Sweet Tea & TV

In season 7, episode 13, all the ladies – even the ones who didn’t want to admit it (JULIA) – were wrapped by the celebrity scandal of the moment: Squidgygate.  This was the perfect inspiration for us to also talk about celebrity scandals. So join us as we break down their favorite – and then we both bring a few of our own to the table: several Southern ones and then one that we can’t stop obsessi...

Up first in our last Designing Women season EVER: Ms. Bonnie Jean Poteet, or BJ “if you’re nasty” (per Nikki, which, let’s be honest, makes it way better). We’re gonna talk about her season trajectory: her highs and her lows, and generally, what these two seasoned gals thought of this brief and final show addition. We’ll break somewhere in the middle to talk about the woman behind the woman: Judit...

We just had to give the series finale the old Sweet Tea & TV treatment. You know, break the WHOLE thing down – reactions, likes, dislikes, and allll the references.  Join us as we give this fever dream, two-parter the send off it deserves – and frankly, we’ve all earned together these last four years.  Come on y’all, let’s get into it! 

It’s impossible to believe it, but we have reached the 7th and final season of Designing Women. In our premiere episode, we’ll discuss our initial reactions and hand out some superlatives for the season's highs and lows.  We’ll carry on with our season 6 structure - that is each week, we’ll spend some time with a different character. What were their best and worst moments and where did things end...

It’s time for our traditional, post-”Designing Women” season special episode! We’re definitely planning to discuss season 7 after the holidays, but to tide you over, we’re heading to Beverly Hills—Troop Beverly Hills, to be exact.  If you haven’t seen this 1989 gem starring Shelly Long in her peak, feathered-hair glory, you’re in for a treat. This isn’t just a movie—it’s an adventure in over-the-t...

We are so excited to present our first-ever, Sweet Tea & TV special guest, Brandon, from Front Row Classics. He’s a knower-of-all-things old Hollywood. A connoisseur of classic films. And, luckily for us, a Designing Women appreciator.  In this episode, we chat with Brandon about his favorite DW memories, his thoughts on the sometimes-maligned later seasons of the show, the plethora of classic...

We simply cannot leave the upheaval that was season six of Designing Women without talking about the elephant in the room: the cast changes. America was glued to their TVs to see how Julia Duffy and Jan Hooks would fare in place of the beloved Delta Burke and Jean Smart. Thirty million strong for that matter. We’ll discuss if they got a fair shake.  Designing Women had some cast changes, but they...

We can’t possibly round out our coverage of season 6 without discussing the much-discussed, oft-aligned newbie, Allison. It’s a big change, but how did we take it? Let’s discuss. Salina’s also going to bring us a Sidebar on Julia Duffy. And then come back Thursday for an Extra Sugar we’re calling Cast Away. We’re going to chat not only about the major Designing Women cast changes this season, but...

Oh boy! This season brought us Designing Women’s second-favorite big ole donkey Girl Scout, Carlene. (For those who don’t remember, Julia called Charlene a big-ole donkey Girl Scout back in season 5’s “Miss Trial” - we’re not just being mean to Carlene.) More than one episode this season referenced the Scouts. We also have a big ole donkey Girl Scout among us in the form of one, Ms. Nikki, AND we...

Season 6 introduced us to Charlene’s sister, Carlene Dobber. And look, we know Designing Women fans find the latter seasons sacreligious. But. Do not sleep on Carlene. This “pie-eyed girl from Poplar Bluff, Missouri” deserves all the flowers. We’re gonna give ‘em to her because, well, she’s a ding dang riot.  Carlene wouldn’t be the delight she was without Jan Hooks’ performance, so sidebar about...

Watching season 6 of “Designing Women” made us realize: every season has some kind of wedding plotline (season 4 has three episodes!).  So as is our duty, we talked about which of these episodes pulled our heart strings and which ones left us hoping for an annulment.  Of course, this is also an excuse to talk about our favorite TV wedding episodes of all time: the good, the bad, and the t-total di...

It’s finally time for us to revel in the gloriousness that is our dear, sweet, unproblematic Anthony. He had some major plotlines this season (law school! professional development at the design firm! exploits with Bernice! an engagement!), but was his character developed enough, or did these storylines leave us with even more questions about our friend? We’ll talk about it.    We’ll also reimagine...

