- 4.8/1077 votesLoading...4.8/10(77)Loading...
#1 - 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.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: N/A
- 5.3/1066 votesLoading...5.3/10(66)Loading...
#2 - 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.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: N/A
- 5.3/1070 votesLoading...5.3/10(70)Loading...
#3 - Shovel Off to Buffalo
Season 7 Episode 17
Aired 3/12/1993
Worshiping hordes gather outside Sugarbaker's after the face of Elvis mysteriously appears on a snow shovel belonging to Mary Jo, who attracts the attention of a ""paraspectacular"" expert (Gilpin) -- especially when she apparently restores her neighbor's damaged hearing.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: N/A
- 5.6/1065 votesLoading...5.6/10(65)Loading...
#4 - 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.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: Norma Safford Vela
- 5.7/1068 votesLoading...5.7/10(68)Loading...
#5 - 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.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: N/A
- 5.8/1069 votesLoading...5.8/10(69)Loading...
#6 - 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.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: N/A
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- 5.9/1070 votesLoading...5.9/10(70)Loading...
#7 - 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.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: N/A
- 6.2/1067 votesLoading...6.2/10(67)Loading...
#8 - 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.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: Norma Safford Vela
- 6.3/1064 votesLoading...6.3/10(64)Loading...
#9 - 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.
Director: Asaad Kelada
Writer: N/A
- 6.3/1062 votesLoading...6.3/10(62)Loading...
#10 - Viva Las Vegas (1)
Season 7 Episode 6
Aired 11/6/1992
After Vanessa calls off their wedding, Anthony joins the gang on a getaway to Las Vegas, where he nurses his broken heart -- in the company of a show stopping showgirl he impulsively weds.
Director: Charles Frank
Writer: Norma Safford Vela
- 6.3/1062 votesLoading...6.3/10(62)Loading...
#11 - 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.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: Mimi Pond
- 6.3/1066 votesLoading...6.3/10(66)Loading...
#12 - Nude Julia, New York Morning
Season 7 Episode 15
Aired 2/12/1993
Julia's old mentor for her bohemian art school days in New York unveils his nude portrait of Julia.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: N/A
- 6.4/1079 votesLoading...6.4/10(79)Loading...
#13 - Ms. Meal Ticket
Season 3 Episode 16
Aired 3/20/1989
Mary-Jo overreacts to J.D.'s losing his job and moving in with her, but a psychic helps her sort out her feelings.
Director: Hal Holbrook
Writer: Linda Bloodworth-Thomason
- 6.4/1066 votesLoading...6.4/10(66)Loading...
#14 - On the Road Again
Season 7 Episode 4
Aired 10/23/1992
In an attempt at spontaneity, a carefree Mary Jo takes off for Nashville on ""a hen party on wheels"" with Julia and Bernice, but become terrified when a trucker Bernice flirted with at a diner pursues them. Meanwhile, back at the office, Carlene and Anthony put their noses to the grindstone studying for midterms.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: N/A
- 6.4/1081 votesLoading...6.4/10(81)Loading...
#15 - Gone With a 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.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: David Steinberg
- 6.5/10100 votesLoading...6.5/10(100)Loading...
#16 - Great Expectations
Season 2 Episode 13
Aired 1/4/1988
Anthony is dismayed when an old prison cellmate arrives at Sugarbaker's with a business proposition -- he wants Anthony to become his partner.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: Linda Bloodworth-Thomason
- 6.5/1089 votesLoading...6.5/10(89)Loading...
#17 - The Girlfriend
Season 4 Episode 5
Aired 10/23/1989
Attempting to prove himself when Mary Jo hires him and some of his ex-convict friends to finish an incomplete remodeling job, Anthony gets a new girlfriend -- an ambitious young woman who sees him as an upwardly mobile vehicle.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 6.5/1073 votesLoading...6.5/10(73)Loading...
#18 - 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
- 6.5/1061 votesLoading...6.5/10(61)Loading...
#19 - L.A. Story
Season 6 Episode 21
Aired 3/23/1992
Allison thinks she's invited to stay at Charles Nelson Reilly's home, so the decorators do Hollywood and get flimflammed on an expenses-paid trip accompanying investor Allison to the set of her movie.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.5/1066 votesLoading...6.5/10(66)Loading...
#20 - Screaming Passages
Season 7 Episode 5
Aired 10/30/1992
Julia fears the emotional roller coaster of menopause -- just as her affair with Phillip heats up, and is upset when she discovers a Sugerbakers ""Change of Life"" surprise party.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: Norma Safford Vela
- 6.5/1062 votesLoading...6.5/10(62)Loading...
#21 - 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.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: N/A
- 6.5/1061 votesLoading...6.5/10(61)Loading...
#22 - 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.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: N/A
- 6.6/1090 votesLoading...6.6/10(90)Loading...
#23 - Anthony, Jr.
Season 2 Episode 3
Aired 9/28/1987
Anthony goes to extremes to impress his girlfriends' wealthy parents, inventing a pedigreed family -- then an uninvited dinner guest informs him he is the father of her child.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: Linda Bloodworth-Thomason
- 6.6/10104 votesLoading...6.6/10(104)Loading...
#24 - Julia Drives Over the First Amendment
Season 3 Episode 22
Aired 5/22/1989
A nearby newsstand selling pornography offends Julia, to the point where she drives her car straight through it, and pits her against an equally determined publisher in the ensuing court battle.
Director: David Trainer
Writer: N/A
- 6.6/1065 votesLoading...6.6/10(65)Loading...
#25 - 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.
Director: David Steinberg
Writer: N/A
The Worst Episodes of Designing Women
Every episode of Designing Women ranked from worst to best. Explore 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...
Genre:Comedy
Network:CBS
Episodes
163
Avg. Rating
7.4
S1
S2
S3
S4
E1
E2
E3
7.7
7.4
7.6
8.2
8.5
7.2
7.5
7.5
6.8
6.6
7.8
8.5
Worst Episodes Summary
"Real, Scary Men" is the worst rated episode of "Designing Women". It scored 4.8/10 based on 77 votes. Directed by David Steinberg and written by N/A, it aired on 12/9/1991. This episode scored 0.5 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Trial and Error".