Sweet Tea & TV

This is a special episode one year in the making: Soapdish. And with this 1991 cult classic under our belts, we will have rounded out the Robert Harling trifecta: Steel Magnolias, First Wives Club, and of course, Soapdish.  Join us for Nikki’s first watch to see if she loved it or REALLY loved it. Clearly those are the only two options. Then it really gets the Sweet Tea & TV treatment – what w...

Another season of “Designing Women” has come and gone. In this fifth season, “Sweet Tea & TV” explored every topic from cool stuff you have to see and do if you visit NOLA like the Sugarbaker’s team did, to a deep-dive on “To Kill a Mockingbird”, to “potty parity” (spoiler alert: it’s a thing!) But, believe it or not, there were some stones unturned. So, we’re using our traditional “finale-fin...

Cue the sad music and grab the kleenex: today we say goodbye to Suzanne and Charlene.  That's right, we’ve finally watched and discussed Delta Burke’s last episode. Jean Smart isn’t far behind. Mourn the loss with us – let’s talk about some favorite moments, what they mean to us, and what happened to them both IRL next. We’ll wrap by asking…an oracle of sorts…what would have happened if we’d follo...

Julia and Mary Jo go head-to-head – and arm-to-arm for that matter – after they start co-coaching Quent and Randa’s baseball team.  Meanwhile Suzanne is protecting her car windshield from foul balls – and taking Charlene along for the ride. There’s no getting around the fact it’s our last episode with her.  Meet us in the middle for a sidebar on parents who, uh, get a wee bit too into kids sports....

This week, we’re replaying a ST&TV “classic” (are we allowed to call it that???) At any rate, if not a classic, maybe it’s fair to call it an oldie but a goodie! We’re headed back to season 2 of ST&TV, to an “Extra Sugar” where we spilled the tea on country clubs. Throughout the segment, we learn about the history and breakdown some of the “-ism” claims Julia makes against Beaumont. 

There’s only one thing standing between Suzanne and the Beaumont Driving Club and his name is Anthony Bouvier. Worse still, there are only two things standing between us and the end of Suzanne’s reign on Designing Women: the last two episodes of season 5. Soak every moment up with us y’all.  This one just has to be accompanied by Nikki’s previous “Extra Sugar” back when we very first encountered t...

Ah, Bernice. Forever our inspiration. But DEFINITELY our “Extra Sugar” inspiration when she spends an entire episode attempting to land a whopper of a home video for what would have been brand-new must-see TV: “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”  Bernice didn’t succeed, but thousands of people have and we’re here to talk all about it.

Bill’s back from the Gulf War?! Mary Jo and Charlene are writing a kid’s book?! Julia is just now taking her driving test?! We have questions.  Meet us in the middle for a Nibbles segment about Southern desserts – all thanks to Bill’s penchant for peach cobbler. Then come back Thursday for an Extra Sugar all about America’s favorite pastime: watching people get hurt, but you know, in a hilarious w...

Julia’s hilariously unconventional parenting techniques had us cracking open our etiquette books and asking WWAVD? That is, what would the “arbiter of manners” and the “authority on etiquette” Amy Vanderbilt do?  We’ll talk about it. But look: Ms. Vanderbilt has a fascinating story all her own – so we’re going to talk about her, too. We’ll wrap up with a chat about modern etiquette because someone...

We learn two major lessons: 1) Designing Women boyfriends don’t often make it (RIP Reese, who IRL was settling in on LBT’s other show Evening Shade) and 2) you will finish the burger Julia made you – come hell, high water, or several broken vases.  Her unique parenting style inspired this week’s "Extra Sugar" was a perfect excuse to bust out the Amy Vanderbilt etiquette handbook that Nikki bought...

Why in the world would a 2024 podcast about a late-80s/early-90s TV show have an entire episode about a 1960s movie about the 1930s? Well, if you’ve been around ST&TV for any amount of time, you know we have our reason! This week, we have three of ‘em: It’s a tie-in to this week’s courtroom drama” in “Designing Women”.  Bernice is in it! In our S2 E5 “Extra Sugar” about Alice Ghostley, we ment...

In one corner, we have Mary Jo, tiny, agile, and out for justice. In the other corner, her opponent and former mugger, Norman Bates (yes, we said Norman Bates), pizza slinger and plea bargain extraordinaire. Will Mary Jo get her day in court? Sort of. Will there be obligatory Rocky references? Absolutely. Join us to see the inner workings of the justice system through the lens of situational comed...

