For five seasons this TV comedy was a solid hit starring Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Annie Potts, and Jean Smart as four friends and co-workers in an Atlanta interior design firm.
They shared their lives in a series of funny episodes that involved their work, family, friends, romance, and the sling and arrows of outrageous fortune.
The semi-regulars during these years included Meshach Taylor, Alice Ghostley, Hal Holbrook, Douglas Barr, and Richard Gilliland.
Starting around season 5, Burke and show creator Linda Bloodworth Thomason started fueding about Burke's weight and the zaniness of her character, Suzanne Sugarbaker. By the end of the season, Burke was out of the show and was soon followed by Smart, who wanted more time with her family.
Season 6 brought in Jan Hooks to replace Smart and Julia Duffy to replace Burke. While Hooks was mostly annoying, Duffy was an outright disaster as the unlikable Alison Sugarbaker. Neither actress came close to capture the warmth and humor of Burke and Smart.
Season 7 saw Duffy gone and with Judith Ivey coming in as a blowsy millionaire widow. An improvement, but the bad writing that plagued season 6, continued into season 7. Stupid storylines and predictable plots defeated anything the cast could do with the material.
Also, by season 6 the women talked about their design firm but their work was virtually erased from any plots. Taylor's character of Anthony also descended from a lovable and hapless man to a smug jerk. They eventually married him off to a Vegas showgirl (Sheryl Lee Ralph) which went nowhere.
Even the beloved and zany character of Ghostley's Bernice went from being loopy to being just one of the women.
In most shows in the last 2 seasons, they just sit around yapping. Meanwhile the production values of the show plummeted with sets that look like high school productions.
An attempt to spin off Taylor and Ralph into their own show, with Della Reese and Sherman Hemsley as her parents, flopped. The hit show went out with a whimper.
They shared their lives in a series of funny episodes that involved their work, family, friends, romance, and the sling and arrows of outrageous fortune.
The semi-regulars during these years included Meshach Taylor, Alice Ghostley, Hal Holbrook, Douglas Barr, and Richard Gilliland.
Starting around season 5, Burke and show creator Linda Bloodworth Thomason started fueding about Burke's weight and the zaniness of her character, Suzanne Sugarbaker. By the end of the season, Burke was out of the show and was soon followed by Smart, who wanted more time with her family.
Season 6 brought in Jan Hooks to replace Smart and Julia Duffy to replace Burke. While Hooks was mostly annoying, Duffy was an outright disaster as the unlikable Alison Sugarbaker. Neither actress came close to capture the warmth and humor of Burke and Smart.
Season 7 saw Duffy gone and with Judith Ivey coming in as a blowsy millionaire widow. An improvement, but the bad writing that plagued season 6, continued into season 7. Stupid storylines and predictable plots defeated anything the cast could do with the material.
Also, by season 6 the women talked about their design firm but their work was virtually erased from any plots. Taylor's character of Anthony also descended from a lovable and hapless man to a smug jerk. They eventually married him off to a Vegas showgirl (Sheryl Lee Ralph) which went nowhere.
Even the beloved and zany character of Ghostley's Bernice went from being loopy to being just one of the women.
In most shows in the last 2 seasons, they just sit around yapping. Meanwhile the production values of the show plummeted with sets that look like high school productions.
An attempt to spin off Taylor and Ralph into their own show, with Della Reese and Sherman Hemsley as her parents, flopped. The hit show went out with a whimper.