Women of the House

Okay, it wasn't as funny as "Designing Women" but this was a funny show. It had an excellent cast... had it been given more of a chance, it may actually have been better than the show it spun off from. Suzanne Sugarbaker was back and was better than ever! The rest of the characters were pretty much darker versions of the characters on "DW". Teri Garr was a recovering alcoholic and journalist... with a sarcasm similar to Mary Jo. Malone was a wide-eyed innocent divorced Charlene with two children who idolized the Menendez Brothers. Natalie was Suzanne's adviser... she exuded the class and sophistication of Julia but was a Conservative... and had an affair with a married Congressman who was now in jail.

I flipped it on once and Delta Burke was giving a speech about 'wive' beating to a bunch of fat-cat male senators. It then proceeds to have violin music or whatever to video of women being beaten that had me confused as to whether it was funny or just plain bad amateur acting. The women's heads were being swung violently and they were bleeding all over the place. It was a truly awful show.

I honestly expected so much better writing from Linda Bloodworth-Thompson. There's fat jokes, southern stereotypes, every bad female archetype you can think of in this sad show. The jokes all fall flat when they aren't insulting. Delta Burke, Terry Garr and the other actresses do their best, but their cliche characters limit them. I really wanted to love this show, but is unworthy of the actresses or the producer.

Things wrong , there is the drunk p.r. Rep, the hardboiled ex senators mistress insider, the ditsy homespun country wife receptionist, the zany , brassy, stereotypical Southern woman, and her mentally challenged brother(?) The Sugar bakers had a brother named Clayton and he wasn't mentally challenged. Suzanne now also has a daughter!

Do yourself a favor and don't bother watching this show. Watch Designing Women instead.