Designing Women (1986)

Name: Designing Women
Genre: Comedy
Rating: 7.3
Cast: Dixie Carter, Annie Potts, Jan Hooks, Judith Ivey, Meshach Taylor

Comedy

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.

IMDb rating: 7.3 (8,142 votes)
Episode average: 7.5 ↑ +0.2 vs IMDb
Seasons: 7
Streaming (US): Hulu
Language: EN
Type: TV series

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 7 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1986)

7.71 avg 22 episodes 7.7 → 7.7 27 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Designing Women	7.7	231
2	The Beauty Contest	8.5	224
3	A Big Affair	6.9	158
4	Julia's Son	8.1	164
5	Mary Jo's First Date	7.7	135
6	Design House	7.8	136
7	Perky's Visit	8.0	149
8	I Do, I Don't	7.4	125
9	The IT Men	7.7	110
10	The Slumber Party	7.9	133
11	New Year's Daze	7.6	121
12	Old Spouses Never Die: Part 1	7.6	116
13	Old Spouses Never Die: Part 2	7.7	111
14	Monette	8.0	130
15	And Justice for Paul	7.4	107
16	Reese's Friend	7.4	124
17	Nashville Bound	7.2	120
18	Oh, Suzannah	8.8	157
19	Mary Jo's Dad Dates Charlene	7.2	109
20	Seams from a Marriage	7.6	106
21	Grand Slam, Thank You Ma'am	7.7	753
22	Bachelor Suite	7.7	110

Season 2 (1987)

7.73 avg 22 episodes 7.5 → 8.3 26 min avg

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	101 Ways to Decorate a Gas Station	7.5	115
2	Ted Remarries	7.4	101
3	Anthony Jr.	6.8	98
4	Killing All the Right People	9.4	288
5	Half an Air Bubble Off	7.5	103
6	Dash Goff, the Writer	8.3	140
7	Heart Attacks	7.6	109
8	Cruising	7.7	123
9	I'll Be Seeing You	7.4	130
10	Stranded	8.8	140
11	Howard the Date	7.5	105
12	I'll Be Home for Christmas	7.8	114
13	Great Expectations	6.8	109
14	Second Time Around	7.9	100
15	Oh, Brother	7.5	121
16	There's Some Black People Coming to Dinner	6.9	107
17	The Return of Ray Don	7.9	101
18	High Rollers	8.1	97
19	The Incredibly Elite Bona Fide Blue-Blood Beaumont Driving Club	8.0	99
20	How Great Thou Art	8.0	144
21	Ted-Bare	6.9	90
22	Reservations for Eight	8.3	147

Season 3 (1988)

7.73 avg 22 episodes 7.7 → 6.8 25 min avg

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Reservations for 12, Plus Ursula	7.7	120
2	The Candidate	7.6	105
3	E.P., Phone Home	8.0	114
4	Getting Married and Eating Dirt	7.6	98
5	Big Haas and Little Falsie	8.2	128
6	Hard Hats and Lovers	7.0	95
7	Curtains	7.5	89
8	The Wilderness Experience	8.4	138
9	Tyrone	7.5	108
10	Mr. Bailey	7.4	101
11	The Naked Truth	7.7	123
12	The Junies	8.1	117
13	One Sees, the Other Doesn't	7.8	99
14	Odell	7.5	98
15	Full Moon	8.4	116
16	Mr. Meal Ticket	6.7	82
17	The Engagement	7.9	99
18	Come on and Marry Me, Bill	8.4	116
19	The Women of Atlanta	8.1	108
20	Stand and Fight	8.1	101
21	The Last Humorously-Dressed Bellboy in America	7.6	94
22	Julia Drives Over the First Amendment	6.8	111

Season 4 (1989)

