Designing Women

It will inevitably be compared with "The Golden Girls," NBC's hit from last year about four older women sharing a house in Miami...But this entry from CBS is considerably different and, for my money, funnier and better...It is the best new show CBS is offering this season. [28 Sept 1986, p.TV-6]

May be the most outrageous new comedy since "All in the Family," in terms of what it's willing to try and say. It's going to make some people laugh. It's going to offend some people...For my money, it's the best and brightest new sitcom of the year -- sharp and tart in its writing, sharp and tart in its execution by four splendid actresses. They, and it, have got spirit and style and sass. [29 Sept 1986, p.C1]

Designing Women's quandary is that its new characters are just variations on old ones. ... To date, the results have been extremely uneven — some weeks Allison is a whining drag; others, she's a sharp-tongued asset on a show that's gotten a little softheaded.

Funny, yes. Wildly funny, no...As an addition to pop literature about women in groups, Designing Women appears more derivative than innovative, but being derivative hardly ever hurts in prime-time television. [29 Sept 1986, p.C3]

Ms. Bloodworth-Thomason is no Susan Harris, whose crackling humor keeps "The Golden Girls" popping steadily from week to week. On the other hand, Designing Women has a first-rate cast.

The premiere of Designing Women...provides fewer answers than indications. And the indications are that even good performers in an appealing setting won't make Designing Woman funny without better-designed scripts. Snappy, yes. Laughs, no.

Routed as the most promising new series on the woeful CBS fall schedule, Designing Women disappoints. Already tiresomely pegged as a younger version of "The Golden Girls," it seems more like "The Carping Capitalists." [29 Sept 1986, p.7C]