Y’all know how we do. We can’t leave season 4 without unpacking a few more things. How did we rate this season of Designing Women? What would *we* do differently? And a new addition: “Senior Superlatives” for our ladies and Anthony. Best hair, team ups and more.
Plus, come back Thursday for a surprise “Extra Sugar” where we dig into some last-minute Atlanta references and something g we promised you months ago.
Helen, Georgia recommendations as promised:
Old Bavaria Inn (sorry, y’all, they’re old school, no website)
Come on, let’s get into it!
Or listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Music.
Transcript
Nikki: Want to make sure this is working.
Salina: I'm gonna make sure that this is working.
Salina: Ch, that's enough.
Salina: Hey, Nikki.
Nikki: Hey, Salina.
Salina: And hello, everyone, and welcome to Sweet Tea and TV.
Salina: Hey, y'all.
Salina: All right, we're here.
Salina: We're here.
Nikki: We're here.
Nikki: Where is here?
Salina: Am I cast in my closet?
Nikki: It's always the closet with you.
Salina: Always is.
Salina: So we're at the finale.
Salina: Finale.
Nikki: We're there in my mind.
Nikki: I am on First Wives Club because we just talked about that.
Salina: Oh, it's a good thing I said something.
Nikki: But now I'm back.
Nikki: I had the right notes pulled up.
Nikki: I'm just confused.
Salina: We're all confused, so that's okay.
Salina: And I'm sure it gets confusing anyway when you're looking back and reflecting on a full season.
Salina: But I'm not ready to talk about season four yet because I haven't talked to you since you've been to the promised land, and the promised land is vacation.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: Thought you meant Florida.
Salina: Well, sometimes.
Salina: Why don't you start us off as all of us who might vicariously be living through you.
Salina: I would love to hear, like, give us your top three vacation moments.
Nikki: Top three?
Nikki: I think I have more than three.
Nikki: Okay, so number one actually happened the night before we left.
Nikki: Oh, I think it's number to.
Nikki: So where we stayed was south of Panama City at a place called Sandblast slash Indian Pass.
Nikki: I think we were technically more in the Indian Pass area, but it's the gulf side of Florida.
Nikki: It is like a little peninsula to itself.
Nikki: We had never stayed in this part of Florida before.
Nikki: We've always stayed a little bit further north of Panama City.
Nikki: More like the destin area.
Nikki: But this year we wanted to try something different.
Nikki: It was super remote.
Nikki: It was a very different vacation experience.
Nikki: I a thousand percent recommend it.
Nikki: I had to sit and process with it after we got back because it was just such a different trip.
Nikki: We've been taking this trip every summer for a really long time, so it was a big shift for us.
Nikki: I had to really sit with it for a little while, but fully recommend.
Nikki: But it was very remote.
Nikki: We had one family that was staying next to us on the other side.
Nikki: No one was there.
Nikki: So we had pretty much the beach to ourselves for a big portion.
Nikki: But my niece went with us this year and she really wanted to go putt putting.
Nikki: That was the one thing her mom said she really loved to do on vacation.
Nikki: So I really wanted to make that happen.
Nikki: The only putt putting place was in Panama City, an hour and a half away.
Nikki: So the day before we left, we drove up to Panama City, we putt putted, and we came home.
Nikki: We had dinner and we putt putted.
Nikki: It was very late when we got home, so both my kids were asleep in the backseat.
Nikki: My niece was on the way back, still awake because she stays up later than we do because she's a preteen and she's got more energy.
Nikki: But when we got out of the car, the kids were like, exhausted and a little bit grumpy.
Nikki: And my niece said, you guys should look up.
Nikki: And I was like, what?
Nikki: And I looked up, and that's more stars than I've ever seen in my entire life.
Nikki: I've never seen the sky look like that at night that I remember.
Nikki: And so we took our kids inside, put them to bed, and my husband and I and my niece sat outside and just looked at the stars.
Nikki: And while I was standing there, I saw a shooting star.
Nikki: We saw a galaxy.
Nikki: I wish we had had a telescope.
Nikki: It was amazing.
Nikki: So we were staying ocean front, so you hear our Gulf front, so you hear the water moving.
Nikki: You're looking at these amazing stars.
Nikki: And just spending time with my niece, doing something that really meant something to her was really amazing.
Nikki: And like I said, it was like the second to last or the very last night we were there.
Nikki: And she said, see, you guys go to bed early every night and you would miss this otherwise.
Nikki: And I was like, well, you've missed it every other night this week and you've been awake.
Nikki: And she's like, well, it's because I haven't been outside.
Nikki: I was like, well, now we all know we need to go outside at this part of the beach.
Nikki: So that was really special.
Nikki: I would say my second favorite part.
Nikki: We did a bonfire on the beach.
Salina: That's fun.
Nikki: When we got there, there was of course when we got there, there was a little packet of firewood sitting downstairs the bottom of the house.
Nikki: And I Googled it really quickly and found out fires on the beach are legal here.
Nikki: And I Googled, how do you build a fire on the beach?
Nikki: So I mentioned it to my kids and my niece, and they were like, yeah, we want to do that.
Nikki: Let's do that.
Nikki: So we did it and we built the fire.
Nikki: And it took and it was wonderful.
Nikki: We all got eaten up by some weird beach bugs.
Nikki: So I know for next year I'm going to bring bugs.
Nikki: But we did do s'mores.
Nikki: I had my kids get all the ingredients from inside the house.
Nikki: We were with my father in law and mother in law, and all the chocolate was stored in the refrigerator.
Nikki: So my daughter grabbed I had these little Reese's bins and she grabbed those.
Nikki: And my father was like, no, those aren't for s'mores.
Nikki: And so she came down, I said, Where are the Reese's?
Nikki: And she's like, Well, Pop said they're not for s'mores.
Nikki: And I said, can you please go back up to the house and get them?
Nikki: Because I think everybody's going to want to try a s'more with this.
Nikki: So my father in law tried that one and he said it was pretty good.
Salina: Yeah, that's a good twist.
Salina: I was going to ask you if you put a twist on it.
Nikki: I should have known you I had to.
Nikki: I had to.
Nikki: So that was thing number two.
Salina: And.
Nikki: Thing number three would either be shells, like seashells.
Nikki: I've never seen this many seashells on a beach.
Salina: Sure.
Salina: Because remote, right?
Nikki: Right.
Salina: Yeah, remote.
Nikki: And something about the cape, something about the way the water kind of comes in.
Nikki: It was like a little Bay Area right in front of our house.
Nikki: So I think something about the way the water settles.
Nikki: We did go a little bit out of our way to go to this place called St.
Nikki: Joseph Peninsula Park, which is a state park in Florida, and it's at the end of the peninsula where we were staying.
Nikki: I found a conch shell, like this big with a hermit crab in it while we were like snorkeling around the bay.
Salina: Now, how big is this big?
Nikki: Sorry, I don't know.
