Their substitutes, whatever their names were, didn't begin to create the chemistry that was there with the 4 original women. And the writer got more and more strident on her soap box, which didn't help a bit.
share"Their substitutes, whatever their names were, didn't begin to create the chemistry that was there with the 4 original women. And the writer got more and more strident on her soap box, which didn't help a bit."
Julia Duffy played Allison (1991 - 1992) 1 Year
Jan Hooks played Carlene (1991 - 1993) 2 Years
Judith Ivey played Bonnie Jean "B.J." (1992 - 1993) 1 Year
You are right though, I don't think they created the chemistry that they shared with Delta Burke (Suzanne) and Jean Smart (Charlene).
Out of the 3 women that replaced Delta Burke and Jean Smart, I think Jan Hooks was the best one and I think that she really did fit in with Dixie Carter (Julia) and Annie Potts (Mari Jo). Her character was really funny and enjoyable. I always enjoyed her good laughs on the show.
I agree. I won't buy the seasons on DVD that don't have Delta Burke in them.
shareI will only buy all seasons where Jean Smart is still in the cast.I'm only interested in JEAN SMART :)
shareThe dvd's of season 6,7 when and if they come out might sell now after losing dixie some sudden like we did people will buy them even though there's no delta and jean.
shareYeah, Love Jean Smart too.
shareThere are a few episodes in the last two seasons that I actually think are pretty funny but definitely not anywhere near the quality of when Jean and Delta were there. I would buy all the seasons, if only because Dixie is always great and having anything with her in it is worthwhile. :)
shareI don't know... I do miss Delta and Jean in those seasons, but, those were among the funniest Bernice moments the show ever had. It was during that time that she started singing her infamous, "Black man! Black man!" refrain.
JOE TYRIA
http://www.youtube.com/user/SilverCreedWolf
Actually, the writing on season six is probably the finest of all the seven seasons. Considering Bloodworth-Thomason was no longer involved in the show and half the cast had left these writers managed to produce outstanding material.
The problem was, the show was very much like a chair - it was based on four very definate legs, and when Suzanne and Charlene left the chair basically become a stool with the arrival of Jan Hooks.
Hooks really did fit in well, her chemistry with Dixie Carter was particularly good. The problem was the hole Delta Burke left was so huge the casting of Julia Duffy made matters even worse. It wasn't Duffy's fault she was given an absolutely lousy character and this was entirely down to Linda Bloodworth-Thomason refusing to admit how necessary Delta Burke was in the dynamic of the show and creating a flat, 2 dimentional replacement.
Firstly, Suzanne should have been married off to some old millionaire and we should have joined Season 6 as Mary-Jo, Charlene & Julia arrive back at the house after Suzanne's 4th wedding where she had announced she was off on an around the world trip - so we no longer see her at the house again.
At this wedding, Charlene would have gotten chatting to some ghastly PR woman (a consulantant of Suzanne's new husband) who fills Charlene's head with the potential Sugarbaker's has. This scatty, dramatic, whirlwind of a women should have then taken on Sugarbaker's as her new project and gotten the team into all sorts of trouble. The character could then have been the 4th female lead. The Thomasons should have moved either Elizabeth Ashley or Ann Wedgeworth (both southern actresses) from Evening Shade over to Designing Women. This would have then made the four women team tighter and I think everything would have worked out.
By the time Judith Ivey came on board it was too late, Ivey played a great character but she was too sedate for the show and Annie Potts had to get wackier to accomodate this. By then it was all dead in the water and the reason it truly died was Annie Potts was planning to leave and the show just couldn't survive another cast change.
They should have cast jackee harry like they were planning to play anthony's wife but not sure what happend?
shareDixie was the best I agree followed closely by Delta, Annie, and Jean. It definately wasn't the same after Delta and Jean left. I like seasons 1-5 the best. Mersach was awesome too. Alot of my favorite moments involved Julia (Dixie) and Suzanne (Delta) bantering back and forth and so once Delta left there was a void, lack of spark. :(
shareDefinitely agree with most of the critiques here. I have to disagree with those who say the show became unwatchable though.
There is no denying the departure of Delta Burke left quite a void in the show. In retrospect I think at the time the producers and writers didn't realize just how important she was . The eventual departure of Jean Smart didn't help matters.
