Post by jasong on Sept 6, 2018 11:33:13 GMT
Ah you heard, last month sometime that Linda Bloodworth-Thomason was in talks to reboot the comedy series "Designing Women" the show that ran from 1986-1993 and ran for 7 seasons. (The article: www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/designing-women-tv-revival-works-1105025)
The made countless fans, broke taboos and spoke about a lot of things TV didn't at the time. They in their first season were on the edge of being cancelled after 10 episodes and were put on hiatus until the defunct "Viewers for Quality TV" stepped in and saved the show through a letter campaign (according to the reunion in 2006 over 50,000 letters were sent in.) this action saved the show and the show returned with it's first two-parter "Old Spouses Never Die" one of those special episodes the 80s were famous for, this one on an important issue, breast cancer. The episode I wont go in to detail, but Charlene gets told by her doctor that she is fine and should see him again in 6 months, the ladies disagreeing with this and telling her to get a second opinion and this second opinion saved her life.. now I also know that Murphy Brown did this storyline as well, and show that these are problems that women face.
Now in 2018 how would you reboot Designing Women? I have seen a few posts saying questions, and I will attempt to answer them... my way.
The Time Jump-
If and when the show makes it back to the show, how does it deal with the time changes? Are they still at the Sugarbaker House? Or did they end up moving to another area in Georgia? We know the show finished in 1993 with Sugarbakers in money trouble, did the firm survive going into the 2000s, did Suzanne return from Japan and remain a silent partner? Did Payne stay with his wife? Did Charlene return home to Georgia with Bill? Those are questions for the reboot.
The Current Political Arena-
I wont get into this, because we all know how crappy politics is, and Designing Women never backed down from being political and even made Julia run for a political position in season 3. So....
The Schedules of the Actresses/Actors-
Now you've probably looked at the IMDb pages of Annie, Jean, Delta and Gerard McRaney plus a lot of guest stars who were on the show as well, and seen how busy they are. Delta quietly left the TV industry in 2012 after injuring her self on set and started her own clothing company, but Jean and Annie have been busy with TV, Jean currently working on Legion and Annie on Young Sheldon, with Gerard having a recurring role on This is Us, and George Newbern NCIS'ing it. In an earlier interview this year Annie stated she was "keen" for a reboot and said that if Linda did write something she would be "There in a heartbeat"... the thing is would Hal Holbrook reprise his role as Reese if the show did return? (Reese died off-screen in season 5, maybe he never died and it was all in Julia's head...) he is afterall in his 90s.. How many guests would return and what happens to the recurring characters?
The Losses-
As hard as it is, if the show does get greenlighted for the reboot, it will have to address the tough questions. With the losses of Dixie Carter, Meshach Taylor, Jan Hooks and Alice Ghostley, how would the reboot address these losses, would they do it respectfully or totally ignore it? That's the thing that's hard for fans to take in, and it always will be. Carter who played "The Terminator" was a big part of the show and anyone else playing the role of Julia would be so wrong, because it would ruin the "Terminator" legacy, Dixie passed away in 2010 aged 70, never forgotten for her characters rants and singing voice, I just hope they don't recast anyone as Julia, and leave it alone. Meshach passed away in 2014 after a battle with cancer, and his character Anthony being the comedic backbone along with Alice's character of Bernice doing the same thing, it would be hard to imagine anyone else in those roles. Carlene not so much, as much as I loved Jan in the role I think Carlene could be played by someone else, who I don't know.
Like any show with the losses of the backbone of the cast, it in my opinion comes down to knowing if someone could step into the shoes of such a complex and deep character they should do it, but not at the expense of long time fans. How I would have it is have Payne and his wife run the firm and have Quentin and Mary-Jo's other kid be the workers and have Charlene as office manager, that to me would work.
My other thoughts-
I have a ton of other thoughts, and that to me would be, yes a reboot would feel strange for Designing Women, but with Roseanne being Spun-off into "The Conners" and Murphy Brown returning it is the right time, and I do believe, if it is cast right and those questions asked and not ignored I think personally it could work. I believe no matter what happened during the 80s/90s can be moved into the times of now, the tech changes, thoughts, politics and change is how a show grows, because you cant have one without the other. So buckle up if it does happen. Its time.
