Charlene Frazier Stillfield
| Designing Women | |
|---|---|
Original cast (1986–1991)
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| Created by | Linda Bloodworth-Thomason |
| Starring | |
| Opening theme | "Georgia on My Mind" |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 7 |
| No. of episodes | 163 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Bloodworth/Thomason Mozark Productions Columbia Pictures Television |
| Distributor |
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| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | September 29, 1986 – May 24, 1993 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Women of the House (1995) |
Designing Women is an American sitcom created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason that aired on CBS from September 29, 1986, until May 24, 1993, producing seven seasons and 163 episodes. The comedy series Designing Women was a joint production of Bloodworth/Thomason Mozark Productions in association with Columbia Pictures Television for CBS.
The series centers on the lives of four women and one man working together at an interior designing firm in Atlanta, Georgia called Sugarbaker & Associates. It originally starred Dixie Carter as Julia Sugarbaker, president of the design firm; Delta Burke as Suzanne Sugarbaker, Julia's ex-beauty queen sister and the design firm's ; Annie Potts as head designer Mary Jo Shively; and Jean Smart as office manager Charlene Frazier. Later in its run, the series received recognition for its well-publicized behind-the-scenes conflicts and cast changes. Julia Duffy and Jan Hooks replaced Burke and Smart for season six, but Duffy was not brought back for the seventh and final season, and she was replaced by Judith Ivey.
Julia Sugarbaker is introduced as an elegant, outspoken liberal intellectual middle-age widow. Her younger sister, Suzanne Sugarbaker, is a thrice-divorced, rich, flashy, often self-centered, former Miss Georgia World. They are constantly at personal odds, but have launched Sugarbaker and Associates Designs, an interior design firm. Julia manages the company, while Suzanne is mostly a financial backer who simply hangs around and annoys everyone under the guise of being the firm's salesperson. However, she does bring in new customers on a regular basis through breakfast, lunch and dinner appointments.
The pragmatic designer Mary Jo Shively, a recent divorcee raising two children, and the sweet-natured but somewhat naïve office manager Charlene Frazier (later Stillfield) are initial investors and coworkers. Anthony Bouvier, a former prison inmate who was falsely convicted of a robbery, is the only man on the staff, and later in the series becomes a partner. Bernice Clifton (Alice Ghostley), an absent-minded friend of the Sugarbaker matriarch, also appears frequently.
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