Nikki: How big is that?
Nikki: I'm really bad.
Salina: Close to a foot.
Nikki: It's close to a foot.
Nikki: It was pretty big, like fish measuring here.
Nikki: No, it was pretty big.
Nikki: And that day the one thing I wanted to find was a sand dollar, like a live sand dollar.
Nikki: And right at the end of the day we were packing up to leave and this woman walked by us and she was like, did you guys find anything good out there?
Nikki: And we're like, no.
Nikki: And she said, really?
Nikki: You didn't find the sand dollars?
Nikki: And we're like, what sand dollars?
Nikki: And she was like, there's a ton of them out there in this one little area.
Nikki: So we went over there.
Nikki: I told my husband, I was like, I want just like 30 more minutes to find these sand dollars.
Nikki: And right at the very end I was like, I guess we're not going to find them.
Nikki: And my son held up his and he goes, mom, what's this?
Nikki: And I was like, It's a sand dollar, a live one.
Nikki: And something about my reaction freaked him out because he dropped it and then started crying.
Salina: And I was like, no, it's okay.
Nikki: Buddy, they're gentle, it's fine.
Nikki: So we had to find more so that they could actually see them.
Nikki: Yeah, it was a whole thing.
Nikki: But my tie was we stopped at Bucky's again two times, in fact, on the way down and on the way.
Salina: I know you stopped on the way down because you were kind enough to drop something in stories.
Nikki: And I was like, oh, my service the rest of the week down there was awful because it was so remote.
Nikki: I barely had service.
Salina: I've been you've been there?
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: Yeah, I was actually before you said and it was so remote I was going to ask if it's been built up, but actually I almost drowned there.
Salina: Came pretty close so a friend of mine, I went and stayed with her family, my friend Kelly, and we were in 7th grade, and we just went out in the water and the tides started pulling us away and her brother had to come rescue us.
Salina: Oops.
Salina: I did have my first low country boil there, too.
Salina: Oh, yeah.
Nikki: I think a couple of things.
Nikki: One, Mexico Beach, which is just north, it's the last beach town between Panama City and where we stayed because there's a big military base between after that.
Nikki: It's all military land that you have to drive through.
Nikki: But Mexico Beach was hit really bad by a hurricane a couple years ago, and apparently they are in the process of rebuilding.
Nikki: I don't think Cape Sandblast has ever been hit by a hurricane in that way in such a devastating way.
Nikki: I'm not a Cape sandblast expert.
Nikki: It just sounds like this is their vibe is intentionally low key because it's a very big sea turtle nesting ground, which probably how I ended up there.
Salina: Right.
Salina: Well, that probably does inform a lot of the planning.
Nikki: Right.
Nikki: And I think the people who live there and vacation there take it really seriously that it's remote and there's not a ton to do the land.
Nikki: Yeah, exactly.
Salina: Somebody's got to.
Nikki: Right.
Nikki: And that was probably one of the first vacation times.
Nikki: Like, I think 30 a further north.
Nikki: We were still technically on 30 A, but 30 A up in, like, Destin area is I love it.
Nikki: I think it's great.
Salina: It's just everybody knows about it now.
Nikki: And they're all on top of each other.
Nikki: Like, we were floored.
Nikki: Having stayed where we stayed for most of the week and then driving up to Panama City, it was like ants in an ant hill.
Nikki: There were so many people.
Nikki: So I don't know.
Nikki: I think we're probably going to go back.
Nikki: I actually already priced out the house for next year to see.
Nikki: Is it going to be more expensive next year?
Nikki: Because up further up 38, the prices just climb every year.
Nikki: It's actually cheaper if I book it now.
Nikki: So I'm actually considering just going ahead and committing to next summer's vacation, but I want to think about it a little bit more.
Nikki: I think that the lack of restaurants was a little bit of a challenge.
Nikki: We had to drive.
Nikki: If you wanted to eat out, you had to drive anywhere.
Nikki: There was no biking to ice cream or any of that, which we normally do.
Nikki: I'm still on the fence about whether I miss that or whether it's just getting used to it.
Nikki: So we did drive.
Nikki: Kyle and I, we went to Appalachicola, which is south, to have dinner one night.
Nikki: It's like 20 minutes south.
Nikki: It wasn't a big drive.
Nikki: We had dinner at the Owl Cafe.
Nikki: It was a very cute I had a good flounder dinner, and he had a nice chicken dinner because he doesn't eat a lot of seafood, and he's allergic to shellfish.
Nikki: Almost everything on their menu was shellfish.
Nikki: But Appalachicola.
Nikki: Like, literally everything there closes at 04:00 p.m..
Nikki: So there was no ice cream.
Nikki: There was no shopping at the cute little shops.
Nikki: So you have to plan a day to go do any of this sort of stuff.
Nikki: So that's sort of a downside.
Nikki: But the rest of the week, it flew by.
Nikki: I remember Monday thinking, like, how are we going to make a week of this?
Nikki: And then the water where we were staying cleared up every single day, even a little bit more.
Nikki: So we just snorkeled for an entire day.
Nikki: One day.
Nikki: Just right out in front of the house and found so many seashells.
Nikki: So it was an incredible trip.
Salina: I'm glad.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: We really enjoyed it.
Salina: Yeah, well, I am going to drop some stuff.
Salina: I haven't done a lot since the last time we met.
Salina: Not really anything fun.
Nikki: Well, that's because you're gearing up for vacation.
Salina: I am gearing up for vacation.
Salina: I'll summarize what I've been doing with three things.
Salina: One is we did take a day trip to Helen, but I dropped stuff and stories along the way as we were there.
Salina: What I will do is I do have some recommendations, and I'll make sure those are included in our blog post, because I don't like, I've been going to Helen my whole life.
Salina: I think we've talked about Helen before on the show, so I won't say much about it, except for to say that if you're not familiar with it, it's like this quirky little place in North Georgia that has, like, a Bavarian aesthetic.
Salina: So it is a good place where you can find good German food, so long as you like German food.
Salina: So dropping some recommendations there and a couple of shopping recommendations for anybody who's interested.
Salina: I do feel like the shopping has gotten a tad better since the last time I was there.
Salina: And then I've spent the rest of my time watching franchise movies.
Salina: I went and saw, like, the newest oh, no.
Salina: Indiana Jones.
Nikki: Was it good?
Salina: It's cute.
Nikki: You think my son would like it?
Nikki: He's been asking to see it.
Nikki: He loves Indiana Jones.
Salina: Yes, I think it does.
Salina: Hearken back to the original movies, more so than the last one did.
Salina: That came out in eight.
Salina: Okay, that's the Shia LaBeouf one.
Salina: Yes.
Salina: And it is sort of strange to see Harrison Ford de aged, but I feel like they're doing, like, a scarily.
Salina: Good job at it now.
Nikki: Cool.
Salina: So I think that'll fly right by your son.
Nikki: Perfect.
