- 8.4/1091 votes8.4/10(91)
#1 - A Blast From the Past
Season 5 Episode 1
Aired 9/17/1990
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.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 7.6/1077 votes7.6/10(77)
#2 - 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.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 7.5/1080 votes7.5/10(80)
#3 - Working Mother
Season 5 Episode 3
Aired 10/1/1990
Resentment builds between Charlene and Mary Jo when Charlene wants to take a year off to look after her baby. The decorators cater to the whims of a rich, insufferable 10-year-old client as Mary Jo and Charlene ponder the joys and pitfalls of working mothers.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 8.3/1097 votes8.3/10(97)
#4 - Miss Trial
Season 5 Episode 4
Aired 10/15/1990
Julia's dinner plans with former President Jimmy Carter and his wife are put on hold when her slow-moving jury gets sequestered.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 8.1/1083 votes8.1/10(83)
#5 - The Bachelor Auction
Season 5 Episode 5
Aired 10/22/1990
When organizational confusion leads to Suzanne winning a date with Anthony in a bachelor charity auction, the two reluctantly try to make the best of a very awkward situation.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/1086 votes7.8/10(86)
#6 - Charlene Buys a House
Season 5 Episode 6
Aired 10/29/1990
As the proud new owner of a grand but ghostly mansion, Charlene hires the decorators to give the place a facelift -- not mentioning that it's haunted.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
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- 8.2/1083 votes8.2/10(83)
#7 - Old Rebels and Young Models
Season 5 Episode 7
Aired 11/5/1990
Charlene's baby, Olivia, auditions for a modeling job, Mary Jo finds one of her former teachers in a nursing home.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.4/1078 votes7.4/10(78)
#8 - Nowhere To Run To
Season 5 Episode 8
Aired 11/12/1990
Mary Jo takes up jogging, and inadvertently helps turn Julia into a fitness zealot.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 6.8/1077 votes6.8/10(77)
#9 - A Class Act
Season 5 Episode 9
Aired 11/19/1990
Anthony buys in to become a full partner; new student Charlene fends off an amorous psychology professor.
Director: Dwayne Hickman
Writer: N/A
- 6.9/1074 votes6.9/10(74)
#10 - Keep the Home Fires Burning
Season 5 Episode 10
Aired 11/26/1990
With her husband away on a mission, Charlene guiltily draws close to a man in her support group for military spouses who wife is also away. Meanwhile, lottery fever sweeps Sugarbakers.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 7.4/1078 votes7.4/10(78)
#11 - My Daughter, Myself
Season 5 Episode 11
Aired 12/10/1990
Mary Jo forbids her nearly 18-year-old daughter to date a 34-year-old, then dates him herself, Julia is forced to crash the men's room at a football stadium.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/1085 votes8.2/10(85)
#12 - And Now, Here's Bernice
Season 5 Episode 12
Aired 12/17/1990
After Bernice gets a local public-access cable TV show, Mary Jo has her heart broken by a client and decides that Bernice's show is the ideal arena to air her views on men.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 8.1/1084 votes8.1/10(84)
#13 - Pearls of Wisdom
Season 5 Episode 13
Aired 1/7/1991
Mary Jo borrows and loses a string of pearls flaunted by Suzanne, subbing as a lifestyles reporter for local TV news. Meanwhile, a recurring dream about Julia upsets Anthony.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 6.5/1073 votes6.5/10(73)
#14 - High Noon in a Laundry Room
Season 5 Episode 14
Aired 1/14/1991
Anthony, concerned with his masculinity after working with the women so long, tries standing up to his bullying neighbor, and is further humiliated when the women come to his rescue.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 7.5/1075 votes7.5/10(75)
#15 - How Long Has This Been Going On?
Season 5 Episode 15
Aired 1/28/1991
Everyone at Sugarbakers is baffled to discover that sensible Julia has covertly been singing evenings at a nightclub, Anthony tries to muster the nerve to ask out a girl who works at the bookstore.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/1079 votes7.8/10(79)
#16 - The Emperor's New Nose
Season 5 Episode 16
Aired 2/4/1991
Bernice gets an extraordinarily bad eye tuck and rhinoplasty from a plastic surgeon whose work leaves something to be desired.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: Michael Ross
- 7.3/1075 votes7.3/10(75)
#17 - Maybe, Baby
Season 5 Episode 17
Aired 2/11/1991
Mary Jo, wanting a baby, turns to her friend and former beau; Suzanne takes up smoking as a way to diet.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 8.1/1076 votes8.1/10(76)
#18 - This is Art?
Season 5 Episode 18
Aired 2/25/1991
Amateur painter Julia inadvertently becomes the darling of Atlanta's art scene when someone tries to buy her handbag while she's attending a gallery opening; Suzanne inadvertently glues her lips shut.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.5/1084 votes8.5/10(84)
#19 - Blame it on New Orleans
Season 5 Episode 19
Aired 3/4/1991
When the gang attends a convention in intoxicating New Orleans, Mary Jo unwittingly sleeps with a married man.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 7.5/1073 votes7.5/10(73)
#20 - I'll See You in Court
Season 5 Episode 20
Aired 3/18/1991
Mary Jo runs across the man who mugged her the year before, but faces horrendous judicial red tape to bring him to trial.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 8.3/1083 votes8.3/10(83)
#21 - The Big Circle
Season 5 Episode 21
Aired 4/8/1991
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.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 6.9/1073 votes6.9/10(73)
#22 - Friends and Husbands
Season 5 Episode 22
Aired 4/29/1991
Charlene, readjusting to married life upon Bill's return from the Middle East, quits her and Mary Jo's children's-book project.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 7.5/1068 votes7.5/10(68)
#23 - Fore!
Season 5 Episode 23
Aired 5/6/1991
Suzanne is jealous when Anthony is invited to be the first black (i.e., token) in the previously all-white Beaumont Country Club.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 6.7/1073 votes6.7/10(73)
#24 - The Pride of Sugarbakers
Season 5 Episode 24
Aired 5/13/1991
Mary Jo and Julia demonstrate different coaching styles when their firm sponsors a Little League team.
Director: N/A
Writer: Michael Ross
The Best Episodes of Designing Women Season 5
Every episode of Designing Women Season 5 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Designing Women Season 5!
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...
Genre:Comedy
Network:CBS
Episodes
24
Avg. Rating
7.6
S1
S2
S3
S4
E1
E2
E3
Season 5 Ratings Summary
"A Blast From the Past" is the best rated episode of "Designing Women" season 5. It scored 8.4/10 based on 91 votes. Directed by David Trainer and written by N/A, it aired on 9/17/1990. This episode is rated 0.8 points higher than the second-best, "Papa Was a Rolling Stone".