The BEST episodes of Designing Women season 4

Every episode of Designing Women season 4, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Designing Women season 4!

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: 3/28/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
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The Rowdy Girls
star
9.00
13 votes

#1 - 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
Suzanne Goes Looking for a Friend
star
8.71
7 votes

#2 - Suzanne Goes Looking for a Friend

Season 4 - Episode 23 - Aired 4/9/1990

A former beauty queen and current television weather forecaster announces her "coming out," causing a confused Suzanne to think she means she's the world's oldest debutante -- and to accept Eugenia's invitation to join her at a television industry dinner.

Directors: David Trainer
Watch Now:Amazon
There She Is
star
8.64
11 votes

#3 - There She Is

Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/2/1989

While preparing for Charlene's baby shower, the Sugarbakers women are surprised by a visit from the Director of Pageants for Miss Georgia. Due to a clerical error discovered in the 1975 balloting, Suzanne must relinquish the crown she won 15 years earlier.

Directors: David Trainer
Writer: Pam Norris
Watch Now:Amazon
Foreign Affairs
star
8.58
12 votes

#4 - Foreign Affairs

Season 4 - Episode 24 - Aired 4/30/1990

When her maid Consuela is threatened with deportation, Suzanne puts Anthony in a dress and pays him to impersonate the terrified woman. But he performs too well, awakening romantic interest in the Immigration and Naturalization Service examiner.

Directors: David Trainer
Watch Now:Amazon
Manhunt
star
8.50
8 votes

#5 - Manhunt

Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/4/1989

Desperately single Mary Jo, worried that her busy schedule will condemn her to a life alone, accepts coaching from Suzanne as she plans a weekend manhunt.

Directors: David Trainer
Writer: Pam Norris
Watch Now:Amazon
La Place sans Souci
star
8.44
9 votes

#6 - La Place sans Souci

Season 4 - Episode 28 - Aired 5/21/1990

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.

Directors: Iris Dugow
Watch Now:Amazon
The Fur Flies
star
8.44
9 votes

#7 - The Fur Flies

Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/15/1990

The fur flies at a fashion show, where Suzanne's after-dinner mink causes a riot among animal-rights activists. Meanwhile, Charlene is forced to bring Olivia to Sugarbakers while she looks for a nanny.

Directors: Hal Holbrook
Writer: Pam Norris
Watch Now:Amazon
They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?
star
8.42
12 votes

#8 - They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?

Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/11/1989

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.

Directors: Harry Thomason
Watch Now:Amazon
Have Faith
star
8.37
8 votes

#9 - Have Faith

Season 4 - Episode 25 - Aired 5/7/1990

When Mary Jo attends church with Julia and Suzanne, she ends up dating Gene Chapman, the minister, but feeling guilty about her sexual interest in him.

Directors: David Trainer
Watch Now:Amazon
Bernice's Sanity Hearing
star
8.29
7 votes

#10 - Bernice's Sanity Hearing

Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/13/1989

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.

Directors: David Trainer
Watch Now:Amazon
Julia Gets Her Head Stuck in a Fence
star
8.22
9 votes

#11 - Julia Gets Her Head Stuck in a Fence

Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/20/1989

While posing for a gag photo at the governor's mansion, Julia gets her head stuck in the banister just before the annual ball.

Directors: David Trainer
Writer: Pam Norris
Watch Now:Amazon
Their Finest Hour
star
8.22
9 votes

#12 - Their Finest Hour

Season 4 - Episode 26 - Aired 5/9/1990

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.

Watch Now:Amazon
Julia and Suzanne's Big Adventure
star
8.20
10 votes

#13 - Julia and Suzanne's Big Adventure

Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/27/1989

Julia and Suzanne's plans go awry when they travel to Japan to visit their mother: after discovering that she has gone to Paris to see a sick friend, they are robbed of their luggage and money. Meanwhile, Anthony and Mary Jo are stuck with an enormous telephone bill after calling in votes to a television poll.

Directors: Dwayne Hickman
Writer: Pam Norris
Watch Now:Amazon
One Night With You
star
8.14
7 votes

#14 - One Night With You

Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/25/1989

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.

Directors: David Trainer
Watch Now:Amazon
The Mistress
star
8.13
8 votes

#15 - The Mistress

Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/8/1990

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.

Directors: Iris Dugow
Watch Now:Amazon
The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century (2)
star
8.00
7 votes

#16 - The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century (2)

Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/1/1990

Directors: Harry Thomason
Tough Enough
star
8.00
7 votes

#17 - Tough Enough

Season 4 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/12/1990

A redecorating job for a sports account is right down Sugarbakers' alley when it pits the women against a macho, over-confident designer from an all-male firm. They determine to steal one of his prized clients, Cherokee Lanes Bowling Alley, but discover they must pose as regular bowlers.

Directors: David Trainer
Writer: Pam Norris
Watch Now:Amazon
It's a Wonderful Life
star
8.00
8 votes

#18 - It's a Wonderful Life

Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/19/1990

Charlene is overcome with feelings of self-doubt after the birth of Olivia, and her highly emotional state has her believing that Bill is having an affair. When Suzanne, Julia and Mary Jo overhear their fight, they scramble to create a romantic evening that will put some romance back into the Stillfield marriage.

Directors: David Trainer
Watch Now:Amazon
Anthony's Graduation
star
7.91
11 votes

#19 - Anthony's Graduation

Season 4 - Episode 27 - Aired 5/14/1990

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.

Directors: David Trainer
The Girlfriend
star
7.90
10 votes

#20 - The Girlfriend

Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/23/1989

Attempting to prove himself when Mary Jo hires him and some of his ex-convict friends to finish an incomplete remodeling job, Anthony gets a new girlfriend -- an ambitious young woman who sees him as an upwardly mobile vehicle.

Directors: David Trainer
Writer: Pam Norris
Watch Now:Amazon
Payne Grows Up
star
7.89
9 votes

#21 - Payne Grows Up

Season 4 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/19/1990

Julia is not pleased to learn that Payne is graduating early in order to marry his pregnant girlfriend. Upset at becoming a grandmother so soon, Julia gets tipsy at the wedding, then wakes up mortified -- and scantily clad -- the next day with Payne's frat house roommate (Young).

Directors: David Trainer
Writer: Pam Norris
Watch Now:Amazon
You Got to Have Friends
star
7.88
8 votes

#22 - You Got to Have Friends

Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/18/1989

Mary Jo takes a second job at a fast food place when Ted's child support payment is late.

Directors: David Trainer
Writer: Pam Norris
Watch Now:Amazon
Oh, What a Feeling
star
7.87
8 votes

#23 - Oh, What a Feeling

Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/29/1990

Julia and Suzanne negotiate for a new delivery van and drive a hard bargain with an overbearing salesman (Ross).

Directors: David Trainer
Writer: Paul Clay
Watch Now:Amazon
The Proxy Pig
star
7.83
12 votes

#24 - The Proxy Pig

Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/1989

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.

Directors: Harry Thomason
Nightmare from Hee Haw
star
7.79
14 votes

#25 - Nightmare from Hee Haw

Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/16/1989

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.

Directors: David Trainer