Salina: Honest.
Salina: Perfect.
Salina: He didn't grow up with Harrison Ford the way we he's he's not 38.
Salina: Seven.
Salina: Sorry, honey.
Salina: Not trying to age.
Salina: It just me.
Nikki: Just another week and a half.
Salina: I think someone captured it really well.
Salina: I listened to, like, a podcast about it, and basically they said we're trained differently for action movies.
Salina: Now, you used to be trained in the Indiana Jones.
Salina: Heyday.
Salina: Like every nine minutes you got an action sequence.
Salina: Now it feels like every 90 seconds you get an action sequence.
Salina: I just feel like if it's hearkening back to those days and we're retrained as like an action watching audience, then.
Nikki: It just feels the pacing feels weird.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: It feels not the same as something you would see today.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: And then the other thing I did is I spent not a long time at it in a very quick manner that makes me it's probably sad, but I watched all of the Mission Impossible so that I could go watch the new one.
Salina: And it was really good.
Salina: I really liked it.
Salina: A mean they're just high action sequence and it's just like just see if you can watch Tom Cruise bend his body in a new way.
Nikki: I, judging from stories, had noticed you'd been at the movies a lot.
Salina: Hot.
Nikki: You motivated me to go.
Nikki: We went to see the Barbie movie Thursday night.
Nikki: I took both the kids to go see it.
Nikki: Sobbed my way straight through that thing.
Salina: I'm intrigued and I want to see it.
Salina: We're going to see Oppenheimer tonight.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: Too much of a commitment for me.
Salina: I couldn't really talk casey, he's not interested in the Barbie movie.
Nikki: Kyle wasn't either, so he didn't go with us.
Nikki: But I told him I think he actually would have liked it.
Nikki: It was so not what I was expecting.
Nikki: When I saw the picture of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling rollerblading on Venice Beach come out last fall, I was like, oh, God, they're going to ruin this.
Nikki: This looks so stupid.
Nikki: And then I saw a preview.
Salina: They're going to break records before the Mario.
Nikki: We went to see the Mario movie several months ago, and before that they showed a new preview.
Nikki: And I'd looked at Kyle and I said, I have to go see that.
Nikki: And then just the last few weeks I've been or the last week or so, I guess, honestly, I've heard people talking about it and I was so fascinated.
Nikki: I just had to know.
Nikki: And so I heard mixed reviews about whether it was for kids or not.
Nikki: Unfortunately, I saw a lot of the criticisms that it was like, it's all about the patriarchy and man hating.
Nikki: And so I was like, I don't really want to ingrain that in my children necessarily.
Nikki: But also is it, though I think.
Salina: That'S a very specific type of person and they're reading on it.
Nikki: I saw enough of the other side of it to convince me that I think it's going to be fun enough.
Nikki: Let's just try it.
Nikki: So I was just going to take my daughter because my son's younger.
Nikki: Honestly, I thought he would get bored.
Nikki: And then I asked him, do you want to go?
Nikki: And he was like, yeah, I want to go.
Nikki: And I was like, okay, let's do it.
Nikki: But, dude, if you get bored, you're stuck because I'm not leaving this movie.
Nikki: And he was like, okay.
Nikki: He loved the whole thing.
Nikki: Start to finish.
Nikki: Loved it.
Nikki: I sobbed through it.
Nikki: Carolina had to tell Landon there is such thing as happy tears.
Nikki: And that's Mommy happy crying.
Nikki: It was just beautiful.
Nikki: It was beautifully done.
Nikki: It looked beautiful.
Nikki: But the story was so layered and nuanced in a way that I didn't expect a Barbie movie to be it's not a kids movie.
Nikki: It's an adult movie.
Nikki: It's a movie for women and people and humans our age because it's layered.
Nikki: Every day I've had a new realization about the movie.
Nikki: It was about how the patriarchy has made life hard for women.
Nikki: It was also about, though, if we go completely the opposite direction and make life hard for men, that's not fair either.
Nikki: And everybody has to have this experience of it's enough just for all of us to be a person that's respected the same way.
Salina: Well, Greta Gerwig is our age, right?
Salina: Just about.
Nikki: She's a little bit older than me, but yeah, she's just about our age.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: Well, she's a little bit older than me, too.
Salina: I think we'll go ahead and claim her.
Salina: And I think that from what I've heard, that the references that she's making will speak to my soul.
Salina: So I'm ready.
Nikki: It was absolutely beautiful.
Nikki: It ripped my heart out.
Nikki: I laughed till I cried.
Nikki: I cried because I cried.
Nikki: And it's just like so much I left the movie and I have been in a thoughtful place.
Nikki: Not a negative place, but very thoughtful and retrospective because it was also about the human condition and how beautiful the human experience is.
Salina: It was deep.
Nikki: I fully recommend it.
Salina: Okay.
Nikki: Fully.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: I was actually thinking maybe I might go see that.
Salina: I've never been to a movie on my own.
Salina: Maybe this will be the one I do.
Nikki: It's worth it.
Nikki: I actually think that.
Nikki: So what I was going to say is I can understand why Casey wouldn't be interested in think I think he would appreciate it when he walks out of it.
Salina: I tried to entice him with Will Ferrell being in it.
Salina: He was really good.
Nikki: He was really good.
Nikki: Ryan Gosling was amazing.
Nikki: I told Kyle I'm still processing him in that role that he played, but he was really was my son.
Nikki: Loved the ken parts.
Nikki: They were very funny.
Nikki: So wonderful movie.
Salina: Yeah, I heard that worked really well.
Salina: Speaking of things that worked really well, are we ready to talk about season four?
Nikki: Let's do it.
Salina: Let's do it.
Nikki: Just to recognize it.
Nikki: Make sure that we're recording.
Nikki: I'm testing it.
Salina: Why are you over there?
Salina: Farting?
Nikki: That didn't seem necessary.
Salina: Why are you over there?
Nikki: Do you test with anything else?
Salina: Like, I could test I could test with a real fart.
Salina: That seemed rude.
Nikki: So the first thing I have is that we're going to talk about our scores a little bit from the season.
Salina: That's right.
Nikki: Is that the first thing you have, too?
Salina: Yes.
Nikki: Okay, perfect.
Salina: Just in case you're ever wondering if it's organic or not.
Salina: Unless you think so.
Nikki: I'm just clinging to life here.
Nikki: So first I want to talk about our rating scales.
Nikki: So we do a clever rating scale.
Nikki: We each try to some weeks are better than others.
Salina: They're clever.
Nikki: We want to do top three rating scales we each had.
Nikki: I thought we could just volley back and forth to one another, talk about what we thought our scores this season would be, what they were actually, and what we would actually rate the season.
Nikki: So top three rating scales we each had.
Nikki: What was your first one?
Salina: Episode two.
Salina: Nasiolabial.
Nikki: That was an excellent one.
Nikki: Mine was for episode one this season.
