I loved the acting on Designing Women, and when it went for the funny bone, it could be very good TV. However, as soon as I sensed one of Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's preachy tirades coming on, I learned to tune out immediately. LBT's idea of "tackling social issues" was to set up a contrived situation where the evil conservative does something A)mean-spirited B)hypocritical or C)illegal, so that she (through one of her four characters, usually Julia)can verbally decimate them as the idiot studio audience cheers wildly.

But getting back to Dixie, I remember the last time I saw her. It was the Daytime Emmys some years back. She hosted a tribute segment to her favorite soap, As The World Turns, which she just loved. How ironic she is gone just before the show goes.

The Houston Chronicle is reporting Dixie died of endometrial cancer

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6954363.html

RIP Dixie

Endometrial cancer. What a tragedy and a very painful way to go.

John Forsythe was 92, Christopher Cazenove was doomed with blood poisoning and Dixie Carter died of a horrid cancer.

They say these come in threes, I hope this is it for quite a while.

As far as the political references of DW being dated, I can't say that this is a true handicap for the show in syndication. Certain conversations certainly bring us back to specific moments in pop culture history, such as the Clarence Thomas mess, but I know for fact that several pop culture references have been lost on younger TGG fans. That's what Google's for. (ETA: Bea Arthur disliked these dated references btw, she foresaw them hurting the show in syndication as they'd hurt Maude.) But I think DW spoke towards themes, to larger ideas that were often highlighted by current events, which as others in this thread have said, are still viable hot button issues to this day. Chauvinism, feminism, what have you, topics examined on a broader level are quite different from Anita Bryant or Donna Rice one-liners. I am by NO MEANS knocking TGG, it's just such an apples and oranges comparison and I pretty much resent DW being slagged off as some sort of knockoff, I think they achieved so much more than that and deserve credit for such.

Khan, I very much agree with your assessment of B.J., it's like they'd decided that plugging that fourth spot yet again with a bitch was going to be too predictable and unsuccessful as no one was going to recapture that Delta magic. And Suzanne especially worked because she was Julia's sister, the cousin angle with Allison was a step in the right direction, but her relationship with Julia was too detached. You also mentioned Etienne, it's funny because Sheryl Lee Ralph is who NBC wanted for Sandra on 227 but Marla Gibbs felt strongly that she wasn't right for the role as much as she loved her... SLR's too polished. I think Jackee was a better fit for a Suzanne replacement than Allison or B.J. but her Vanessa, like Etienne, was too polished (like Suzanne in her early days before Delta gained the weight and Suzanne became infinitely funnier).

Edited April 12, 201015 yr by SFK

Endometrial cancer. What a tragedy and a very painful way to go.

Oh dear Lord, I hope not. If so, it must have metastasized and was caught too late because I'd assume a hysterectomy would have helped, at least bought her some time.

The funny thing is, Designing Women earned its highest ratings during the season AFTER Delta left. Unlike TGG, DW was never a big ratings hit, it had a certain cult following that remained loyal to it for a while during its initial run, and what ultimately got the show renewed after its first season.

Oh dear Lord, I hope not. If so, it must have metastasized and was caught too late because I'd assume a hysterectomy would have helped, at least bought her some time.

It's been confirmed everywhere, Dixie died of complications resulting from endometrial cancer. It must have been caught too late, in early stages it has a quite high success rate so far as cancer goes thanks to hysterectomy. My bet is the Houston hospital she died in was MD Anderson Cancer Centre, it's one of the best in the country.

I know Dixie injected Human Growth Hormone as an anti-aging thing, I hate to think that the two are somehow interrelated, yet I find myself unable to say that they are not.

What a tragedy.

Edited April 12, 201015 yr by DaytimeFan

RIP Dixie! You will be missed.

Julia and Suzanne Sugarbaker were the only reasons to watch DW, and you have never been told off or put in your place if it was not done by Julia Sugarbaker. No one delivers the way that woman does.

ANDREA

Actress Annie Potts refers to her "Designing Women" costar Dixie Carter as "a goddess," calling her death a "loss beyond measure."

Potts tells ET of her costar, "Dixie Carter was a goddess. Beautiful and brainy, smart and funny, prim and sexy, wickedly talented and divinely sweet. The kind of wife and mother that every mother hopes their daughter will become, and the kind of friend that is absolutely irreplaceable. She loved fiercely and was adored in return. To have known her a little was a delight to all. To have known her well, a treasure beyond reckoning. And now, a loss beyond measure."

Carter, best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker on the hit sitcom "Designing Women," passed way on Saturday, April 10. She was 70.

http://www.etonline.com/news/2010/04/85807/

Actress Annie Potts refers to her "Designing Women" costar Dixie Carter as "a goddess," calling her death a "loss beyond measure."

