The best of Annie Potts on Designing Women is kind of boring

I watched a few episodes last year and it struck me how their values were old fashioned.

MariJo spent a lot of time debating sex with her gorgeous boyfriend. It was boring and milquetoast. Suzanne and Charlene were funny because they weren't perfect.

R2 oh dear Mary Jo

Her part on DW was not written to show off her comedy talents. And I have little doubt that once the series started the writers saw very quickly that 99% of the comedy was going to come from the Sugarbaker sisters, and Anthony. Mary Jo and Charlene were pretty much there as characters the 3 main comedy talents could play off of.. She really didn't show her comedy chops until Young Sheldon in my opinion.

Charlene was a riot. But as soon as MarJo mentioned Quint and Olivia,, I’d be out of there.

Mary Jo wound up becoming the default 'straight women' comedically on the show despite the writer's and Pott's clear efforts to make MJ funny. Potts is very talented and very funny in other things, unfortunately MJ was just boring, in part because she was so normal. Julia was a bit too refined and intelligent so she could get laughs when pushed beyond the limit either with her lectures or responding emotionally to something one of the other women did, but MJ was an ordinary single mom and as Bonnie Franklin can tell you, it's tough to get laughs out of that type of character.

No time at all...

[quote]and as Bonnie Franklin can tell you

Not anymore.

She came in every other week with some fresh rant about how some "Northern" magazine journalist had written a piece insulting Southern women and Southern décor, and she'd do a few twitchy grand gestures in front of the sofa, and Julia would get so icily incensed that she'd pick up the desk phone and call said magazine to chew out the author.

Or she'd come in and bitch about her late alimony payment or her awful kids. Motherhood is such a sticky drag.

How did such a mouseburger attract hunks like Ted and JD?

I remember after DESIGNING WOMEN ended, she played Michelle Pfeiffer's part in the TV serial of DANGEROUS MINDS, which was canceled after one season.

R10 It lasted a whole season?

I remember Mary Jo ranting about teen girls singing along to a Whitney Houston song during the carpool to school, or some such shit. WTF was that all about?

R11 it lasted 17 episodes.

The last one involved LouAnne being accused of molesting a student.

Potts is right up there with Kelly Ripa in the unbearable spoiled woman-little girl voice from hell category.