Nikki: I called it lost pigs on a milk carton.
Nikki: Episode one was actually we called that episode Anthony the Living Kendall.
Nikki: What about number two?
Salina: The next one I have is episode seven, and my rating scale was Two Dicks and a Hat.
Nikki: I feel like your rating scales were much more clever than mine this season.
Nikki: Now that I'm looking at this list.
Salina: I'm like, maybe dirtier.
Nikki: My second one was for episode 13, which we called Babies, Cars and Dolly Parton.
Nikki: And mine was Guardian Celebrities.
Nikki: Yeah, that's probably one of my favorites because it was a chance to talk about Dolly Parton.
Salina: That's right.
Nikki: As a reference to her.
Salina: My last one was episode 21, and the rating scale was really nice headlights.
Salina: Thank you, Mary Jo.
Salina: So told you they're all dirty.
Salina: Sorry.
Nikki: Mine was for episode 25, which we called just a little Bit Wicked.
Nikki: Mine was Childish Shoplifting Shenanigans, which is what Anthony called the thing that his mentees did.
Salina: Oh, yeah.
Nikki: What did you think your score would be this season?
Salina: I would have guessed a 3.5.
Nikki: Mine was a 3.75.
Salina: Oh, really?
Nikki: Yeah.
Nikki: What was yours?
Salina: Actually, this has to be my highest score for a season to date.
Salina: My average score was a four.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: Mine was a 3.85.
Nikki: Knowing what you know now about this season, looking back on the season, on a scale of one to five, what would you have given it?
Salina: Well, I actually think that four is fair.
Salina: Okay.
Salina: I guess I would have probably thought it was a 3.5.
Salina: But I think looking back at what we covered, which I definitely got the chance to do because someone makes me do math every season, I felt good with it.
Salina: There were some, frankly, delightful episodes.
Salina: I think there were also, for me, some series highs.
Salina: And then even the handful I didn't love.
Salina: I still thought they were fine.
Salina: And I think if we weren't analyzing them the way they were, I might even think they were more than fine.
Nikki: Who knows?
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: To me and for me, this is the season where this show really started to sing.
Salina: We've had some glimpses of what it could be in previous seasons, and I thought season three was a ramp up.
Salina: This was solid.
Salina: How about you?
Nikki: Yeah, so I think a 3.85, which is what my actual score was, I wrote almost word for word what you said.
Nikki: It's fair.
Nikki: I got a little, like, whackadoo with the fives at some point.
Nikki: Midseason.
Nikki: Like just giving them all five.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: And then I had to recalibrate myself.
Nikki: But I agree.
Nikki: I think that this season, when I think of the ones we've covered so far this season probably had more episodes that I would rewatch.
Nikki: I wouldn't say they're my favorite episodes necessarily, but I would definitely rewatch them because they were funny and silly.
Nikki: Not a lot of contrived cheesiness, although there was a little bit of that, but most of it was just, like goofy and fun to watch.
Nikki: So I think a 3.85 is fair.
Nikki: Probably four would be maybe a little bit more fair.
Nikki: But I feel like I did a fairly good job scoring this season.
Nikki: There you go.
Salina: We've talked about it's an interesting exercise to do that, but I think that we can't just look back and say, how did Designing Women do?
Nikki: Right?
Salina: We're going to have to face ourselves.
Salina: Sorry.
Nikki: That sound.
Salina: That's my air.
Salina: Oh, welcome to my life.
Salina: I'm so sorry.
Salina: I did sound like aliens or something.
Nikki: I thought you were like tapping a pen or something.
Nikki: I was like, Salina, come on, man.
Salina: We're trying to have a podcast episode here.
Salina: Yeah, sorry.
Salina: So rude of me.
Salina: Just over here.
Nikki: God.
Salina: Playing a harmonica.
Salina: You rightfully suggested that we do a little self critiquing before we meet, and we did.
Salina: But the first thing I want to do is we ease our way into this self critique.
Salina: We'll ease our way in.
Salina: Let's talk about the ones that we really love putting together or sharing this season.
Salina: Why don't you start us off and then maybe if you want, we can go back and forth.
Salina: I'll go ahead and just let you know.
Salina: I have five total that I really enjoyed.
Nikki: I have seven.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: I had nearly forgotten about the most expensive toys grit splits from episode one.
Nikki: But when I found that, it reminded me that I loved putting that segment together.
Nikki: I love looking at things like that, like historical things that had a huge moment but then sort of petered away.
Nikki: And now they're, like, singular if you can find one.
Nikki: Or someone had this great idea to take something very mundane and gild it in gold, for what reason, no one knows except to make money, and they do.
Nikki: So that was really fun to put together and then play that game with you was fun.
Salina: My first one that came up for me was episode 20, Extra Sugar, and it was on Prohibition.
Salina: So it had just been something that had been circling for me since season three when we hit on Hatfields and McCoys, I knew it was something I wanted to come back to.
Salina: It's just a really interesting part of history, and it just wound up being a really big undertaking.
Salina: There were honestly times where I was like, I don't think I'm going to finish this thing.
Salina: Just, like, trying to get to it, just trying to make it happen.
Salina: I mean, I watched a five part documentary in part of my preparation, I was, like, ordering books.
Salina: I was like, what is happening?
Salina: But at the same time, I really enjoyed it.
Salina: And I think for me, it was just how amazed I felt at this, looking at this time period, the movement of Prohibition, how much it affected this country, how much it emphasizes these really distinctly American traits.
Salina: It showed the best of who we are and the worst of who we are.
Salina: And it really was like a little bit of a foretelling of how we would handle things to come.
Salina: And that part I should have known was going to be in the mix, but I don't think I was fully anticipating it.
Salina: And so being able to kind of look back in a way that also you're like, oh, well, this is happening today, right?
Salina: It's really almost grounding in a way.
Salina: I can't say it makes you feel better, but it is grounding.
Nikki: Well, you know, they say history repeats.
Salina: Itself all the time.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: I think there's a distinct difference when we think about extra sugars, too.
Nikki: There's a very obvious difference between the way you approach extra sugars and what you find interesting and then what I think about and what's interesting to me, because my next one was the baby shower segment.
Nikki: That was really one fun.
Nikki: I don't know that the content was necessarily, like, groundbreaking in the sense of the prohibition, the prohibition segment and a lot of the segments you do.
Nikki: This is the point I'm trying to articulate.
Nikki: Not well.
Nikki: They're very thoughtful and they're very well thought out and well considered.
Nikki: And some of mine are more like baby showers.
Nikki: Those are fun.
Nikki: Let's talk about traditions.
Nikki: But I have such an interest in Southern traditions and tradition in general.
Nikki: I think it's so important to have those things that mean something to you personally and then also within your community, whatever that community is, to have that tradition that allows you to come together and celebrate and do things together.
Nikki: And the baby shower one reminded me, when you're in the midst of it and everyone's having babies and it feels like all you're doing is baby showering or bridal showering, how overwhelming it feels.
