This Is Not a Drill: ‘Designing Women’ Is Now on Hulu

The moment sitcom fans have been waiting for is finally here: Designing Women is finally available to stream! This momentous occasion has been years in the making, as the landmark comedy has never been able to stream or even purchase digitally. Of course Hulu, home of classics like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls as well as ’90s hits like Seinfeld and pretty much the entire TGIF universe, knows what is up. They knew streaming needed a healthy dose of Sugarbaker, so they are serving it up starting today. This is a big deal!

But since Designing Women has been absent for the entirety of streaming history, odds are there’s an entire generation (possibly two?!) that have zero idea why the show was so important. If you’re wondering what the fuss is about this iconic series, let me spill the tea.

What is Designing Women about?

Set in Atlanta, Georgia, Designing Women focuses on the lives (and love lives) of the women who work at the Sugarbaker & Associates design firm. The stylish setting means the series has truly next level production design and costuming for those of you that love that late ’80s/early ’90s look. The show ran on CBS from 1986 to 1993, lasting 7 seasons and 163 episodes (now all on Hulu!).

Who is in the Designing Women cast?

Dixie Carter and Delta Burke star as the Sugarbaker sisters. Carter plays the design firm’s president Julia Sugarbaker, a politically active tough-talking woman that loves speeches. Burke plays her younger sister Suzanne Sugarbaker, a former beauty queen who loves men and the finer things in life. Jean Smart, most recently seen on Legion and Dirty John, plays the totally chill office manager Charlene Frazier. And Annie Potts, Janine from Ghostbusters, plays witty head designer Mary Jo Shively. Meshach Taylor started out playing delivery man Anthony Bouvier in a recurring role before being upped to a series regular.

That’s the cast that most associate with the show, but behind the scenes drama caused some shakeups to occur after Season 5. Burke was a vocal critic of the show during the height of its popularity, dissing the show to Barbara Walters and telling Entertainment Tonight that network executives were physically keeping actors on set to work 15-hour days. This obviously didn’t make the Designing Women team happy, and she was let go from her contract after Season 5. Jean Smart, on the other hand, left the show on her own terms. She felt like she’d done all she could with the character and wanted to try something new.

The show rounded out the cast after Burke and Smart’s departure with Saturday Night Live alum Jan Hooks (playing Charlene’s younger sister Carlene) and a fresh-off-of-Newhart Julia Duffy (playing Sugarbaker cousin Allison). Duffy only stuck around for Season 6, and she was replaced by Judith Ivey as the wealthy Bonnie Jean Poteet in the final season.

Is Designing Women a knock-off of Golden Girls?

Nope! Different locations, different ages, different personalities, different creators and actors–but people in the ’80s couldn’t have two shows starring four women without pitting them against each other. Because of its all-female lead cast (Meshach Taylor didn’t become a series regular until Season 3), the CBS series initially drew comparisons to NBC’s Golden Girls. The writers of the established show weren’t too happy about that. They made Sophia a Designing Women hater, giving her jokes like “I survived war, disease, and two seasons of Designing Women” (4×10 “Stan Takes a Wife”) and her saying Blanche’s “phony” Southern accent sounds like Designing Women (3×11 “Three on a Couch”).

Now both series can co-exist on Hulu in harmony, giving audiences old and new enough material for some fantastic viewing parties.

How big of a deal was Designing Women?

Uh, a pretty big deal! The show was only in the Nielsen top 30 for two seasons: Season 4 it hit #22 for the season, tying with Full House; it cracked the top 10 in Season 5, tying with–LOL–Golden Girls. But while it wasn’t always a ratings powerhouse, it took up a lot of space culturally and became a favorite in syndication throughout the ’90s. It was nominated for 18 Emmys, including 3 for Outstanding Comedy Series (Seasons 3-5). Additionally, Meshach Taylor, Delta Burke, and Alice Ghostley (who played the eccentric Bernice) all scored Emmy noms for acting.

Designing Women was one of the most important sitcoms of its era, and now you can binge it from beginning to end. And maybe now that Sophia and the Sugarbakers are neighbors, she’ll finally come around.

Stream Designing Women on Hulu