Sweet Tea & TV

Designing Women S4 E18 - My Fair Vanessa

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 with Mrs. Mayes, where we’ll talk a bit about restaurant etiquette (thanks to the ladies’ restaurant scene.) 

And come back later this week, where Salina will bring us an Extra Sugar all about Southern women tropes.

Designing Women S4 E18 Extra Sugar - Busting Up Southern Women Tropes

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’re Southern housewives, country girls, or belles. We forget.

Designing Women S4 E19 - Julia the Dangerous Woman

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” dedicated to shotgun weddings.

Designing Women S4 E19 Extra Sugar - First Comes Baby...Then Comes Marriage? An Ode to the Shotgun Wedding.

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.”

Designing Women S4 E20 - Four Gallons of Moonshine and a Tornado

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. 

Designing Women S4 E20 Extra Sugar - Prohibition

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 complicated history, y’all, so it’s impossible to cover it all in one fell swoop. We’ll be looking for future opportunities to dig into different angles, including the specific history of moonshine (‘cause it has one all its own!). 

Designing Women S4 E21 - No Squealing, Giggling, or Giving Birth

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 least we think that’s the takeaway.

Come back on Thursday for an “Extra Sugar”, which capitalizes on Bill Engvall’s appearance in this episode to talk about the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. 

Designing Women S4 E21 Extra Sugar - Blue Collar Chuckles

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 if your collar is blue, there’s something in here for you, too.

Designing Women S4 E22 - Big Ole Mom Blob

Charlene is having a rough time. We don’t like it. Naturally, the rest of the Sugarbakers gang leap in to help to varying degrees of success. 

Come back later in the week to talk about Michelin Star restaurants in the South, or lack thereof, that is, all inspired by Charlene and Bill’s romantic rooftop dinner.

Designing Women S4 E22 Extra Sugar - Michelin Star Restaurants in the South

This week’s episode with a fancy dinner atop an Atlanta building (or sound stage in Southern California) was the perfect opportunity to dig into those elusive little stars restaurants all over the world seek: The Michelin Star. 

See, a little birdie told us there are none, zero, zip here in the South, so we’ll dig into that claim. Who has them? Who doesn’t? And why does that matter?

So, uh, bon appétit, or in this case: bon podcast?