Sweet Tea & TV

Welcome to the segment that left both of us a little hungry after recording. In honor of the hot and bothered crowd of ladies all hopped up on two-for-1 daiquiris from the Ruffles and Bows tea room, hootin’ and hollerin’ for our boy Anthony during the bachelor auction, let’s talk all things “Atlanta tea rooms.” 

Ruffles and Bows may not have been a real tea room in Atlanta, but Mary Macs - a true Atlanta staple - IS a real Atlanta tea room. And there are a few other ATL spots where folks can get their “tea room” fix today - but in the 1940s Atlanta sense of the term “tea room.” We’ll get into it…

Happppppy Halloween! While the kids are out gathering their candy tonight, we offer you this ear candy: a special ghoulish, extra spooky, Extra Sugar!

In episode 1 this season, we talked about the oldest houses in Atlanta. But we didn’t talk about the specters who saunter the halls of these historic homes. The apparitions who abide the walls of these well-lived manors and mansions. The poltergeists who… Well, you get it. Old houses+ghosts=spooky Extra Sugar. 

We’ll sum this one up in three words (and a couple of symbols): Suzanne + Anthony = Love. 

When we’re not swooning over these two, we’ll pause for a “Salina’s Sidebar” about auctions because people have bid on some weird stuff and we just have to talk about it.

Come back Thursday for a very special “Extra Sugar” on Mary Mac’s Tea Room – an Atlanta institution known for its Southern comfort food. This inevitably – and edible-ly (?) leads to a “Nikki’s Nibbles” discussion about the best meat and threes in the city.

Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have to go lie down because our Roseanne Barr Disease is acting up.

Poor, poor Julia. Our consummate Southern lady has the opportunity of a lifetime - a fine dining opportunity with THE CARTERS. Basically Southern royalty. Instead, she finds herself sitting in a dingy conference room, watching a bunch’a’losers eating baskets of fried cheese before they all retire to the Fair Price Motel which was NOT the nicest place she had been. All trying to give an Atlanta citizen the right to a fair trial. It was all so deeply unfair. Oh, the irony.

But, what is fair, is the opportunity this episode of “Designing Women” gave Nikki to flex her true crime investigation skills! She’s bringing us two lesser-known Southern criminal trials, as well as a couple of unusual crimes that are, shall we say, a little scattered, smothered and covered? 

Oooh! We don’t remember the last time we saw Julia this riled up! Jury duty and rule follower Charlene are standing between her and dinner with President Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter. 

We’ll sidebar on radio contests in honor of the hurtin’ Charlene, Suzanne, and Anthony put on the record store after winning a radio contest. Then come back Thursday for an “Extra Sugar” dedicated to the South’s most infamous jury trials.

In this week’s episode of “Designing Women”, Charlene straight-up quit Sugarbakers. She decided the “put-on-an-outfit-with-shoulder-pads, tease-your-hair, leave-your-baby-with-a-nanny, and head-into-the-office-for-the-day” lifestyle just wasn’t for her. She needed more time with Olivia. More time for play dates. More time for snuggles. More time for…her programs. The whole shebang.

We’re calling this week’s segment, “Stay-at-Home Parenting: All The Work, None of the Pay.” Let’s talk: a brief history of parents who do not work for pay, particularly changing trends for dads; pros and cons of staying home; the invisible tension between parents who do work for pay and those who don’t (and how to break the tension!); and a few self-care tips for any parents who stay home, so it doesn’t feel like one, long Groundhog Day.

It’s been a rough week, y’all. Charlene quit. She and MJ had a big fight. But, hey, they both feel like bad moms and inadequate, so all is well in the world. Meanwhile, the whole gang is abused by a pint-sized client who comes to blows with Suzanne. 

Come back later in the week for an “Extra Sugar” dedicated to the plight of stay-at-home parents.

Anthony meeting his dad in episode two had us thinking about “reunion” stories of all stripes: family, friends, lovers, and classmates. And with that in mind, we’ve assembled a roundup of some of the most interesting ones we could find: from the funny to the sweet and the utterly bizarre. 

The ladies have a big surprise in store for Anthony’s “dirty 30”, but y’all, he’s been hinting at VCR all week! Sounds like we need to sidebar about the WORST birthday surprises. Meanwhile, Bernice is horny and Suzanne hasn’t quite learned her lesson about brandishing weapons.

Come back later in the week for an assemblage of reunion stories: the sweet, the funny, and the downright unbelievable. 

After a nearly two-and-a-half year journey with us, we have done it: we have reached the 90s. The decade that makes us nostalgic for things we’ll never get back: SNICK, Delia’s, and Blockbuster…the elasticity in our skin. 

In this week’s “Extra Sugar”, we pay homage to this era that shaped the two women you hear blather on every week (you’re welcome and sorry about that). We’ll also pay special attention to the year it is in season 5 of Designing Women: 1990. Oh, and we’ll probably throw in a Grits Blitz to see who can actually remember 30 years ago.