Are the lights still out in Georgia?-
Did they every come back on?
The made countless fans, broke taboos and spoke about a lot of things TV didn't at the time. They in their first season were on the edge of being cancelled after 10 episodes and were put on hiatus until the defunct "Viewers for Quality TV" stepped in and saved the show through a letter campaign (according to the reunion in 2006 over 50,000 letters were sent in.) this action saved the show and the show returned with it's first two-parter "Old Spouses Never Die" one of those special episodes the 80s were famous for, this one on an important issue, breast cancer. The episode I wont go in to detail, but Charlene gets told by her doctor that she is fine and should see him again in 6 months, the ladies disagreeing with this and telling her to get a second opinion and this second opinion saved her life.. now I also know that Murphy Brown did this storyline as well, and show that these are problems that women face.
Now in 2018 how would you reboot Designing Women? I have seen a few posts saying questions, and I will attempt to answer them... my way.
The Time Jump-
If and when the show makes it back to the show, how does it deal with the time changes? Are they still at the Sugarbaker House? Or did they end up moving to another area in Georgia? We know the show finished in 1993 with Sugarbakers in money trouble, did the firm survive going into the 2000s, did Suzanne return from Japan and remain a silent partner? Did Payne stay with his wife? Did Charlene return home to Georgia with Bill? Those are questions for the reboot.
The Current Political Arena-
I wont get into this, because we all know how crappy politics is, and Designing Women never backed down from being political and even made Julia run for a political position in season 3. So....
The Schedules of the Actresses/Actors-
Now you've probably looked at the IMDb pages of Annie, Jean, Delta and Gerard McRaney plus a lot of guest stars who were on the show as well, and seen how busy they are. Delta quietly left the TV industry in 2012 after injuring her self on set and started her own clothing company, but Jean and Annie have been busy with TV, Jean currently working on Legion and Annie on Young Sheldon, with Gerard having a recurring role on This is Us, and George Newbern NCIS'ing it. In an earlier interview this year Annie stated she was "keen" for a reboot and said that if Linda did write something she would be "There in a heartbeat"... the thing is would Hal Holbrook reprise his role as Reese if the show did return? (Reese died off-screen in season 5, maybe he never died and it was all in Julia's head...) he is afterall in his 90s.. How many guests would return and what happens to the recurring characters?
The Losses-
As hard as it is, if the show does get greenlighted for the reboot, it will have to address the tough questions. With the losses of Dixie Carter, Meshach Taylor, Jan Hooks and Alice Ghostley, how would the reboot address these losses, would they do it respectfully or totally ignore it? That's the thing that's hard for fans to take in, and it always will be. Carter who played "The Terminator" was a big part of the show and anyone else playing the role of Julia would be so wrong, because it would ruin the "Terminator" legacy, Dixie passed away in 2010 aged 70, never forgotten for her characters rants and singing voice, I just hope they don't recast anyone as Julia, and leave it alone. Meshach passed away in 2014 after a battle with cancer, and his character Anthony being the comedic backbone along with Alice's character of Bernice doing the same thing, it would be hard to imagine anyone else in those roles. Carlene not so much, as much as I loved Jan in the role I think Carlene could be played by someone else, who I don't know.
Like any show with the losses of the backbone of the cast, it in my opinion comes down to knowing if someone could step into the shoes of such a complex and deep character they should do it, but not at the expense of long time fans. How I would have it is have Payne and his wife run the firm and have Quentin and Mary-Jo's other kid be the workers and have Charlene as office manager, that to me would work.
My other thoughts-
I have a ton of other thoughts, and that to me would be, yes a reboot would feel strange for Designing Women, but with Roseanne being Spun-off into "The Conners" and Murphy Brown returning it is the right time, and I do believe, if it is cast right and those questions asked and not ignored I think personally it could work. I believe no matter what happened during the 80s/90s can be moved into the times of now, the tech changes, thoughts, politics and change is how a show grows, because you cant have one without the other. So buckle up if it does happen. Its time.
Are the lights still out in Georgia?-
Did they every come back on?