Designing Women Season 7, Episode 17: Shovel Off to Buffalo

1

Of Human Bondage

After cousin Allison leaves Sugarbakers, Julia needs cash but is refused a bank loan. To cheer themselves up, the women play poker with a wealthy client -- who wins the business from them. Sugarbaker's could use an infusion of cash, and at a rowdy party given by potential new client B.J., the gals kick up their heels in wild abandon.

30 min

2

Sex and the Single Woman

Carlene allows herself to be seduced by her ex-husband, then admits she was just using him for sex.

30 min

3

Mary Jo vs. the Terminator

After Julia completely rewrites a letter Mary Jo asked her to proofread, Mary Jo comes unraveled on a fashion-show runway, where she just plain has her fill of know-it-all Julia. Meanwhile, back at the office, B.J. has her hands full with angry vegetarians.

30 min

4

On the Road Again

In an attempt at spontaneity, a carefree Mary Jo takes off for Nashville on ""a hen party on wheels"" with Julia and Bernice, but become terrified when a trucker Bernice flirted with at a diner pursues them. Meanwhile, back at the office, Carlene and Anthony put their noses to the grindstone studying for midterms.

30 min

5

Screaming Passages

Julia fears the emotional roller coaster of menopause -- just as her affair with Phillip heats up, and is upset when she discovers a Sugerbakers ""Change of Life"" surprise party.

30 min

6

Viva Las Vegas (1)

After Vanessa calls off their wedding, Anthony joins the gang on a getaway to Las Vegas, where he nurses his broken heart -- in the company of a show stopping showgirl he impulsively weds.

30 min

7

Fools Rush In (2)

BJ offers to help a desperate Anthony, who invents various schemes to extricate himself from his hasty marriage to a Las Vegas showgirl.

30 min

8

Love Letters

A steamy love letter from another woman found in James' safe-deposit box shatters B.J.'s image of her late husband as a faithful companion worthy of her trust. Meanwhile, reveling in the destruction of her old car, a symbol of her days as a suburban housewife, Mary Jo goes wild in a new red convertible.

30 min

9

The Vision Thing

Etienne drives Anthony crazy trying to be the perfect wife, and the Sugarbakers crew throw a Las Vegas style wedding shower for them.

30 min

10

Trial and Error

B.J. goes overboard showering everyone with gifts, and law student Anthony gets carried away trying to help Mary Jo win a small-claims case involving her defective freezer.

30 min

11

Too Dumb to Date

Mary Jo dates a handsome idiot, a to-die-for toyboy male model who seems to have few toys in the attic and little in common with her.

30 min

12

The Odyssey

B.J.'s contribution to the Democratic Party gets the Sugarbaker crew invited to the Inaugural Ball, but the trip proves to be a party for no one, even Julia, who struggles to maintain a cheery disposition in the face of disaster as bad weather forces a change in plans.

30 min

13

Oh Dog, Poor Dog

After eye surgery, Bernice overhears the gals talk of putting Mary Jo's dog out of its misery and figures they're planning her own mercy killing, so she barricades herself inside the storeroom. Meanwhile, Julia gets caught listing to a London phone line which plays tapes of Princess Diana's private conversations with her boyfriend.

30 min

14

Wedding Redux

Anthony and Etienne renew their vows for Etienne's visiting parents and Anthony's grandmother at a ceremony at B.J.'s, where anything that could go wrong does.

30 min

15

Nude Julia, New York Morning

Julia's old mentor for her bohemian art school days in New York unveils his nude portrait of Julia.

30 min

16

Sex, Lies and Bad Hair Days

B.J.'s dating adventures take a turn for the worse on her birthday, when a bad-hair day and two miserable blind dates have her vowing to give up men, so Julia tries to cheer her up by getting her a date with a really nice fellow.

30 min

17

Shovel Off to Buffalo

Worshiping hordes gather outside Sugarbaker's after the face of Elvis mysteriously appears on a snow shovel belonging to Mary Jo, who attracts the attention of a ""paraspectacular"" expert (Gilpin) -- especially when she apparently restores her neighbor's damaged hearing.

30 min

18

It's Not So Easy Being Green

Anthony is jealous of Etienne's successful writer friend, who shares a vivid past with her, but tries to be gracious by throwing a signing party for him.

30 min

19

The Woman Who Came to Sugarbakers

A visit from Julia's meddlesome former schoolmistress is extended -- on ghostly instructions from her deceased husband, it turns out -- until the desperate Sugarbakers women hold a seance to try to force her to leave.

30 min

20

The Lying Game

There's no skirting the fact that Carlene is confused by new beau Eric (Kean), whose unusual habit (cross-dressing) she begins to understand only by tapping into her own masculine side.

30 min

21

Gone With a Whim (1)

With Sugarbaker's in such bad financial shape, the ladies are grateful when B. J. gets them a job redecorating a house that resembles the great home from Gone With The Wind --- until they find out that the new lady of the house plans to rip out the grand staircase and replace it with an elevator. To make matters worse, B. J. finds out that their client is trying to take over Poteet Industries and plans to give Sugarbaker's to his young bride Kiki --- renaming it ""Kikibaker's"".

30 min

22

Gone With a Whim (2)

With Julia continuing to fight to save the antebellum Kearney mansion, B.J. struggles to save Sugarbaker's and Poteet Industries from a take over from the Kearneys. However, despite their efforts, Kiki Kearney announces her new plans for ""Kikibaker's,"" Lester Kearney announces that the purchase of Poteet Industries is complete, and the modernizing of the mansion gets under way. Though Anthony and the women are fired for insubordination, when Craig, a friend of Mary Jo's, stumbles on some embarrassing news about the Kearney's illegal financial activities, Poteet Industries and Sugarbaker's are saved from the take over.

30 min