DESIGNING WOMEN 🌟 THEN AND NOW 2020

[Music] determined to use television as a tool for social change linda bloodworth thomason developed designing women partly with the purpose of creating a television series that featured intelligent women who were both sassy and sympathetic and who expressed different views on women's issues and other topics of discussion that came across her soap books almost 34 years after its initial debut how they changed brings you some facts about the emmy award winning series none of the lead actresses had to audition for their roles when linda bloodworth thomason decided to create a show about four intelligent sassy southern women she had delta burke dixie carter jean smart and annie potts in mind from the start she had previously worked with burke and carter on a short-lived series called filthy reach and smart and pots had guest start together on an episode of the robert wagner series limestreet of the four only jean smart was not a native southerner she was born and raised in seattle [Music] anthony bouvier was not intended to be a regular character anthony bouvier was originally supposed to make a one-time appearance in the sixth episode of season one the script for the episode wasn't yet complete when nishak taylor auditioned so instead he was instructed to improvise with the other cast members the producers were so impressed with the chemistry between taylor and the four female stars that anthony became a recurring character and then a serious regular taylor was the first cast member to be nominated for an emmy award for his work on the show [Music] a letter writing campaign saved the show from cancellation midway through season one cbs moved designing women from its monday night time slot to thursday directly opposite nbc's night court the show plummeted to number 65 in the nielsen ratings and was put on hiatus which was network code for this is close to being cancelled executive producer harry thomason contacted a grassroots organization called viewers for quality television to enlist the assistance of their membership a letter writing campaign was launched with viewers encouraged to write letters of protest to cbs president bard grant as well as to major tv journalists and critics all told cbs received an estimated 50 000 letters in support of designing women the sirius's stars appeared on an episode of entertainment tonight to discuss the campaign and encourage viewers to support them obviously this strategy paid off the show was not only renewed it was also moved back to monday nights dixie cutter had some design work of her own done after the first season dixie carter was 47 years old when designing women debuted in 1986. kenaid fans probably noticed a slight difference in julia sugabaker's appearance between seasons 1 and 2. that's because after carter watched the screening of the pilot episode she thought if this turns out to be my first big success after all these years of performing i couldn't bear to be identified as the older one sadly killing all the right people was based on a real life experience the title of the emmy nominated season 2 episode was inspired by an actual quote series creator linda bloodworth thomason overheard in a hospital corridor in late 1986 her mother was dying of aids following a contaminated blood transfusion and thomason kept a vigil at her bedside while simultaneously writing the early scripts for designing women she was indignant at the ignorance of many of the medical personnel some nurses refused to touch the aids patients and instead placed their medication in a bucket and kicked it into their rooms and it saddened her that so many of the patients were dying alone in their rooms with even family members afraid to get too close she put pen to paper when she heard a woman in the hallway confided into a companion if you ask me this disease has one thing going for it it's killing all the right people [Music] dixie carter felt uneasy delivering many of her famous rants julia sugabaker was a staunch liberal who never hesitated to launch into one of her trademark terminator tirades if someone got her dander up dixie carter however was a registered republican who sometimes felt a little uncomfortable with julia's politics she reached a compromise with harry and linda bloodworth thomason for every instance where julia was required to spout off on a thompson pet topic carter who'd had years of professional vocal training would get to sing a song in a later episode annie potts had to hide her pregnancy the actress was in a family way during season six but the producers decided that they didn't want her character mary jo to be a single mom so annie had to spend much of that season hidden behind furniture or oversized shirts there was a brief attempt at a pregnancy plot with mary jo longing for a baby and visiting a sperm bank but the writers had already gone the motherhood route not too long before with charlene besides murphy brown which aired in the time slot just prior to designing women on monday nights was raising all sorts of hackles with her impending maternity and the thomasons didn't want to seem like they were hopping aboard the single motherhood bandwagon as an attempt to leech off of some of candy's bergen publicity julia sugabaker and rhys watson were married in real life dixie carter and hal halbrook were married in 1984 the third time down the aisle for both he turned down the role of julia's boar attorney rhys watson several times until bloodwork thomason asked him do you really want some other man making love to your wife on television suzanne sugabaker and dash goth were also married eventually gerald mcraney edged out john ritter to win the role of suzanne sugarbaker's first ex-husband writer dash goth there was an immediate attraction between the actors when they first met at a publicist's lunch in 1987 which only strengthened when he was cast on the show one scene called for the pair to kiss and the two were inseparable afterward they were married in 1989 in an elaborate ceremony in front of 400 guests with dixie carter serving as burke's matron of honor charlene and bill were not a real-life couple but charlene and jd were richard gilliland was cast in a recurring role as mary jo's boyfriend j.d shackleford in season one but it was gene smart who set a cross from giladan during the first table read and decided that she needed to get to know him better i asked delta to find out if he was married smart recalled to lady's home journal in 1990 naturally delta walked up to him and blurted jean wants to know if you're married smart invited him to her dressing room to help her with a crossword puzzle and in june 1987 the couple tied to the knot in the garden of hell holbrook and dixie carter's brentwood home even though they were now married in real life on tv gilliland was still paired with any parts married joe and smart's charlene eventually married air force colonel bill stillfield played by douglas barr all four of the men appeared with their on-screen better halves in just one episode season two's reservations for eight delta burke claimed that she was being terrorized on the set in 1990 dartberg appeared on a barbara walters special without alerting the designing women producers during the interview she stated that the set was not a happy one and accused the thomasons of terrorizing and manipulating her she claims that harry thomason once locked her and her co-stars in a room and screamed at them no other cast member corroborated this story [Music] and that's all for now don't forget to leave a like subscribe and share this video with friends take care

Channel: HOW THEY CHANGED

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Keywords: how they changed, then and now, before and after, tv, film, actor, actress, tv series, celebrity, celebrities, famous stars then and now, Antes e Depois, Avant et Après, sitcom, top 20, top, top 15, viral, filmography, nostalgia, aging, thenvsnow, 70s, 80s, 90s, where are they now, fair use, soap, 2020, Designing Women, Dixie Carter, Julia Sugarbaker, Annie Potts, Mary Jo Shively, Meshach Taylor, Jean Smart, Delta Burke, Alice Ghostley, Jan Hooks, Julia Duffy, Dolly Parton, Tony Goldwyn

Id: sJ_3sDn1iy0

Length: 10min 4sec (604 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 01 2020