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The Best Episodes of Designing Women

Every episode of Designing Women ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Designing Women!

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...

Seasons7

  1. Background image for Killing All the Right People
    9.4/10(263 votes)

    #1 - Killing All the Right People

    S2:E4

    "Killing All the Right People" is the 26th episode of the sitcom Designing Women. Originally airing on October 5, 1987, as the fourth episode of the second season, it features Tony Goldwyn as Kendall Dobbs, a young man dying of AIDS who asks the women to design his funeral. Series creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's mother died of AIDS and her experience with her mother's disease and the prejudice associated with it inspired the episode.

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  2. Background image for They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?
    9.1/10(179 votes)

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

    S4:E11

    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.

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  3. Background image for Oh, Suzannah
    8.8/10(145 votes)

    #3 - Oh, Suzannah

    S1:E18

    While in Reese's office to sign legal papers, Suzanne off-handedly volunteers to keep a Vietnamese boat child, Li Sing, who is being adopted but needs an interim home for the next four weeks while final papers are being completed. Suzanne becomes attached to Li Sing quickly and doesn't want to give her over to her new family.

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  4. Background image for Stranded
    8.7/10(131 votes)

    #4 - Stranded

    S2:E10

    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.

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  5. Background image for Bernice's Sanity Hearing
    8.7/10(115 votes)

    #5 - Bernice's Sanity Hearing

    S4:E7

    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.

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  6. Background image for The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century (2)
    8.7/10(158 votes)

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

    S4:E14

    Suzanne and Mary Jo rush Charlene to the hospital when she goes into labor on New Year's Eve and conceives a desire to deliver the first New Year's baby. Dolly Parton plays Charlene's ""guardian movie star,"" who comes to her in a dream with news of her baby's birth, and Bernice goes for an unexpected ambulance ride.

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Designing Women

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  8. Background image for The Wilderness Experience
    8.5/10(133 votes)

    #7 - The Wilderness Experience

    S3:E8

    The women embark on a wilderness survival course designed to build leadership -- but it's first-time camper Bernice who ultimately takes command.

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  9. Background image for There She Is
    8.5/10(116 votes)

    #8 - There She Is

    S4:E3

    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.

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    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for Tornado Watch
    8.5/10(114 votes)

    #9 - Tornado Watch

    S4:E20

    A bizarre collection of characters is trapped inside Sugarbakers by a tornado warning, including hillbilly Daddy Jones who takes a liking to Bernice.

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  11. Background image for Foreign Affairs
    8.5/10(104 votes)

    #10 - Foreign Affairs

    S4:E24

    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.

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    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for La Place sans Souci
    8.5/10(104 votes)

    #11 - La Place sans Souci

    S4:E28

    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.

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  13. Background image for The Beauty Contest
    8.4/10(198 votes)

    #12 - The Beauty Contest

    S1:E2

    Charlene sponsors Mary Jo's daughter in the Miss Pre-Teen Atlanta contest, and despite her depression over her own upcoming 30th birthday, Suzanne coaches Claudia on how to walk and smile.

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  14. Background image for The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century (1)
    8.4/10(131 votes)

    #13 - The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century (1)

    S4:E13

    Suzanne and Mary Jo rush Charlene to the hospital when she goes into labor on New Year's Eve and conceives a desire to deliver the first New Year's baby. Dolly Parton plays Charlene's ""guardian movie star,"" who comes to her in a dream with news of her baby's birth, and Bernice goes for an unexpected ambulance ride.

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  15. Background image for A Blast From the Past
    8.4/10(95 votes)

    #14 - A Blast From the Past

    S5:E1

    Sugarbaker's is beset by tourists when the building's Civil War foundation puts it on the Tour of Historical Homes, Mary Jo opens her heart to an old friend eager to make good on a marriage pact they once entered into.

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    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for Blame it on New Orleans
    8.4/10(88 votes)

    #15 - Blame it on New Orleans

    S5:E19

    When the gang attends a convention in intoxicating New Orleans, Mary Jo unwittingly sleeps with a married man.

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    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for Dash Goff, the Writer
    8.3/10(135 votes)

    #16 - Dash Goff, the Writer

    S2:E6

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

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  18. Background image for Big Haas and Little Falsie
    8.3/10(122 votes)

    #17 - Big Haas and Little Falsie

    S3:E5

    Mary-Jo contemplates breast enlargement after receiving an inheritance from her uncle Dude stipulating that she must spend it on something frivolous.

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  19. Background image for Full Moon
    8.3/10(111 votes)

    #18 - Full Moon

    S3:E15

    A full moon coincides with strange occurrences, including Mary Jo's sudden conviction that Claudia and her boyfriend are up to no good.

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  20. Background image for Come On and Marry Me, Bill
    8.3/10(109 votes)

    #19 - Come On and Marry Me, Bill

    S3:E18

    Charlene's wedding is in jeopardy when she finds Bill handcuffed to a scantily clad dancer after his stag party.

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  21. Background image for Miss Trial
    8.3/10(101 votes)

    #20 - Miss Trial

    S5:E4

    Julia's dinner plans with former President Jimmy Carter and his wife are put on hold when her slow-moving jury gets sequestered.

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    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for The Big Circle
    8.3/10(87 votes)

    #21 - The Big Circle

    S5:E21

    Julia tries coping with her boyfriend Reese's death by looking after Randa Oliver, the supremely spoiled child of a client couple on an extended vacation.

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    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for Carlene's Apartment
    8.3/10(86 votes)

    #22 - Carlene's Apartment

    S6:E16

    Carlene moves into her own apartment on the wrong side of town, where space is at a minimum and burglars roam free, so the Sugarbakers staff visit to try to persuade her to find a better home.

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    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for Reservations for Eight
    8.2/10(137 votes)

    #23 - Reservations for Eight

    S2:E22

    A romantic ski weekend becomes a battle of the sexes when an avalanche sidelines the Sugarbakers ladies and their boyfriends.

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  25. Background image for The Junies
    8.2/10(116 votes)

    #24 - The Junies

    S3:E12

    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.

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    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Unknown
  26. Background image for The Proxy Pig and Great Pretenders
    8.2/10(102 votes)

    #25 - The Proxy Pig and Great Pretenders

    S4:E1

    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.

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Best Episodes Summary

"Killing All the Right People" is the best rated episode of "Designing Women". It scored 9.4/10 based on 263 votes. Directed by Harry Thomason and written by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, it aired on 10/5/1987. This episode scored 0.3 points higher than the second highest rated, "They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?".