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The Best Episodes of Designing Women Season 1

Every episode of Designing Women Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Designing Women Season 1!

Binge this in 11h 0m•Peaking at 8.8/10

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

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Designing Women Season 1 Episode 1 - Designing Women
    7.7/10(220 votes)

    #1 - Designing Women

    S1:E1

    Suzanne visits a new gynecologist, Mary Jo's ex-husband Ted, and a maelstrom of emotions is unleashed when she announces she is dating him.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  2. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 2 - The Beauty Contest
    8.5/10(218 votes)

    #2 - 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.

    Director:Jack Shea
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  3. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 3 - A Big Affair
    6.9/10(158 votes)

    #3 - A Big Affair

    S1:E3

    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.

    Director:Jack Shea
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  4. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 4 - Julia's Son
    8.1/10(164 votes)

    #4 - Julia's Son

    S1:E4

    Julia's nineteen-year-old son, Payne, is bringing his girlfriend home from college for a visit, and Julia wants everything to be perfect for her ""baby."" Payne then presents his girl, Primmie, who is tall, attractive...and forty years old!

    Director:Jack Shea
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  5. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 5 - Mary Jo's First Date
    7.7/10(138 votes)

    #5 - Mary Jo's First Date

    S1:E5

    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.

    Director:Jack Shea
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 6 - Design House
    7.9/10(139 votes)

    #6 - Design House

    S1:E6

    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.

    Director:Jack Shea
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 7 - Perky's Visit
    8.0/10(151 votes)

    #7 - Perky's Visit

    S1:E7

    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.

    Director:Jack Shea
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  8. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 8 - I Do, I Don't
    7.4/10(129 votes)

    #8 - I Do, I Don't

    S1:E8

    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 annuling their marriage and their entire relationship.

    Director:Jack Shea
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 9 - The IT Men
    7.7/10(115 votes)

    #9 - The IT Men

    S1:E9

    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.

    Director:Jack Shea
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 10 - The Slumber Party
    7.9/10(136 votes)

    #10 - The Slumber Party

    S1:E10

    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.

    Director:Jack Shea
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  11. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 11 - New Year's Daze
    7.6/10(124 votes)

    #11 - New Year's Daze

    S1:E11

    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.

    Director:David Steinberg
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 12 - Old Spouses Never Die (1)
    7.6/10(121 votes)

    #12 - Old Spouses Never Die (1)

    S1:E12

    Mary Jo is brooding about her ex-husband's interference in her life, while Charlene distrusts her doctor's cavalier attitude toward the lump he found in her breast.

    Director:Barnet Kellman
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  13. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 13 - Old Spouses Never Die (2)
    7.8/10(117 votes)

    #13 - Old Spouses Never Die (2)

    S1:E13

    Mary Jo is brooding about her ex-husband's interference in her life, while Charlene distrusts her doctor's cavalier attitude toward the lump he found in her breast.

    Director:Barnet Kellman
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  14. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 14 - Monette
    8.0/10(133 votes)

    #14 - Monette

    S1:E14

    When an old school chum of Charlene's, Monette, buys the old Chadwick mansion and asks Sugarbaker's to redecorate, the women are excited at the prospect of a most lucrative assignment--until they find out what the assignment REALLY is...

    Director:Barnet Kellman
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  15. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 15 - And Justice For Paul
    7.4/10(114 votes)

    #15 - And Justice For Paul

    S1:E15

    Suzanne picks up a client who wants period furniture on a shoestring budget, and the Sugarbaker women find that antique furniture at bargain prices is no bargain.

    Director:Jack Shea
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 16 - Reese's Friend
    7.4/10(125 votes)

    #16 - Reese's Friend

    S1:E16

    A disagreement over the theme for the annual country club fund-raiser has Julia and Suzanne at odds, but the quibbling is forgotten when Reese appears with a gorgeous young women on his arm, explaining that she is a new attorney in his law firm.

    Director:Arlene Sanford
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  17. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 17 - Nashville Bound
    7.3/10(121 votes)

    #17 - Nashville Bound

    S1:E17

    The news that Charlene's family--all ten brothers and sisters--will be in town at the same time is overshadowed by the news that she is going to become a recording star!

    Director:Harry Thomason
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  18. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 18 - Oh, Suzannah
    8.8/10(155 votes)

    #18 - 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.

    Director:Matthew Diamond
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  19. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 19 - Mary Jo's Dad Dates Charlene
    7.2/10(114 votes)

    #19 - Mary Jo's Dad Dates Charlene

    S1:E19

    When Mary Jo's divorced father arrives in Atlanta for a four-day visit and dances cheek to cheek with Charlene, Mary Jo becomes very protective.

    Director:Jack Shea
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  20. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 20 - Seams From a Marriage
    7.6/10(111 votes)

    #20 - Seams From a Marriage

    S1:E20

    When Anthony saunters into the shop wearing an enormous cowboy hat, followed by a breathless Mary Jo who has obviously been out all night as she is wearing the same clothes ahe had on when she left the day before, the others clamor for an explanation. It seems their appointment with Sugarbaker's newest client turned into an all-night bash, complete with Cajun buffet and country-western band.

    Director:Jack Shea
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 21 - Grand Slam, Thank You Ma'am
    7.8/10(760 votes)

    #21 - Grand Slam, Thank You Ma'am

    S1:E21

    Suzanne's baseball player ex-husband, Jack Dent, writes in his autobiography that he had more groupie action than all the rock ""n"" roll bands in North America, and Suzanne vows revenge.

    Director:Barnet Kellman
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  22. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 22 - Bachelor Suite
    7.7/10(114 votes)

    #22 - Bachelor Suite

    S1:E22

    When Mary Jo undertakes the decoration of Hence Winchester's new home, she finds herself the object of sexual harassment by her wealthy client.

    Director:Jack Shea
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Designing Women" is the best rated episode of "Designing Women" season 1. It scored 7.7/10 based on 220 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, it aired on 9/29/1986. This episode is rated 0.8 points higher than the second-best, "The Beauty Contest".