Designing Women is an American television sitcom created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason that aired on CBS between September 29, 1986 and May 24, 1993, producing seven seasons and 163 episodes.

The series centers on the lives of four women and one man working together at an interior design firm in 1980s Atlanta, Georgia, called Sugarbaker & Associates.

In the third season, Meshach Taylor was given a starring role for his previously recurring character of delivery man and later partner Anthony Bouvier.

She is partnered with her younger sister, Suzanne (Delta Burke), an attractive, selfish, self-centered former Miss Georgia World, who invested her money but does not have an official position within the business.

Charlene's next-door neighbor and recently divorced best friend, Mary Jo Shively (Annie Potts), is the main interior designer of the firm and also a full partner.

By late 1986, Julia and Suzanne's mother, Perky (Louise Latham), comes for a visit with her outrageous best friend Bernice Clifton (Alice Ghostley).

Actress Jean Smart also left at the beginning of the sixth season after deciding she wanted to spend more time with her young child.

[6] From 1989 through 1992, Designing Women and Murphy Brown (which also centered around a strong, opinionated female character) aired back-to-back, creating a very successful hour-long block for CBS, as both shows were thought to appeal to similar demographics.

[7] Show creators Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and Harry Thomason were strong supporters of longtime friend and then-Democratic nominee for President of the United States, Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary.

Midway through the seventh season, Julia is stranded in the airport while attempting to attend Clinton's first inauguration, in an episode ("The Odyssey") that aired five days prior.

Another Clinton-related joke was the introduction during the sixth season of the prissy character, Allison Sugarbaker, who makes it quite clear to the others that she attended Wellesley College, Hillary's alma mater.

Factory released Designing Women – 20 Timeless Episodes, aimed for casual fans to enjoy the series without buying full season sets.

[citation needed] A 90-minute retrospective special, The Designing Women Reunion, aired on Lifetime on July 28, 2003, reuniting Burke, Potts, Smart, Carter and Taylor in which they shared memories from their time on the series, and also featured interviews with the Thomasons and various writers.