Sweet Tea & TV

As we gear up for season 6, it’s only right to revisit our “Extra Sugar” all about Suzanne and Charlene – one we did whilst still in our feelings about Delta Burke’s final episode. 

Mourn the loss with us – we talked about some favorite moments, what they mean to us, and what happened to Burke and Jean Smart next IRL. 

Well, y’all, this Designing Women episode was both a favorite of ours and listeners, so let’s laissez les bons temps rouler! While we felt Julia’s rant in our bones, for the record, we’d still prefer to hang with Suzanne and Charlene in ‘The Big Easy’. 

Inspired by their night on the town, Nikki’s told us about 10 not-so-obvious things to do when you visit New Orleans. And, if you’re feeling frisky, you can go back and find this one’s accompanying “Extra Sugar” that we dedicated to the important history and cultural impact of drag. 

In our fifth season, we finally got into the real life and offscreen drama between Delta Burke and the Thomasons. While only those involved can truly know what happened, this time period would ultimately lead to Burke’s departure from the series – and so we felt we owed it to ourselves and those following along to talk about it. 

We  also picked and discussed some other famous offscreen feuds between stars and their bosses.

You may think we picked this one for the buffets, and you’re half right (we did get a pretty tasty “Nibbles” segment out of it). Mainly, we’re here for Mary Jo and Charlene’s level 10 physical comedy trying to find Suzanne’s pearls in the salad bar. 

This is also where we introduced our temporary segment, “Suzanne Watch” - to try and decode some of the weird ways they were using Delta Burke as their relationship in real life quickly unraveled. 

Bernice’s toward self-acceptance was a fun, little thrill for us, since it taught us that we can still experience self-loathing well into our senior years. Why not relive that realization through a re-sugar of our foray into plastic surgery. Well, our academic foray - no actual surgery was had. (But, it’s not too late - still taking donations!)

Any episode where Julia gets riled is worth a rewatch. Her run-ins (read: total and complete meltdowns) with “big ole donkey scout” first Charlene and later her fried-cheese-eating jury duty colleagues reminds us one and all: don’t mess with a Southern woman on a mission. 

We also sidebarred on radio contests in honor of the hurtin’ Charlene, Suzanne, and Anthony put on the record store after winning a radio contest. 

Season 4, episode 11, “They Shoot Fat Women, Don’t They” was a seminal moment in Designing Women’s history and simultaneously a denouement to the media and public’s relentless obsession with Delta Burke’s weight. 

So, when we finally reached this essential episode last year, we knew it was time for an “Extra Sugar” that explored what happened behind the scenes. It was also an opportunity to talk about fat shaming and body shaming, why these concepts matter, and what we can do to take care of ourselves and each other. 

What can we say? We love an Anthony and Suzanne team-up. In this case it was more of a good bribery, but either way, we were all in for their zany plan to keep Consuela from being deported. (After all, she and Suzanne understand each other. We’re talking middle-of-the-night peach pies and overlooked knives thrown. That’s love, y’all.)

As promised, we came together one more time to talk about First Wives Club. We talked about cast members who have gone on to become bonafide Hollywood icons since this movie, potential casting what-ifs, and even a few First Wives Controversies.

Any revisit of season 4 would be completely incomplete if we didn’t revisit Suzanne’s (and Delta Burke’s!) moment in the sun. Suzanne gets bullied at her high school reunion for gaining weight, while Anthony, Julia, and Mary Jo go on a two-day fast to raise awareness about world hunger. We miss Charlene. (tear emoji)

So where are we on world hunger in the 21st century? We’ll sidebar on it. Then come back Thursday for an “Extra Sugar” dedicated to Suzanne’s plot line including how this episode came about in the first place.