I really liked Jan Hooks and the character of Carlene. I found her blend of sweet naivete and bizarre mannerisms a nice fit for the show. The writers gave her some great dialogue. And her delivery was always spot on. I think her time on SNL served her well. She also had good chemistry with the entire cast. Particularly Dixie Carter.
In regards to Julia Duffy I think it boils down to one fundamental problem: She was saddled with a poorly conceived and unlikable character. I hold no ill will towards Duffy. She was terrific on Newhart. Like I said. Just an unsuitable character.
I have mixed feelings about Judith Ivey as BJ. I like Ivey. She's played some interesting roles over the years, but I could never get entirely on board with the character of BJ. Someone in a previous post used the word "sedate". I think that pretty much sums it up. On one hand she was supposed to be this big, brassy, larger then life southerner. But that persona never really added up with the way Ivey played her. I thought both the character and actress just came across as flat. It's interesting to note that the role of BJ was originally offered to Bonnie Hunt. As a fan of Hunts, I always wondered how things would've turned out had she accepted the role.
If I had a major complaint I'll say I personally couldn't stand Anthony's wife, Etienne. I found both the character and the actress, Sheryl Lee Ralph, to be downright obnoxious. She made me pine for the return of the original Tin Turner-ish Vanessa. Also, the final episode was just bad. A completely inappropriate way t say goodbye to such a great show.
At the end of the day though I really don't think the last few seasons were all that bad. To me, always a great show that was left to languish towards the end.
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I actually didn't Start watching the show until Jan Hooks joined, because I loved her on SNL. That season with Julia Duffy is my favorite. Of course after catching reruns of the whole series on Lifetime, I realize that the earlier seasons with Burke and Smart are best, but I was a fan of Jan Hooks on the show! Julia Duffy was okay I guess, but I didn't like Judith Ivey at all!!! Also I always wanted to see more of Bernice, I wish they had her in all of the episodes instead of just sometimes
shareYou are right. As much as I liked Jan Hooks on SNL and Julia Duffy on Newhart, they didn't fit in well on DW. I just didn't like Allison and found Carlene annoying. By middle of season six, I was done.
MM
Totally agree! Delta, for me was the funniest of the bunch. The show lost something like when Barney left Andy Griffith.
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Someone mentioned Elisabeth Ashley as a replacement for Delta or Jean. I agree she would have fit right in on the show, but only in the Julia role. Most of the roles I've seen her in are very much like Julia. A classy, but sassy broad.
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I whole-heartedly agree. Dixie, Delta, Jean and Annie were "Designing Women." When they left, the show absolutely sucked. Bernice is/was always incredible, but without the 4 original leads, the show should have been canceled.
shareIt was me who mentioned Elizabeth Ashley. That said, the fatal flaw Linda Bloodworth-Thomason made was creating an ill conceived and completely non related character in Alison to fit such a huge role. It was a massive insult to the audience. I feel sorry for Julia Duffy as she is a great comedic actress who was a cheap casting ploy because she'd been on Newheart. Her 'type' just didn't fit the mould. It was pure luck Jan Hooks was available to do the show and did such an incredible job creating a character that wasn't a carbon copy of Charlene.
Sit-com characters are like ingredients in a receipe, think a cake. You need eggs to bind (Julia), flour for texture (Mary-Jo), Butter for flavour (Suzanne) and Sugar for sweetness (Charlene). Replacing any of these ingredients for the same causes a mess. Designing Women needed a rich buttery character to replace Suzanne, but Alison's character was salt. She would have fitted into a savoury analogy sit-com like 'Seinfeld' as an irritating semi-semi regular who George dated or Elaine worked with.
Delta's replacement didn't need to make 'dumb' comments the way Suzanne did because Carlene was more potent in this area than Charlene had ever been. However, bringing in a prissy beauty would have seemed obvious and a cheap ploy. The character needed to be a socialite type who had extreme class and glamour but was incredibly eccentric and almost bizaare. Years later Karen Walker from 'Will & Grace' was such a good example of what Designing Women should have replaced Delta with, it's a shame they didn't see the potential Megan Mullally had as an actress back then.
The original poster couldn't have said it better, and most of the world would agree!
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