MovieChat Forums > Designing Women (1986) Discussion > DW - Season 8 with Judith Ivey and maybe...

DW - Season 8 with Judith Ivey and maybe Jean Smart

posted 12 years ago by TVShow100
4 replies | jump to latest

I know after Season 6, the show really went down hill. I think Julia Duffy's character is what really made the ratings go down hill. However, when Season 7 started, they brought on, Judith Ivey to replace Julia Duffy. Season 7 really had some really great episodes. Judith Ivey was a much better choice for the show. Judith's character was much better and well liked. I really think they should have brought it back on for an eighth season so we could have had one or a few more seasons with Judith Ivey. They could have asked Jean Smart to come back to the show since Annie Potts had plans to leave after Season 7. Would have been cool to see Julia, Carlene, BJ, and Charlene together if they had a Season 8. If Jean Smart did not want to return to the show, then I say just keep Julia, Carlene, and BJ and not get a replacement for Annie Potts. I really think if an eighth season really did happen and Jean Smart came back to the show or if she said no and they just kept Julia, Carlene, and BJ together, the ratings might have gotton better.

[–] ginda2000 12 years ago

I think you're kind of missing the point of why the series started to suffer massively in the first place. It was a complete lack of respect to the audience when they released Delta from her contract. We now had a show where 50% of the original cast had left. The audience had bought into this cast and it was a well balanced mix which made the show work. Jean could have left the series if Delta had remained and it would have still worked, but losing these two personalities killed it.

I disagree with many about BJ. I felt Julia Duffy's character (whilst badly created and unlikeable) brought way more to the table than BJ did. Alison was obsurd and made ridiculous statements the other cast could bounce of. BJ just agreed with everyone and never brought any conflict or humorous situations to the pot. This then forced Annie Potts and Dixie Carter to begin behaving more like Suzanne and Charlene used to and the writing went completely off centre and the show totally jumped the shark.

Firstly Jean Smart would never have returned, she was glad to be out of it. Had the series gone as Linda Bloodworth-Thomason had originally planned, it would have ended in it's 8th Season with Suzanne and Anthony marrying. Jean Smart would have absolutely returned as Charlene for these final episodes. However, the show started to quite literally fall apart because Delta left, Jean left and the Thomasons were no longer involved with the series. By season 7 we had a show which was not what it started out as being. It was cheating the audience and didn't deserve to remain in production. Annie Potts knew her departure would kill it and I'm glad one of the cast finally got power over the producers who had behaved so badly.

[–] laurelataylor 11 years ago

I thought Julia Duffy did what she could with the character of Alison. She brought as much humor as she could to such an uptight, unlikeable character.
I am going to try and watch more of the episodes with Alison on them now since TV Guide channel just started replaying those this week.
However, I did like Judith Ivey on the show better. I think that her character meshed better with Julia, Mary Jo, Carlene, and Anthony. I thought that her portrayal was more believably Southern than that of Julia Duffy's so it worked more for me as a viewer. I also liked the episodes that she was on better because her character was kinder, friendlier, funnier, more open-minded, and had more individual style than Alison.
I would have liked to have seen an 8th season with Judith Ivey as BJ. I think that episodes with just BJ, Julia, Carlene, and Anthony could have been very funny and interesting.
I might be one of the few viewers who don't consider Jean Smart's departure a loss for the show. I never liked the character of Charlene and got tired of seeing so many episodes focused on her character (way too many)!
The reason this show wasn't nearly as good after Season 5 is because of the loss of Delta Burke. Delta Burke's portrayal of Suzanne was hilarious, poignant, and extremely memorable. IMO, Suzanne Sugarbaker is one of the best characters every portrayed on television.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 2 years ago

“One of the best characters ever portrayed on TV.”

You didn’t watch a lot of TV, did you?

Are you even still alive?

[–] TMC-4 (19392) 4 years ago

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/25396708-why-do-i-%E2%9D%A4%EF%B8%8F-designing-women-

They (The Thomasons) then hoped Duffy would fail so they could replace her with an actress of their choosing. They wanted Bonnie Hunt but she wanted nothing to do with the show. So Judith Ivey was brought in. But this kind of behaviour towards Burke, then Duffy did not do the Thomasons any favours in their TV production businesses. Ironic that a woman (Bloodworth-Thomason) who claims to bestow every virtue of feminism and fighting for rights for women, would have a Bubba husband who bullied and intimidated his actresses on set!

Annie Potts had signed for two more seasons around the time Delta was being offed from the show. However, she was so unhappy with the way the series was going she told CBS she would not be renewing if there was a season 8. This is why they moved Designing Women into that Friday night death slot, as they simply couldn't have another of the original actresses replaced. They all knew season 7 was the end.

—Anonymous
reply 162 9 hours ago