The WORST episodes of Designing Women

Every episode of Designing Women ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst 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: 9/22/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
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star
6.67
6 votes

#1 - The Big Desk (2)

Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/16/1991

Directors: Harry Thomason
star
6.83
6 votes

#2 - Mary Jo vs. the Terminator

Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/16/1992

After Julia completely rewrites a letter Mary Jo asked her to proofread, Mary Jo comes unraveled on a fashion-show runway, where she just plain has her fill of know-it-all Julia. Meanwhile, back at the office, B.J. has her hands full with angry vegetarians.

Directors: David Steinberg
star
6.83
6 votes

#3 - A Scene From a Mall

Season 6 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/24/1992

Julia stages a sit-in at the mall to protest racial mistreatment of Anthony by brutish cops who accosted him for window shopping near a jewelry store -- and television coverage links Anthony romantically with Allison.

Directors: David Steinberg
star
6.83
6 votes

#4 - I Enjoy Being a Girl

Season 6 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/9/1992

On an overnight Girl Scout outing, Carlene's leadership abilities take a beating, while Allison's methods seem to charm the spoiled troopers, and Mary Jo and Julia advocate roughing it.

Directors: David Steinberg
star
6.83
6 votes

#5 - Love Letters

Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/20/1992

A steamy love letter from another woman found in James' safe-deposit box shatters B.J.'s image of her late husband as a faithful companion worthy of her trust. Meanwhile, reveling in the destruction of her old car, a symbol of her days as a suburban housewife, Mary Jo goes wild in a new red convertible.

Directors: David Steinberg
star
6.83
6 votes

#6 - Trial and Error

Season 7 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/11/1992

B.J. goes overboard showering everyone with gifts, and law student Anthony gets carried away trying to help Mary Jo win a small-claims case involving her defective freezer.

Directors: David Steinberg
star
6.83
6 votes

#7 - Too Dumb to Date

Season 7 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/8/1993

Mary Jo dates a handsome idiot, a to-die-for toyboy male model who seems to have few toys in the attic and little in common with her.

Directors: David Steinberg
star
6.83
6 votes

#8 - The Odyssey

Season 7 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/15/1993

B.J.'s contribution to the Democratic Party gets the Sugarbaker crew invited to the Inaugural Ball, but the trip proves to be a party for no one, even Julia, who struggles to maintain a cheery disposition in the face of disaster as bad weather forces a change in plans.

Directors: David Steinberg
star
6.83
6 votes

#9 - It's Not So Easy Being Green

Season 7 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/2/1993

Anthony is jealous of Etienne's successful writer friend, who shares a vivid past with her, but tries to be gracious by throwing a signing party for him.

Directors: David Steinberg
Writer: Emily Levine
star
6.83
6 votes

#10 - The Woman Who Came to Sugarbakers

Season 7 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/30/1993

A visit from Julia's meddlesome former schoolmistress is extended -- on ghostly instructions from her deceased husband, it turns out -- until the desperate Sugarbakers women hold a seance to try to force her to leave.

Directors: David Steinberg
Writer: Emily Levine
star
7.00
7 votes

#11 - The Big Desk (1)

Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/16/1991

Cousin Alison Sugarbaker buys out Suzanne's share of the business and then moves in, complete with an enormous desk and a take-charge attitude, Charlene's divorcing younger sister Carlene arrives.

Directors: Harry Thomason
star
7.00
5 votes

#12 - The Lying Game

Season 7 - Episode 20 - Aired 5/7/1993

There's no skirting the fact that Carlene is confused by new beau Eric (Kean), whose unusual habit (cross-dressing) she begins to understand only by tapping into her own masculine side.

Directors: David Steinberg
star
7.00
6 votes

#13 - Fools Rush In (2)

Season 7 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/13/1992

BJ offers to help a desperate Anthony, who invents various schemes to extricate himself from his hasty marriage to a Las Vegas showgirl.

star
7.00
6 votes

#14 - Dwayne's World

Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/30/1991

Mary Jo protectively takes divorcee Carlene under her wing -- going overboard with a lie about Carlene's latest flame -- when ex-hubby Dwayne shows up to sweep Carlene off her feet again.

Directors: David Steinberg
star
7.17
6 votes

#15 - Marriage Most Foul

Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/7/1991

When Allison's ex-convict former flame (whom she turned in for insider trading) is released, she fears he is plotting revenge, instead, he proposes to her.

Directors: David Steinberg
star
7.17
6 votes

#16 - Picking a Winner

Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/14/1991

Mary Jo turns to a sperm bank to get pregnant, prompting mixed reactions at work. Meanwhile, Julia threaten to rip the draperies from the windows of the home of a wealthy client whose payment is overdue.

Directors: Asaad Kelada
star
7.17
6 votes

#17 - Julia and Rusty, Sittin' in a Tree

Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/18/1991

Julia's second date with electrician Rusty becomes a group outing with Carlene and Allison dating junior-college guys, and Anthony tagging along to the drive-in with Bernice to keep an eye on things.

Directors: David Steinberg
star
7.17
6 votes

#18 - Oh Dog, Poor Dog

Season 7 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/22/1993

After eye surgery, Bernice overhears the gals talk of putting Mary Jo's dog out of its misery and figures they're planning her own mercy killing, so she barricades herself inside the storeroom. Meanwhile, Julia gets caught listing to a London phone line which plays tapes of Princess Diana's private conversations with her boyfriend.

Directors: David Steinberg
star
7.17
6 votes

#19 - Sex, Lies and Bad Hair Days

Season 7 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/5/1993

B.J.'s dating adventures take a turn for the worse on her birthday, when a bad-hair day and two miserable blind dates have her vowing to give up men, so Julia tries to cheer her up by getting her a date with a really nice fellow.

Directors: David Steinberg
star
7.17
6 votes

#20 - The Vision Thing

Season 7 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/4/1992

Etienne drives Anthony crazy trying to be the perfect wife, and the Sugarbakers crew throw a Las Vegas style wedding shower for them.

star
7.25
4 votes

#21 - Gone With the Whim (2)

Season 7 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/24/1993

With Julia continuing to fight to save the antebellum Kearney mansion, B.J. struggles to save Sugarbaker's and Poteet Industries from a take over from the Kearneys. However, despite their efforts, Kiki Kearney announces her new plans for "Kikibaker's," Lester Kearney announces that the purchase of Poteet Industries is complete, and the modernizing of the mansion gets under way. Though Anthony and the women are fired for insubordination, when Craig, a friend of Mary Jo's, stumbles on some embarrassing news about the Kearney's illegal financial activities, Poteet Industries and Sugarbaker's are saved from the take over.

Directors: David Steinberg
star
7.27
11 votes

#22 - Papa Was a Rolling Stone

Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/24/1990

Charlene aims to make Anthony's 30th birthday a memorable one -- by hiring a private detective to find his long-lost father.

Directors: David Trainer
star
7.29
7 votes

#23 - Wedding Redux

Season 7 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/5/1993

Anthony and Etienne renew their vows for Etienne's visiting parents and Anthony's grandmother at a ceremony at B.J.'s, where anything that could go wrong does.

Directors: David Steinberg
Writer: Mimi Pond
star
7.29
7 votes

#24 - Payne Comes Home

Season 6 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/13/1992

Julia delights in the opportunity to dote on son Payne when he returns for a visit -- which Julia learns will be permanent.

Directors: Paul Clay
star
7.29
7 votes

#25 - Real, Scary Men

Season 6 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/9/1991

When their van breaks down the women become unwelcome guests at a men's club retreat Wildman Sanctuary, where Anthony is trying to land a new account.

Directors: David Steinberg