Potts tells ET of her costar, "Dixie Carter was a goddess. Beautiful and brainy, smart and funny, prim and sexy, wickedly talented and divinely sweet. The kind of wife and mother that every mother hopes their daughter will become, and the kind of friend that is absolutely irreplaceable. She loved fiercely and was adored in return. To have known her a little was a delight to all. To have known her well, a treasure beyond reckoning. And now, a loss beyond measure."

Carter, best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker on the hit sitcom "Designing Women," passed way on Saturday, April 10. She was 70.

http://www.etonline.com/news/2010/04/85807/

This is starting to remind me of when Farrah died and how heartbroken all of her Angels co-stars were. Growing up watching these shows, I guess you just assume they'll all always be together forever because that's how you remember them. In a way, though, the reruns and the DVDs and all make them immortal.

On another note, I have to say that I think it speaks to how much the portrayal of women in the media has regressed in the past 25 years that we are actually discussing whether Designing Women was a ripoff of the Golden Girls. First and foremost, the Golden Girls was about senior citizens. It portrayed them as three-dimensional, independent women who were full of life, and in the process showed that we have nothing to fear of growing older. But Designing Women was about women who still had half of more of their lives ahead of them - or should have, in Dixie's case. They were single for various reasons (divorce, widowhood, or they just had not chosen to marry yet) at a stage of life at which TV had not traditionally depicted women as being independent and sexually empowered, which was in some ways as groundbreaking as what the Golden Girls did. I'm sure today if someone pitched a show about women in their 60s-80s to a network and someone came right in after them to pitch a show about women in their 30s-40s, the network executives would have trouble distinguishing the two (and would probably reject them both in favor of a trashy reality show about people in their teens or early 20s). But even as a kid I think I knew that both shows were capturing very different experiences. I would like to remember that there was a time in my lifetime (barely) when women of nearly all ages had strong, vital roles on television.

Yeah, I don't think the politics are all that dated. It's more the unabashed liberalism and the outspoken female characters which are probably seen as dated, because you can't have any of that on a TV show now.

There's been such an ugly and ever-continuing backlash against women. These days you can only be a strong, aggressive female voice if you support patriarchy and lash out against your own gender.

I also think that the term "PC" had a long term and very damaging effect on representation of women and minorities in the media. So did the political campaigns of 1988, 1992 and 1994.

I think that's one reason why I eventually decided not to pursue a career writing for movies and television, let alone soaps. I'm not saying I'm the world's most ardent feminist; I can make a sexist joke with the rest of 'em. But I was raised around women who were funny, smart, and self-effacing while still proudly feminine; and I refuse to write any woman any other way.

And THIS is why I keep posting at SON. And the fact that (I'm assuming) some of you quoted here are guys makes me even prouder. Don't ask me why. I thought it was just me who wondered why brainless, plastic rejects from The Hills seem to be every TV producer's criteria for a female role nowadays. God, I miss the sass of a Bea Arthur and the steely graciousness of a Dixie Carter.

RIP, Dixie, as beautifully Irish as Georgia's other favorite daughter, Scarlett O'Hara. And Dixie's speaking voice was like velveteen chocolate mixed with bourbon. I coulda listened to that gorgeous, gravelly lilt all day.

She was far too young to die.

Great actress...Loved her on Designing Women and Diffrnt Strokes...So sad

This is part of the scene where Dixie humiliates a client who makes horrible comments towards a man who is dying of AIDS. The scenes are very heavy-handed, to put it mildly, but for the time, it's somewhat daring, and the righteous anger in Julia's speech reflects Dixie's real life support of GLBT and AIDS causes. There's also a very sad subtext there which reflected reality for a lot of these men -- so many around them, including most of their family, would reject them, and those friends would become their family. (They also let Suzanne say a few words, which is nice).

Edited April 13, 201015 yr by CarlD2

I enjoyed my Saturday afternoon watching a couple episodes of "Filthy Rich".

Dixie Carter is the TRUTH.

NO ONE can deliver a line quite like her. Here's where she proved her mettle to Linda Bloodworth for handling those monologues Julia Sugarbaker became famous for. She has a mini one two minutes in that's worth the price of admission. Of course she subbed for Nancy Pinkerton's Dorian, but seeing her camp it up in this soapy sendup, one realizes just how perfect she would have been filling Robin Strasser's shoes as well.

http://tvshack.net/tv/Filthy_Rich__US_/season_1/episode_1/

This is part of the scene where Dixie humiliates a client who makes horrible comments towards a man who is dying of AIDS. The scenes are very heavy-handed, to put it mildly, but for the time, it's somewhat daring, and the righteous anger in Julia's speech reflects Dixie's real life support of GLBT and AIDS causes. There's also a very sad subtext there which reflected reality for a lot of these men -- so many around them, including most of their family, would reject them, and those friends would become their family. (They also let Suzanne say a few words, which is nice).

Win.