Nikki: But it is such an important tradition for parents, like, to celebrate them and acknowledge this moment that they're having.
Nikki: And the history of it is fascinating, how it's evolved over time.
Salina: I think it's important.
Salina: Look, you can't just have me coming in all dark and moody all the time, okay?
Salina: With my.
Salina: This is why we have problems in America.
Salina: You need light and you need um.
Nikki: Otherwise you'll can I can bring the airiness and the spaceiness.
Nikki: I've got that all day long.
Salina: And then that day, too.
Salina: I enjoyed that segment, but I'm pretty sure that's the day that we accidentally got punched drunk.
Nikki: Yes, that is.
Nikki: And it very much was obvious in the segment, which I think adds to the fun of it.
Salina: All right.
Salina: It was a good time.
Salina: It was a little bit of a sugar high.
Salina: It happens.
Salina: My next one is the Michelin star restaurants in the south.
Nikki: That was a good one.
Nikki: I think I texted you to tell you that one was really fun to listen to in editing.
Salina: Thanks.
Salina: I appreciate that.
Salina: Episode 22 for those who may want to either go back or listen for the first time.
Salina: So this is another one that I'd really eyeballed for months.
Salina: I also am very excited to report that in between when that segment came out and now Atlanta is getting its own Michelin guide and I think we're going to see the first one this fall.
Salina: That means despite my protest about the whole thing, it means they've been circling the area probably for about a year.
Nikki: Oh, I was going to say, I think they heard your segment and they were like, man, she's got some concerns.
Nikki: Let's do this thing.
Salina: Well, my most ginned up, egotistical version of myself says absolutely, but my truth telling self says that is not happening.
Salina: I'd love for them to hear it, though, but this was our investigation into the claim that I had heard, which was that there weren't any Michelin starred restaurants in the south.
Salina: Technically, it wound up being I just for me, it's just so flooring know, the south, we don't always get it right.
Salina: But the food is good.
Nikki: We understand food.
Salina: The food is really good.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: What's your next one?
Nikki: The Baker's segment.
Nikki: So Jim and Tammy Faye from episode seven.
Salina: Fantastic.
Nikki: When I think back on this season, that one I researched the heck out of.
Nikki: I think that's the one I probably I think I probably spent the most time maybe on any segment ever on that one because I had to watch that through the eyes of Tammy Faye.
Nikki: I didn't have to watch it.
Nikki: I got to watch that expecting again.
Nikki: I was expecting something totally different and watching it, it was a beautifully done movie.
Nikki: It was really wonderful.
Nikki: And I think it's just fascinating to think about these characters that you've had built up in your head through cultural narrative and sort of see them slightly differently.
Nikki: Some things were the same, some things were not.
Nikki: And I think that as we're doing this show, sometimes revisiting things from many years ago for both of us, sometimes for the first time in a thoughtful, research based way, we've sort of just accepted some of these cultural things as truth because that's what we're told.
Nikki: You know, Jim and Tammy Faye are the b*** of jokes or that know, religious nuts who took advantage of their followers.
Nikki: And in some ways that stuff is true, but it's deeper than that.
Nikki: And that segment speaks to me because, one, it was just fascinating to put together, but two, because I think that's part of our point with the podcast is to educate ourselves.
Nikki: And if we're educating ourselves, then we can educate other people because we got mics in front of us so we can all sort of learn these things together or revisit truths, things that we took to be truth that maybe weren't.
Nikki: And I think there's a life lesson in that.
Nikki: I think there's a lesson in not taking things at face value or because someone else told you that's the truth.
Nikki: And that segment reminded me of that.
Salina: Yeah, I think that might be.
Salina: I'm not even going to put Dolly Parton in the mix because that is its own separate thing in my mind, almost.
Salina: But I think that was my favorite segment that you did well.
Nikki: Thank you.
Nikki: I loved really I really enjoyed putting that one together.
Nikki: My other one was episode eight, the Mansion to Rule Them All.
Nikki: I just really like digging into the governor's mansions, things like that.
Nikki: This is one of those segments that there was no obvious extra sugar.
Nikki: I feel like for that episode, there was no reference to a I don't even think there was a reference to a specific governor.
Nikki: It was just the Georgia governor.
Nikki: So we could have, I guess, looked specifically at that.
Nikki: But it was one of those exercises and like, well, what's interesting to me and this is all about the Governor's mansion, maybe that's angle we could take.
Nikki: And so that one was fun because it was sort of like a random brainchild that ended up having something really cool behind it.
Nikki: And then I think we played a fun game with it too, which always makes it more fun.
Nikki: We did.
Salina: Well, I lost, but I think I got one right out of like ten or something.
Nikki: It was hard.
Salina: Yeah, but I learned some things, so there's that.
Nikki: But did you retain them, is the question.
Salina: I don't know.
Salina: I mean, I don't want to be tested again.
Salina: Probably not.
Nikki: There are certain ones that stick out to me, like the beer system in the Colorado Governor's mansion because of the Colorado Rockies and those being on the Coors Light can.
Nikki: So I can make that the one, the pool that shaped like West Virginia.
Nikki: I have a couple that just will forever stick out in my brain now because they were just fascinating.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: Crazy.
Salina: Just crazy, crazy.
Salina: So my next one is the lesser known parts of Black History.
Salina: That was in episode 26.
Salina: So talking about the things that you're just feeling around pulling a segment together, one thing I'll say is we're plugging along and it's getting later in the season.
Salina: I speak for myself here.
Salina: It gets harder to pull some of these segments together.
Salina: You're just tired.
Salina: You just done it a lot.
Salina: It's probably time for a break.
Salina: But I really found this one to be quite rejuvenating, and I use this term lightly, but the research that I did for this one was just so enlightening.
Salina: And it was so enriching.
Salina: It was a little bit of a bittersweet segment to pull together because on the one hand, it is a list of these fascinating, amazing people who overcame so much, they did so much, they did so much to bring something actually to the world.
Salina: It's definitely something when you measure it, when that's the measuring stick, right?
Salina: You're like, what have I been doing my life?
Nikki: That's okay.
Nikki: Don't think too hard on that one.
Nikki: That's right.
Salina: At the same time, it was also this reminder that it's really unusual for us to tackle just one social justice issue at a time.
Salina: This group of people that we covered, they were also facing down sexism and homophobia and all these other things alongside racism.
Salina: On one hand, again, that is completely unfair and the world shouldn't be like that, but it is like that.
Salina: And so to see people be able to circumvent and navigate and still do these amazing things on Earth, it is inspiring.
Salina: And so that was just a real joy to put together.
Salina: And it was also, as things were really happening here in the real, like, not in the history books, but here in the world still today, as we saw affirmative action struck down and these kinds of things on colleges and universities, that is a time where, for me, I was able to reflect on some things.
