Sweet Tea & TV

The “blink-and-you-miss-it” Bill Engvall appearance in this week’s Designing Women episode gave us the perfect opportunity to cover a Southern Millennial comedy rite of passage - The Blue Collar Comedy Tour. If you’re already a fan, this segment may give you some fun trivia - at a minimum, we can almost GUARANTEE there’s a Designing Women crossover you weren’t even aware of. If you don’t even know...

Sugarbakers will do anything to get the client, even if it means swilling beer, smoking stogies, and wearing someone else’s shoes. That’s right, the ladies go toe-to-toe with an all-male design firm in an epic showdown to see who’s got the balls to win the bid on a bowling alley renovation (bowling balls, sheesh, people, get your mind out of the gutter). Anyways, girls rule and boys drool. Or at l...

Daddy Jones and his moonshine made an appearance in this week’s episode, so we’re taking that as a perfectly adequate excuse to finally talk about prohibition and the, er, uh, precarious relationship we’ve had with alcohol here in the South.  Join us as we discuss what prohibition was (and what it wasn’t), what it did (and what it didn’t), and the ripple effects we still see to this day.  It’s a c...

Bad weather and uninvited guests have descended on Sugarbakers. What are we to do?? Well, what any good Southerner would: crank the tunes, pour the drinks, and fall in love. Much like the approaching tornado, it’s a wild one, y’all.  Come back Thursday for an “Extra Sugar” on prohibition inspired by the evening’s signature cocktail: moonshine. 

Ah…the time-honored, patriarchal tradition of marrying quickly to hide the shame of an unplanned pregnancy. This week’s episode of Designing Women was all about that (+ one-night stand shame for Julia), so let’s get some “Extra Sugar” on it. But, we’ll jazz it up, make it fun, with a “Grits Blitz.”

Remember that time Julia got wasted at her son’s last-minute wedding? She definitely doesn’t! We’ll never forget her impromptu burlesque routine: the perfect gift for the son who just already has everything on his big day. Nikki’s is going to pop in – promptly of course – with a “Manners Moment with Mrs. Mayes” on wedding etiquette.  Then come back on Thursday for an all-new “Extra Sugar” dedicate...

Who? Little ole me? Bats eyes, faints. Comes to…slaps you like the fiery, well-mannered, brazen, demure Southern woman that she is. Whaaaaaaaaat? Yeah, we don’t get it either, which is why we’re exploring and busting up Southern women tropes in this week’s all-new Extra Sugar.  Now excuse us, we have to go keep a perfect home, rope a calf, and put on some kind of hoop skirt. You know, because we’r...

Obviously we’re in love with Anthony Bouvier, but this week, we’re having to share him with Vanessa. She’s fallen hard and she finds herself worried about her place in his life, especially as Lita re-appears. Fortunately, she’s got the Designing Women on her side - even if they’re a little distracted by the fashion choices of Mary Jo’s electrician. We’ve got a new segment alert, Manners Moment wit...

In this week’s “Extra Sugar”, we’re taking an investigatory look into the underbelly of…No we’re not!! This one is light, lighter than light. We’re talking about fancy bathrooms courtesy of Anthony’s shock and awe over the luxurious ladies room inside the car dealership.  And, y’all, these are fancy. Couple of quick thoughts: Money doesn't buy taste. Why are people obsessed with gold finishes?! We...

We’ve all been there: a car dealership in the middle of the night haggling over a new van after your old one broke down on the side of a busy interstate, with a grumpy client sitting next to you grousing about all the free work she’s about to get when you don’t deliver by midnight. Oh, you haven’t been there? Okay…but you’ve been to the car dealership, right?  In this week’s “Designing Women” the...

Poor Charlene is up a baby, but down a nanny in this week’s episode of Designing Women. As Sweet Tea & TV’s resident working mom, Nikki will try to fulfill her moral obligation to highlight the challenges working parents face in today’s workplace, as well as some of the policies that have changed the experience, and some that can change the experience. And, of course, we can’t skip a couple promis...

Uh oh, Suzanne’s love of designer clothing – namely, designer clothing made from cute, baby animals – has landed her in some hot water – and an arm sling – on this week’s Designing Women. But, don’t worry, Suzanne’s misfortune ALSO results in a new nanny for Charlene. Even if it was based on a sliiiiiiight misunderstanding… Come back later this week for an “Extra Sugar” all about the real heroes:...

