I think Designing Women was a show which was much more specifically appealing to women than a show like Golden Girls. They did not try to be universal. I thought Mary Jo in particular was an extremely unappealing character, and the male-bashing on the show often got on my nerves.

The humor on Designing Women and the performances from the ladies really were the saving grace for me. These women took themselves VERY VERY seriously, which made it all the more hilarious when Julia would get her head stuck in a banister or Mary Jo tore apart a salad bar to find a pearl necklace. That was most of the most hilarious episode endings ever, for me, as Mary Jo tells Suzanne that she will sell a kidney and go live in a trailer to pay for this necklace in installments, and Julia forces Suzanne to admit the necklace was fake and to get over it.

Suzanne: Can I still keep the check?

Mary Jo: NO! (rips the check apart as the closing credits pop up)

-

As for Dixie Carter, what can you say? This was a woman who made a career out of making intelligent career decisions no matter what she or the people around her might have felt. Her friends told her NOT to do a soap as this would somehow limit or ruin her career. She chose to do EON anyway, and in the long run, it probably helped her career more than it hurt. When she did DW, she recoiled at Julia's in-your-face liberalism, but she did what the script said, without fuss, as long as she got to sing a song for every big liberal diatribe from Julia.

Dixie was a vivacious, funny, strong, sexy woman, and in an industry where strong women are less and less likely to be found, I will miss her.

RIP Dixie Carter

I only remember seeing her in two things, Desperate Housewives and a tv movie with Shannen Doherty called Gone In the Night but she was fantastic in both.

I logged onto the New York Post website and was stunned. Dixie Carter - DEAD. I cannot believe it. Just absolutely stunned and very sad for her, she was only 70 years old, that is not old at all, her father lived into his 90s, a total shock.

I am interested to know exactly what happened, she was such a vivacious, strong, fun, sexy woman...though her last public appearance was at the Oscars in 2008 she kept working through last year...so I wonder if this was a sudden thing or a longer illness.

Rest in peace Dixie, one of my favourite Southern Belles just stopped ringing.

RIP, Dixie. I loved her as Julia Sugarbaker on Designing Women.

I logged onto the New York Post website and was stunned. Dixie Carter - DEAD. I cannot believe it. Just absolutely stunned and very sad for her, she was only 70 years old, that is not old at all, her father lived into his 90s, a total shock.

I am interested to know exactly what happened, she was such a vivacious, strong, fun, sexy woman...though her last public appearance was at the Oscars in 2008 she kept working through last year...so I wonder if this was a sudden thing or a longer illness.

Rest in peace Dixie, one of my favourite Southern Belles just stopped ringing.

I was stunned too. SON is the place I saw it first. A lot of people have passed away in the past week, not huge names mind you, but people who are known (one of the Munchkins, the manager of the Sex Pistols, Christopher Cazenove) and then this rounds off the week. She was such a vibrant presence that I almost forgot she was mortal.

I posted this in the Off-Topic Lounge. Had no idea she had been on EON.

RIP

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I loved Dixie Carter as Brandy Henderson on "The Edge of Night." She first appeared when Maeve McGuire left as Nicole. I didn't think anyone could replace the chemistry that McGuire and Donald May had as Nicole and Adam, but Dixie Carter brought her own unique style, and won me over. I'm just sorry that most of the major newspapers don't list her stint on EON in her impressive acting credits. Another slap to the face of daytime, where so many wonderful actors and actresses have gotten their starts.

I was stunned too. SON is the place I saw it first. A lot of people have passed away in the past week, not huge names mind you, but people who are known (one of the Munchkins, the manager of the Sex Pistols, Christopher Cazenove) and then this rounds off the week. She was such a vibrant presence that I almost forgot she was mortal.

Yeah, I innocently signed onto Facebook last night and one of my FB friends had Dixie's passing posted as her status update, smack dab at the top of my feed. I was so shocked, stunned, saddened... I immediately Googled and there were only a few scattered reports and that's when I posted the sad news here.

The last time I saw Dixie was on The Bonnie Hunt Show whch wasn't too long ago. I am curious to know what happened as she didn't appear ill but one never knows what someone may be battling with privately. The wording surrounding her passing makes it sound more unexpected. At any rate, I respect her and her family's privacy and take issue with people making comments on message boards like, "We are her fans, we deserve to know!" No. No you don't.

There is this very, very creepy low-budget commercial that she's in that's been playing late at night lately. It's weird. All it is is a tight, tight shot of her talking about spina bifida in that Dixie Carter voice, and then it randomly shows a picture of a woman with a crooked neck, and at the end, Dixie tells us to call "One eight hunnerd hurtful."

Edited April 11, 201015 yr by All My Shadows

LOL, I'd forgotten that I'd seen that just a few days ago.

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Lord, keep me near the cross, that person taping this got me to giggling.

Comparing "Designing Women" to "The Golden Girls" works on some levels, but saying one was/is an inferior rip-off of the other, IMO, is a tad unfair. Susan Harris created GG because then-NBC president Brandon Tartikoff wanted to do "Miami Nice" and thought she'd be perfect to develop it, given her track record; Linda Bloodworth-Thomason created DW because she had worked with all four actresses before on different occasions (Dixie and Delta, of course, on "Filthy Rich," and Jean Smart and Annie Potts on "Lime Street") and just wanted to put the four of them together in the same room and see what happened. One was network-generated, the other wholly inspired by the series creator. Now, "Dynasty" as a "Dallas" ripoff - that argument actually holds some merit, lol.

Anyway, my thoughts and prayers go out to Ms. Carter's loved ones. Again, a terrific actress I always wanted to write for; and now, I won't have the chance to. :-(