Salina: And so those happening at the same time was just really eye opening.
Nikki: I should have guessed that was going to be on your list of favorite segments that you put together.
Nikki: And I wish I had thought that through a little bit more because then I would have shared with you what Patreon listener Candice shared.
Nikki: She commented on that segment specifically and shared that was a standout segment to her as well, recently.
Nikki: And she appreciated kind of the depth that you went into with your research and what you shared through that segment.
Nikki: And I think that that's helpful for both of us to hear.
Nikki: And we're so, I mean, I can speak for myself.
Nikki: I think I can speak for you, but I will also let you speak for yourself.
Nikki: That that's the sort of stuff when people give us feedback like that on segments like that, these are not easy segments for us to put together.
Nikki: Not just from a logistical perspective, like, not just doing the research and doing the writing, but from a cultural and from a personal perspective.
Nikki: Some of these segments really challenge us.
Nikki: And really, quite frankly, I think the word for me is scare.
Nikki: US or scare me.
Nikki: I don't want to putting together the Jim and Tammy Faye Baker segment, I was nervous that someone was going to think that I was criticizing Christianity in an unfair way or that I was casting judgment on a whole community of people.
Nikki: And that was never my intent.
Nikki: But sometimes it might come through in the words if you're not listening carefully.
Nikki: And we're in a society where people aren't listening carefully.
Nikki: And so it can be very intimidating to put yourself out there to have an opinion on things or to say too much because you're afraid you might inadvertently step into something.
Salina: Absolutely.
Salina: I mean, you're dealing with real people.
Salina: And I think I've said numerous times when we've met here and talked and we're recording that anytime I'm talking about real people, you never know who's going to hear what.
Salina: So first of all, I always want to be thoughtful to people's emotions, how I might make them feel.
Salina: I think way too often people get on a mic or in real life or they get on social media or wherever it is, and they say things that can really affect people.
Salina: And just like trying to put yourself in someone else's position and think how would that make you feel, I think is a constant exercise as an only child that I have to do.
Salina: And it's something I really try to actively do.
Salina: My whole life I'm falling short.
Salina: My whole life I'm sticking my foot in my mouth.
Salina: But that's something that's a part of my journey.
Salina: And so I just want to be always really extra sensitive every time we're on here and talking about real people.
Salina: And then in the case of that particular episode, it was also about talking about other people's legacies and what they have brought to this world and trying to make that serious, but honoring people who did something that I'll never be able to do.
Salina: I think people who listen to know that oftentimes these things are coming from a place of love.
Salina: And again, that honoring, I think, is really in the saucer.
Salina: I want it to be there.
Salina: But what you say and what people interpret and hear through their lens and their experiences, you don't know how that's going to land.
Salina: I do think it's really important you said that.
Salina: I'm not thinking about this segment in particular, but a lot of times when I'm pulling things together and I'm thinking like when you said the thing about Christianity and not wanting to offend anybody that's Christian, a lot of times I have to ask myself like, do I want to say this?
Salina: Because on the one hand, you don't want to offend anyone.
Salina: On the other hand, it's like I have to say what's in my heart and that's a tough balance to do when it's something that you're putting out into the world.
Salina: So that's a thing.
Nikki: But candice, your comment made Salina Mostie, so thank you for sharing that it did.
Salina: And I'll never be able to re whatever that moment and make it as heartfelt as it was, so I'm not going to try and do that.
Salina: But literally, Candace, every time that you write in and say something, it propels me.
Salina: So thank you.
Nikki: Really kind.
Nikki: And I think it speaks to why we're doing this, because we want to educate ourselves and we want to educate other people as we go.
Nikki: And some of our segments are about that.
Nikki: Some segments are lighter and different, but one of the next segments that I really loved was from episode 13 from a Patreon exclusive, Extra Sugar, where we covered Unfinished Business.
Salina: That was a lot of fun.
Nikki: This was an example of totally random, but sometimes my brain just will not let go of a random thing.
Nikki: So in this instance, we talked about Super Centenarians and old Lang Zion, the New Year's song as well.
Nikki: And while we were talking about Super Centenarians, we talked about Minnie Bell Ward and learned something kind of cool about that character and the inspiration for that character.
Nikki: That was just a freaking fun segment to look into because these are things that just, like, scratch my brain in an unreasonable way.
Nikki: This old Lang Zein thing, I just could not get out of my head that there is a reason that makes me cry.
Nikki: And then I saw a TikTok video and then I had the chance to talk about it, so I just had to I just had to take it.
Nikki: And I just loved putting that segment together.
Nikki: It was fun.
Salina: Yeah, that was a lot of fun.
Salina: And if you're not a Patreon.
Nikki: I'm.
Salina: Like, don't tell them any answers.
Nikki: No, you can google them.
Salina: Just kidding and not kidding.
Salina: Yeah, but you'd be amazed.
Salina: No, you wouldn't.
Salina: A lot of people don't Google.
Nikki: Yeah, I do.
Salina: It's right there.
Nikki: I can't live without.
Salina: Wait, how many do you have left?
Nikki: Two more.
Salina: Okay, so perfect.
Salina: So I had a sidebar.
Salina: Episode Three on Marie Laveau, the Queen of Voodoo.
Salina: That was such a fascinating study of how people are almost turned into mythology, and I just really enjoyed learning about her.
Salina: I think I have so much reverence and appreciation for her that otherwise she was more of just a name to me.
Salina: And I think, again, coming back to this thing of what you hear versus going and trying and exploring it for yourself and my walk away is kind of like, I don't think we know her at all.
Nikki: Right?
Salina: We're just saying stuff.
Salina: And so being able to go to New Orleans this year and stand in front of her house or go into Know, I went into a voodoo shop and they had, like an altar up for her.
Salina: And seeing her likeness everywhere, it just made it so much more special.
Salina: Because I had looked into her and I knew things that were separate from just the myths.
Salina: Or like going to Congo Square and knowing that maybe she did lead voodoo right know.
Salina: Or knowing that her church was just right across the street or whatever the case was.
Salina: All of that was just cemented everything and it just made it so much more enriching for me.
Salina: So that was really nice.
Nikki: My sidebar on Unsolved Mysteries in episode 15 I just love true crime stuff, and Unsolved Mysteries is such a touchstone for me because I used to watch it all the time.
Nikki: It's really hard to recapture that magic.
Nikki: We talked a little bit about how there's been sort of a reprisal of that show.
Nikki: I haven't gotten into that one, but I can hear that music and my brain goes a very specific place.
Nikki: So that was really fun to put together.
Nikki: And then I think, you know, I cannot leave this segment without talking about my Blue Collar comedy Tour.
Salina: Yes.
Nikki: From episode 21, extra sugar.
Nikki: I just have a thing for the blue Collar.
Nikki: I can't move past it.
Nikki: I ended up finding and tracking down the segment where you can see me in the audience of the Blue Collar comedy TV show, which was kind of sort of the genesis for all this because that is my clearest recollection of the Blue Collar comedy tour.