This week’s episode was all about infidelity, which opened the door to some (uncomfortably) interesting questions about the origins of monogamy, marriage, cheating–and how our perception of these concepts has changed over the course of human history. It’s messy! So, you know, get messy with us!

The Sugarbakers take on a client with a wife and a mistress, and as Suzanne so wisely predicted, things get interesting. It’s like this: You don’t know what you don’t know, you know? Speaking of things we don’t know, Nikki sidebars on Unsolved Mysteries. Then come back later in the week for an “Extra Sugar” where we’ll take a closer look at all the “m” words: you know, marriage, monogamy, and mist...

It’s time! The women. The myth. The legend. From Pretty in Pink to Ghostbusters to Designing Women to The Big Bang Theory universe, Annie Potts has established an incredible career in movies and on TV. And we’re excited to give her the Extra Sugar treatment in this week’s episode.

Ohhhh boy! The time has come - we are ready to go all-in on the deepest of dives on Ms. Dolly Parton. She got some major face-time in the most recent Designing Women episode we covered (season 4, episode 13, which we called Babies, Cars, and…DOLLY PARTON!), so we figured it was time for a Dolly Deep-Dive.  Buckle up, this one will be a long one. We’ll cover Dolly’s life and nearly-60-year career,...

Is Steel Magnolias a touchstone of our friendship? YES! Can we identify movie trivia you’ve never heard before? Probably not, but if you love this movie as much as we do: we promise it’ll be a good time.  Join us as we dive into thoughts on our most recent rewatch, favorite parts, memories, and some fun behind-the-scenes stuff. And, of course, there’s some Designing Women overlap! Why, at the end,...

Whoa buddy. This is almost more than our little Southern hearts can handle. The tears, they are a’ flowin’. We’re switching decades. Charlene is having a gosh darn baby. Dolly Parton shows up. They’re talking about Steel Magnolias. We meet the sweetest woman who ever lived. Did we mention it’s a two-parter?! Patreons can come back later this week for a potpourri-style Extra Sugar because we just d...

Ted strikes again. He’s behind on child support, so Mary Jo finds herself slinging burgers and fries. And before the episode is over - all of Sugarbakers is doing the same. Except for Charlene – who is having a baby IRL. Suzanne is absent. (shrug emoji) Salina takes on “Nibbles” to talk about the art of fast food. Come back later in this week for a very special “Extra Sugar” where Nikki deep dives...

“They Shoot Fat Women, Don’t They” was a seminal moment in Designing Women’s history and simultaneously a denouement to the media and public’s relentless obsession with Delta Burke’s weight.  In this week’s “Extra Sugar”, we’ll talk about what was happening behind-the-scenes, and then we’ll pivot to talk about concepts like fat shaming and body shaming. Why do they matter? And what can we do to ta...

Suzanne gets bullied at her high school reunion for gaining weight, while Anthony, Julia, and Mary Jo go on a two-day fast to raise awareness about world hunger. We miss Charlene. (tear emoji)   So where are we on world hunger in the 21st century? We’ll sidebar on it. Then come back Thursday for an “Extra Sugar” dedicated to Suzanne’s plot line including how this episode came about in the first pl...

This week’s episode reminds us that the media loves a few things: 1) to publish scary stories that scare the bejeesus out of women and 2) sell them something to remedy whatever they scared them with in the first place. Also, have y’all looked at dating advice over the years? Weird stuff, friends. Weird. Stuff. We’ll talk about it.  You may also want to listen to these unintentional companion episo...

Suzanne and Mary Jo are the team up we didn’t know we needed. They’re on the prowl to find Mary Jo a man – and armed with the newest, hottest dating how-to book – nothing’s gonna stop ‘em now. Nikki also sidebars on funny notes left on cars. Come back Thursday for an “Extra Sugar” taking a closer look at trendy dating guides.

Oh lawd, Suzanne and Julia stayed in a capsule hotel and now Salina may never emerge from looking at every unique place to stay on the planet. Why? Because the Internet is a dark hole from which we can never escape, but also because there are just sooooo many fascinating places to go! Tune in for this chat about staying everywhere from a replica of Dorothy’s house in North Carolina to your own lib...

Some of us go to the dealership down the road for a new car; not Suzanne! She heads to the manufacturer’s home country! And takes Julia along for the ride. We’re in for a “trip” as the duo heads to Japan. And we finally get a Mary Jo/Anthony madcap adventure in the form of some overpriced phone calls (AKA an 80s reference we need to talk about!) Somewhere along the way, we’ll also “Salina’s Sideba...