Suzanne’s stand off with female impersonator Lolita DuPage got us thinking – and chatting – about the world of drag: its history–or herstory if you will–the major players, and the legal attempts to restrict it in recent years.

The ladies and Anthony head to NOLA for Design Expo ‘91! Laissez les bons temps rouler! Just kidding – that’s not possible with our favorite stick in the mud, Julia. Meanwhile, Mary Jo’s attempt to sow her one wild oat goes awry. And no shock here: we want to hang with Suzanne and Charlene, who are soaking in the city’s cuisine, cocktails, and culture. (Or at least let us crash with Anthony since...

Our Designing Women are exposed to the world of contemporary art, so you know what that means: we’re now becoming artists! Nah, but we do need to talk about some things like what was happening in contemporary art at the time that had this on the writers’ minds? And, uh, what is contemporary art? We’ll also talk about some fascinating examples – and who knows? Maybe we’ll all be fans by the end.

Sugarbaker’s is thrust into the world of contemporary art – and things get weird for everyone. Julia is suddenly a hot new artist, Charlene keeps trying to use the artwork, Mary Jo is lugging around a bumper, and Suzanne glued her lips together. Phew! Art is hard work.  Come back Thursday for an Extra Sugar where we’ll dig into some of the most intriguing contemporary art we could find. 

In this week’s “Designing Women” cold open, we found Charlene toasting up a sandwich atrocity - I mean, masterpiece - in her “As Seen on TV” diamond in the rough: a hot sandwich toasting machine. I don’t know about you, but that very nearly inspired us to dust off the ole George Foreman and toast up a delectable grilled sandwich creation of my own. I mean, we didn’t, of course, but we sure did thi...

JD’s back! The timing is perfect because Mary Jo wants another baby. Sure they cry, scream, and poop, but it was the best time of her life, so pony up JD! Meanwhile, Suzanne takes up smoking to curb her appetite causing a glorious ruckus in Sugarbaker’s.  Come back Thursday for a segment we’re calling, This Extra Sugar Marvel Could Be All Yours For Four Easy Payments of $19.99. We can’t tell you m...

Ah, God bless Bernice and her journey toward self-acceptance. What a thrill to learn we could still be experiencing self-loathing well into our senior years.  At any rate, Bernice’s foray into plastic surgery feels like reason enough for us to foray into plastic surgery, too. Let’s get some work done! No, not like that! I just meant, let’s talk about plastic surgery! Unless someone else is paying…

Bernice gets a nose job (we mean rhinoplasty, sorry Julia!). No one nose knows how to tell her it’s…not great. Everyone is faced with the age-old friendship question: Is honesty REALLY the best policy? Absolutely, but you better have an extra Cadillac to sell.  Come back on Thursday for an all-new “Extra Sugar” about, you got it, plastic surgery!

In this week’s “Designing Women,” we had Julia out here living double-lives, like the folks of Buckhead won’t recognize her if she throws on some gold lamé pants and heavier eye makeup. But, we’re not complaining! It gave us a chance to double it up on “Extra Sugar” - talking all things double lives.  Nikki will blow your mind with a few crazy stories about doppelgängers (double-walkers, if you as...

If there’s one thing this season has taught us so far, it’s that life can get a little stale. At least Julia is doing something spicier than jogging! That’s right, she’s having her “Sasha Fierce” moment – decorator by day, sultry lounge singer by night.  We’ll sidebar in the middle on beauty tips thanks to what we’re calling Charlene’s “hands up” beauty routine. Then come back Thursday for a bit o...

Leave it to us to take an off-the-cuff Charlene pop culture reference and dive into alllllll the “Extra Sugar”. That’s JUST what we’re going to do this week. This time, we’re going lip syncing and major house fires. But, there’s plenty more musical scandals - so, cross your fingers we’ll get another reference once day!

Anthony takes on a bully in his building’s laundry room, while a tiny, cute mouse terrorizes Sugarbakers. We’re definitely at the midseason point. Oh, and our new segment “Suzanne Watch” continues. Let us know what you’re observing! Come back Thursday for an “Extra Sugar” inspired by this week’s Milli Vanilli references. We’re talking: music scandals! 

When Mary Jo pulled a fast one on Suzanne - switching out their pearl necklaces (one fake, the other real) - we knew what we had to do. First, we rubbed our teeth on our pearls, naturally, and then we set off on a greater task – a Google rabbit hole about counterfeits, fakes, and forgeries. How common is ist? What are people counterfeiting most? Why does it matter? Then we’ll talk about some speci...