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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!

Binge this in 3d 9h•Peaking at 9.4/10

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
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    Designing Women Season 2 Episode 4 - Killing All the Right People
    9.4/10(291 votes)

    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.

    Director:Harry Thomason
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  2. Designing Women Season 4 Episode 11 - They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?
    9.1/10(191 votes)

    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.

    Director:Harry Thomason
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  3. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 18 - Oh, Suzannah
    8.8/10(157 votes)

    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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  4. Designing Women Season 2 Episode 10 - Stranded
    8.8/10(142 votes)

    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.

    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  5. Designing Women Season 4 Episode 14 - The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century (2)
    8.8/10(171 votes)

    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.

    Director:Harry Thomason
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  6. Designing Women Season 4 Episode 7 - Bernice's Sanity Hearing
    8.7/10(124 votes)

    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.

    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Designing Women

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  7. Designing Women Season 4 Episode 3 - There She Is
    8.6/10(122 votes)

    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.

    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Designing Women Season 4 Episode 28 - La Place sans Souci
    8.6/10(108 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  9. Designing Women Season 5 Episode 19 - Blame it on New Orleans
    8.6/10(91 votes)

    S5:E19

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

    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Designing Women Season 1 Episode 2 - The Beauty Contest
    8.5/10(226 votes)

    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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  11. Designing Women Season 4 Episode 13 - The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century (1)
    8.5/10(142 votes)

    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.

    Director:Harry Thomason
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  12. Designing Women Season 4 Episode 20 - Tornado Watch
    8.5/10(120 votes)

    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.

    Director:William Crain
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  13. Designing Women Season 4 Episode 24 - Foreign Affairs
    8.5/10(107 votes)

    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.

    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Designing Women Season 5 Episode 1 - A Blast From the Past
    8.5/10(97 votes)

    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.

    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Designing Women Season 3 Episode 8 - The Wilderness Experience
    8.4/10(138 votes)

    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.

    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  16. Designing Women Season 3 Episode 15 - Full Moon
    8.4/10(116 votes)

    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.

    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  17. Designing Women Season 3 Episode 18 - Come On and Marry Me, Bill
    8.4/10(116 votes)

    S3:E18

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

    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  18. Designing Women Season 5 Episode 4 - Miss Trial
    8.4/10(107 votes)

    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.

    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Designing Women Season 2 Episode 6 - Dash Goff, the Writer
    8.3/10(141 votes)

    S2:E6

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

    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  20. Designing Women Season 2 Episode 22 - Reservations for Eight
    8.3/10(149 votes)

    S2:E22

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

    Director:Hal Holbrook
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  21. Designing Women Season 4 Episode 1 - The Proxy Pig and Great Pretenders
    8.3/10(106 votes)

    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.

    Director:Harry Thomason
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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  22. Designing Women Season 5 Episode 5 - The Bachelor Auction
    8.3/10(95 votes)

    S5:E5

    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:Unknown

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  23. Designing Women Season 5 Episode 21 - The Big Circle
    8.3/10(89 votes)

    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.

    Director:David Trainer
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Designing Women Season 6 Episode 16 - Carlene's Apartment
    8.3/10(83 votes)

    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.

    Director:David Steinberg
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Designing Women Season 3 Episode 5 - Big Haas and Little Falsie
    8.2/10(128 votes)

    S3:E5

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

    Director:Harry Thomason
    Writer:Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

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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 291 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?".