7.99 avg 28 episodes 8.3 → 8.6 25 min avg

Season 4 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Proxy Pig and Great Pretenders	8.3	106
2	One Night with You	7.7	104
3	There She Is	8.6	122
4	Nightmare from Hee Haw	7.9	136
5	The Girlfriend	6.7	93
6	The Rowdy Girls	8.1	141
7	Bernice's Sanity Hearing	8.7	124
8	Julia Gets Her Head Stuck in a Fence	8.0	131
9	Julia and Suzanne's Big Adventure	7.8	121
10	Manhunt	7.5	103
11	They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?	9.1	191
12	You Got to Have Friends	7.7	97
13	The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century: Part 1	8.5	142
14	The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century: Part 2	8.8	171
15	The Mistress	8.0	117
16	The Fur Flies	8.0	101
17	Oh, What a Feeling	7.8	96
18	Anthony and Vanessa	7.5	91
19	Payne Grows Up	8.1	100
20	Tornado Watch	8.5	120
21	Tough Enough	7.0	89
22	It's a Wonderful Life	7.6	88
23	Suzanne Goes Looking for a Friend	8.3	110
24	Foreign Affairs	8.5	107
25	Have Faith	7.1	85
26	Their Finest Hour	7.3	85
27	Anthony's Graduation	8.1	88
28	La Place sans Souci	8.6	108

Season 5 (1990)

7.70 avg 24 episodes 8.5 → 6.9 26 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 5 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	A Blast from the Past	8.5	97
2	Papa Was a Rolling Stone	7.5	79
3	Working Mother	7.6	87
4	Miss Trial	8.4	107
5	The Bachelor Auction	8.3	95
6	Charlene Buys a House	7.9	94
7	Old Rebels and Young Models	8.1	89
8	Nowhere to Run To	7.6	82
9	A Class Act	7.0	80
10	Keep the Homes Fires Burning	6.8	78
11	My Daughter, Myself	7.4	84
12	And Now, Here's Bernice	8.1	92
13	Pearls of Wisdom	8.1	86
14	High Noon in a Laundry Room	6.6	74
15	How Long Has This Been Going On?	7.5	78
16	The Emperor's New Nose	7.8	82
17	Maybe Baby	7.3	80
18	This Is Art?	8.1	81
19	Blame It on New Orleans	8.6	91
20	I'll See You in Court	7.6	77
21	The Big Circle	8.3	89
22	Friends and Husbands	7.1	78
23	Fore!	7.7	72
24	The Pride of Sugarbakers	6.9	78

Season 6 (1991)

6.93 avg 23 episodes 6.9 → 7.1 23 min avg

Season 6 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Big Desk: Part 1	6.9	93
2	The Big Desk: Part 2	7.1	85
3	A Toe in the Water	6.9	71
4	Dwayne's World	7.0	67
5	Marriage Most Foul	5.9	71
6	Picking a Winner	6.4	66
7	Last Tango in Atlanta	7.1	62
8	The Strange Case of Clarence and Anita	6.7	91
9	Just Say Doe	6.8	72
10	Julia and Rusty, Sittin' in a Tree	7.3	68
11	Julia and Mary Jo Get Stuck Under a Bed	7.8	76
12	Real, Scary Men	5.0	75
13	Tales Out of School	7.0	62
14	Driving My Mama Back Home	7.0	66
15	Payne Comes Home	7.0	68
16	Carlene's Apartment	8.3	83
17	Mamed	7.5	75
18	A Scene from a Mall	7.3	73
19	All About Odes to Atlanta	7.4	65
20	I Enjoy Being a Girl	6.4	67
21	L.A. Story	6.6	57
22	A Little Night Music	7.0	73
23	Shades of Vanessa	7.1	64

Season 7 (1992)

6.57 avg 22 episodes 7.4 → 6.3 23 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 7 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Of Human Bondage	7.4	77
2	Sex and the Single Woman	6.7	69
3	Mary Jo vs. the Terminator	7.3	77
4	On the Road Again	6.6	64
5	Screaming Passages	6.7	65
6	Viva Las Vegas	6.4	63
7	Fools Rush In	6.7	63
8	Love Letters	7.1	65
9	The Vision Thing	5.8	64
10	Trial and Error	5.6	65
11	Too Dumb to Date	6.7	66
12	The Odyssey	6.0	71
13	Oh Dog, Poor Dog	6.7	59
14	Wedding Redux	6.6	62
15	Nude Julia, New York Morning	6.6	66
16	Sex, Lies and Bad Hair Days	6.8	60
17	Shovel Off to Buffalo	5.3	69
18	It's Not So Easy Being Green	6.0	68
19	The Woman Who Came to Sugarbakers	7.1	66
20	The Lying Game	7.5	66
21	Gone with a Whim: Part 1	6.6	84
22	Gone with a Whim: Part 2	6.3	84

Designing Women (1986)

Cast

Seasons

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