Nikki: So it was fun just to sort of dig back into some of those things, realize how much my life has intersected with that universe of comedy, for better and for worse.
Nikki: And it was just really fun to look into.
Salina: I mean, that level of dedication deserves.
Nikki: Some wait, which part?
Nikki: Not letting a thing go and insisting we do a whole extra sugar on it that ran like super long?
Nikki: Or the part where I looked at the video and found myself in the audience?
Salina: Well, I was going to say the part with the video.
Salina: I thought it was come on.
Salina: It was Baby Face Bill Ingvall.
Salina: You had to chase that down.
Nikki: I had to.
Salina: You had to.
Salina: My very final one is One more sidebar.
Salina: And this one is the international Rich B**** Alimony Tour.
Nikki: I wondered if that would make your list if for no other reason than the name.
Nikki: I think you were really proud of that one.
Salina: Inspired by Suzanne's Urbat, as it were.
Salina: And I think it's really a nice don't get mad, get everything pairing with our special episode that's upcoming this season, the First Wives Club, which I'm very excited to talk about.
Salina: So seemed like a good time.
Salina: So I'm just saying, y'all you listen to the Herbat, you listen to the special episode and that's everything you'll ever need to know about not getting mad, but getting even.
Nikki: Getting everything and everything.
Salina: Get mad, get even, get everything.
Nikki: Not even.
Nikki: We're going beyond even.
Nikki: We're getting our fair share.
Salina: That's right.
Nikki: Which is all of it.
Salina: Then of course, past like the ones know were real pleasure.
Salina: Let's talk about critiquing ourselves for real.
Salina: We have to talk about our do over.
Salina: So, Nikki, given the opportunity, which segments would you do over if you could?
Salina: We can rotate again.
Salina: I have so I'm sure I have.
Nikki: More than three, but I have three as well.
Salina: Look at that.
Nikki: Yeah, we're right on.
Nikki: I think a lot of mine I actually am not sure I would do over.
Nikki: I think I would just find something else entirely.
Nikki: So I think the flip of our extra sugars challenging us to do new and interesting things is when you realize and I've joked this before, I really feel this sometimes I'm like mid segment, and I'm like, this is a terrible idea.
Nikki: Sometimes I think I know it while I'm writing it, and I'm just too committed to seeing a thing through to just give up on it.
Nikki: So season five, that will be a goal I work toward, is being a better self editor.
Nikki: But there are just sometimes where we're doing all the things, and I get so singularly focused that I don't let myself see the truth.
Nikki: But I did a sidebar in episode ten about funny notes left on cars in my head that was going to be hilarious because I freaking love notes that are left on cars.
Nikki: As we sat down to record it, I realized this isn't translating.
Nikki: This isn't as funny as it could be.
Nikki: I like that segment.
Nikki: Well, I probably wouldn't do it again.
Nikki: I'm not sure it was the most compelling listen, but I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Salina: I enjoyed it.
Salina: Mine was okay.
Salina: So there's episode nine, suzanne and Julia go to Japan.
Nikki: Right.
Salina: I really wish we had dedicated a segment to Henry Cho.
Nikki: Henry Cho.
Salina: I have kicked myself many times for that.
Salina: He played Sam, and in real life, he's an Asian American standup comedian, but he's also Southern and from Knoxville, Tennessee.
Salina: That Southern accent is real.
Salina: His standup has often focused on his experience growing up in the south as an Asian American.
Salina: So not a do over, per se, but one I just wish we had done.
Salina: And I have added him to our list of evergreen potential ideas.
Nikki: He came up for me in doing my research for this somehow, and I thought that was pretty my missed opportunity.
Nikki: Yeah.
Nikki: My second mulligan was we found love in a holy place.
Nikki: That was my extra sugar, very recent, about our ministers allowed to date.
Nikki: And then I took it even a step further because I realized there really wasn't much to that.
Nikki: Maybe I was the only stupid person in the world that realized, like, yeah, sure they can.
Nikki: So that was an example of trying to make something of nothing.
Nikki: And as I was recording it and looking into your big brown eyes, I was thinking, this sucks.
Salina: It's just funny because I don't think it sucked.
Salina: But I did see you want to run.
Nikki: You said something mid segment about how niche it was.
Nikki: I still cringe when I think about that because I was like, oh, my God, she's totally right.
Nikki: Like, I am speaking to the smallest, and I think in the recesses of my brain as I was writing it, that was going through my head, but I was committed.
Nikki: You never know.
Nikki: I am nothing.
Salina: You might have helped someone find love.
Nikki: And if I don't know, write me a note, let me know.
Salina: That would be wonderful.
Salina: Can you imagine?
Nikki: That would be beautiful.
Salina: I'd cry whatever the unweared version is of notch in your belt.
Nikki: And not a notch in my headboard.
Salina: Not in your headboard either.
Salina: What's wrong with society anyways?
Salina: So why don't you give us your last one?
Salina: Because my last one is a twofer.
Nikki: Oh, okay.
Nikki: The Citizenship Extra Sugar is another one that it just didn't turn out the way this is.
Nikki: One I would totally redo.
Nikki: It just didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.
Nikki: And it's because I don't think I thought through enough.
Nikki: The bit of us taking the test.
Nikki: I wanted it to be organic.
Nikki: I wanted it to happen in real time.
Nikki: But I had this editing bit that I really wanted to do, and it just didn't work out the way I wanted it to.
Nikki: I'm not sure I couldn't even articulate it, but I knew what I wanted to do, and sometimes that's why I just go into my hole and I just do a thing, because I kind of know what I want to do.
Nikki: I just don't know how to explain it.
Nikki: That one just didn't work out the.
Salina: Way I wanted it to me on social media.
Salina: Because in my head, I'm like a director, right?
Salina: Like, Hollywood director.
Salina: I've got all these big things in my head, and I'm like, you have nothing, right?
Salina: You can do nothing, and you better.
Nikki: Get used to, right?
Nikki: So that's exactly what happened here.
Salina: Come swinging on a vine and then drop down from a helicopter.
Nikki: And then I'm like, oh, wait, no vine, no helicopter.
Nikki: Exactly.
Salina: In front of my fridge.
Nikki: Exactly.
Nikki: So I think it was an interesting segment.
Nikki: I think there were more things I wish I could have put in.
Nikki: I didn't want to make it boring, but in retrospect, I think I was scrambling for time a little bit on that one and then just didn't think it through all the way.
Nikki: I would redo that one, probably.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: So this section we're calling let's Beat up on our Nicki, get a little hard on themselves.
Salina: So there are two Extra Sugars where I wish I had just had more time to finesse.
Salina: But sometimes you just got to let.
Nikki: A sexy just got to do a thing.
Salina: You got to let that baby go.
Salina: The first one for me is episode 18, the Evolution of Fidelity.