This week’s “Extra Sugar” is going to take us beyond Bernice Clifton and head-first into the wacky world of kooky TV characters.  Of course, at “Sweet Tea & TV”, Bernice holds a special place in our hearts, but we’ve watched enough TV over the years to know there’s an infinite number of lovable oddballs who steal the spotlight with their bizarre behavior and unforgettable antics. And it’s not...

We were so excited to record this one. Bernice has slowly edged her way into our TVs - and our hearts! - as the Designing Women seasons have progressed. But, in season 6, she really arrived. As you can tell from our summary of all her appearances this season, she's all over season 6. While we didn’t have whole, Bernice-focused episodes to talk about, we had a whole lotta oddball comments, near-rum...

Agghhh! It’s time! We’ve got Salina over here reading books. Nikki over here mashin’ tomatoes. (It’ll all make sense soon, swear.) It’s time for the first-ever Sweet Tea & TV Book Club! And what better place to start than Delta Burke’s memoir, Delta Style. We’re excited to share our overall reactions to the book, chat about the biggest surprises to us, explore key themes, like Delta’s illustri...

We’re back for another Designing Women season 6 recap! This time, we’re talking all things The Terminator. *ahem* We mean, Julia. We’ll focus on her major plotlines, funniest moments, and how season 6 shaped her character. As usual, we’ll also rate how the character of Julia fares this season - is she up? Down? Still locked in an Italian restaurant with Rusty somewhere?  And come back Thursday for...

This week’s “Extra Sugar” was inspired by Designing Women, S6 E7, “The Strange Case of Clarence and Anita”.  That would be Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (then nominee) and Anita Hill, the woman who testified he had sexually harassed her years earlier when he was her supervisor.  We’ll talk about the aftermath of her testimony and then discuss where we are now. Our conversation circles issu...

In our second episode, we’re digging into all things Mary Jo. How did season 6 treat her? Is she up or down? We’ll discuss our picks for her best and worst episodes, as well as her cringiest and funniest moments. We’re also trying out a new segment “Technology Takedown” where we upend a plot by simply adding one magic ingredient: a smart phone.  Come back on Thursday for an “Extra Sugar” inspired...

Sometimes you just need something light and fluffy, you know? So that’s how we’re starting off our sixth season of “Extra Sugars” – Light. And fluffy. Like whip cream if you will.  Join us as we catch up on what we’ve been doing over our months of hiatus – what we’re reading, watching, doing. Then we’re gonna talk about some things that have had our attention in the wider world these last months....

We're ba-aaaaack! That's right, after much hemming and hawing over whether to watch the final seasons of Designing Women, ultimately, we realized it was much ado about nothing. Of course we have to wrap up the series! We’re doing things a little different this time, however. We’ll cover the series over the course of seven weeks. For this first episode, we’re breaking down our general reactions to...

As we gear up for season 6, it’s only right to revisit our “Extra Sugar” all about Suzanne and Charlene – one we did whilst still in our feelings about Delta Burke’s final episode.  Mourn the loss with us – we talked about some favorite moments, what they mean to us, and what happened to Burke and Jean Smart next IRL. 

Well, y’all, this Designing Women episode was both a favorite of ours and listeners, so let’s laissez les bons temps rouler! While we felt Julia’s rant in our bones, for the record, we’d still prefer to hang with Suzanne and Charlene in ‘The Big Easy’.  Inspired by their night on the town, Nikki’s told us about 10 not-so-obvious things to do when you visit New Orleans. And, if you’re feeling frisk...

In our fifth season, we finally got into the real life and offscreen drama between Delta Burke and the Thomasons. While only those involved can truly know what happened, this time period would ultimately lead to Burke’s departure from the series – and so we felt we owed it to ourselves and those following along to talk about it.  We  also picked and discussed some other famous offscreen feuds betw...

You may think we picked this one for the buffets, and you’re half right (we did get a pretty tasty “Nibbles” segment out of it). Mainly, we’re here for Mary Jo and Charlene’s level 10 physical comedy trying to find Suzanne’s pearls in the salad bar.  This is also where we introduced our temporary segment, “Suzanne Watch” - to try and decode some of the weird ways they were using Delta Burke as the...

Bernice’s toward self-acceptance was a fun, little thrill for us, since it taught us that we can still experience self-loathing well into our senior years. Why not relive that realization through a re-sugar of our foray into plastic surgery. Well, our academic foray - no actual surgery was had. (But, it’s not too late - still taking donations !)