns to the ground while Suzanne is working on it.

Directors: Jack Shea
Watch Now:Amazon
How Long Has This Been Going On?
star
9.00
5 votes

#21 - How Long Has This Been Going On?

Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/28/1991

Everyone at Sugarbakers is baffled to discover that sensible Julia has covertly been singing evenings at a nightclub, Anthony tries to muster the nerve to ask out a girl who works at the bookstore.

Directors: David Trainer
Watch Now:Amazon
The Rowdy Girls
star
8.92
12 votes

#22 - The Rowdy Girls

Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/30/1989

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.

Directors: David Trainer
Watch Now:Amazon
A Big Affair
star
8.88
67 votes

#23 - A Big Affair

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/20/1986

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.

Directors: Jack Shea
Watch Now:Amazon
Mary Jo's First Date
star
8.86
58 votes

#24 - Mary Jo's First Date

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/3/1986

Concerned that Mary Jo hasn't dated since she and Ted broke up, Suzanne arranges a bind date for her with an old acquaintance, J.D. Shackelford, head scout for the Atlanta Braves baseball team, while Julia struggles through an I.R.S. audit conducted by the same Ray Don Simpson who tried to pick up the women at a restaurant and suffered a tonguelashing from Julia.

Directors: Jack Shea
Writer: Cheryl Gard
Watch Now:Amazon
Pearls of Wisdom
star
8.83
6 votes

#25 - Pearls of Wisdom

Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/7/1991

Mary Jo borrows and loses a string of pearls flaunted by Suzanne, subbing as a lifestyles reporter for local TV news. Meanwhile, a recurring dream about Julia upsets Anthony.

Directors: David Trainer
Writer: Pam Norris
Watch Now:Amazon