Salina: It's inverse and the dreaded M word.
Salina: So the very first thing I do is workshop that name.
Salina: Let me tell you that I was changing it right up to the very minute that we aired, and you were like, what's the name?
Salina: I was like, I don't know.
Salina: And I was like, uhoh, we're committed now.
Nikki: This is a thing, right?
Salina: I really didn't know because I was like, what do I call this?
Salina: Anyways, this is one where I talk about the history of cheating, especially through an American lens.
Salina: And it's not that I didn't like it.
Salina: It's just, again, finessing.
Salina: And I probably just should have called it cheating, right?
Salina: But no, why make it one word when you could make it 18 words?
Nikki: Because you're you and that's you.
Salina: It's definitely me.
Nikki: It's your superpower.
Salina: It's my crypto night.
Salina: And then episode 15, busting up Southern women's stereotypes.
Salina: I stand by the fact that these exist, but if I'd had a little bit more time, I would have come up with some more examples and just refined it.
Salina: But stuff happens.
Salina: So there we are.
Nikki: I'm proud of everything we've put out.
Nikki: I want to be super clear about that.
Nikki: I stand behind it all.
Salina: Do you think people will go listen to these ones called out as being terrible?
Nikki: God, I hope not.
Nikki: So now that we've been hard on ourselves, let's switch gears a little bit and let's be good to somebody.
Nikki: Let's give some this episode run of show was coming together about the same time as the end of the school year, and I had senior superlatives in my head.
Nikki: And so speaking of ideas that you don't really know what they are.
Nikki: I don't know.
Nikki: I wanted this to be senior superlatives.
Nikki: It ended up I think they're going to be kind of like seasoned superlative.
Nikki: Oscars, do you want to go to the bathroom?
Nikki: Are you good?
Salina: I think I'll just hold it.
Salina: That'll propel me forward.
Nikki: Fair enough.
Salina: That'll be my energy.
Salina: Since I'm out of coffee, I just have to pee.
Nikki: But we have a couple categories where we want to offer an award to someone this season.
Nikki: If we had to offer an award, Salina, to someone for the most character growth from the whole season of Designing Women, who would it be?
Salina: Even though you could probably argue there was some regression in the growth, I'm going to say it's Suzanne.
Salina: So here's my reasoning.
Salina: I think she had a big breakthrough at her high school reunion with meeting the little boy from Ethiopia.
Salina: And your mileage may vary on how much that setup works in 2023.
Salina: But she showed some real humility in that episode in her speech and a softness that we don't see from her a lot.
Salina: I actually think her character gets like as she gets funnier.
Salina: She kind of gets harder over the seasons, but she's never been soft.
Salina: She was also subjected to homophobia in the Sauna with Eugenia.
Salina: Eugenia, anyways.
Salina: And your mileage may vary on how successful that episode was, but it is the first time that we really hear her at least have some recognition about her own attitudes and perhaps ignorance when it comes to anything that's in the LGBTQIA plus area, at least to my memory.
Salina: Most of the time she's just making these random comments, right.
Salina: And it's the first time that you see her guard drop and her see the person in her friend here and how unfair that situation was for something that that woman didn't understand at all.
Salina: Suzanne also shot Anthony, but she paid for Anthony's black history reading room.
Salina: Was it?
Salina: Absolutely.
Salina: You know, she's not perfect, but still there was something satisfying about seeing that happen, especially after we've seen all of the kinds of comments that she's made to Anthony over the seasons.
Salina: There was something there where it felt like we're going in a better direction.
Salina: And then she paid for everybody to go to the spa in the very last episode.
Salina: Now all h*** did in fact, break loose, but she tried, and more so than she's done in other seasons.
Nikki: We landed on the same person.
Nikki: So my first blush thought was Anthony graduated college.
Nikki: That's an obvious growth.
Nikki: Like, he didn't graduate in the beginning of the season and he did at the so, like there was some growth there.
Nikki: Charlene birthed an entire baby through this season.
Nikki: She started the season pregnant, ended the season.
Nikki: A mom of like, I don't know, a six month old, that's a lot of growth.
Nikki: But I think thinking about the character themselves, I think this season, I mean, we got her losing it and hexing the beauty pageant because she thought she was going to lose her title.
Nikki: But we also got they shoot fat women, don't they?
Nikki: And we also got her telling Anthony she loved him.
Nikki: So for all the reasons you said, those reasons and more, I think she grew the most this season.
Salina: I do think we could give an honorable mention to Julia, but let me tell you why.
Salina: I think she had to eat humble pie a few times this season.
Nikki: Yes, I guess that's true.
Salina: First when she got her head stuck in the banister at the governor's mansion, and then again after her drunken night at Payne's wedding.
Salina: So she had to do that walk of shame into a college dorm hallway to call don't.
Salina: And I'm saying honorable mention just because I think those were a couple of key embarrassing moments for her.
Salina: I don't think it necessarily changed who she was.
Nikki: I was going to say let's remember that, though.
Nikki: Let's see what happens in season five, because I'm not sure she grew from any of those experiences, but maybe she did, right?
Nikki: So what about best hair?
Salina: I gave it to Anthony's Consueuela wig.
Salina: It's just not a great decade for hair.
Salina: So, yeah, I see the hair changing, but I think that's the winner for me.
Salina: How about you?
Nikki: So for this one, I really had to back into it.
Nikki: I.
Nikki: Had to think about who didn't have the best hair.
Nikki: Mary Jo.
Nikki: It was just an unfortunate start to the season.
Nikki: And we talked in episode one that one of the pieces of Trivia was that that episode's hair is her singular worst hair moment in the entire series.
Nikki: But for some reason, fans have put it in their brains that that's what her hair looked like in this series.
Nikki: So Mary Jo has the worst hair, but she really did have a few moments where they're just not playing to her hair's strength.
Nikki: And I just didn't look good.
Nikki: I think Suzanne's got shorter and shorter as the season went on, and then was the early 90s curly, which in my opinion, was not the best look for her.
Nikki: So I struggle with that.
Nikki: Julia's, to me, stays more or less the same.
Nikki: It never really changes.
Nikki: So that all led me to Charlene.
Nikki: Hers is just always fluffy.
Nikki: It's always feathery.
Salina: It's fluffy.
Nikki: It's always light.
Nikki: I just like it.
Nikki: So I gave it to Charlene.
Salina: Okay.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: Worst lines.
Nikki: Either the worst lines in the series or the person with the worst lines in the series.
Salina: Okay.
Nikki: Either way is fine.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: Why don't you go ahead and kick us off then?
Nikki: So I really feel in general, like the come on lines for men's in the show from men in the show, like the flirting is just lackluster.
Salina: Like it was written by a woman, maybe.
Nikki: Yes, but it wasn't always.
Nikki: I think there were times we looked and it was written by men.
Nikki: So I don't know.
Nikki: But I think it's some woman's interpretation of what she would want a man to say to her.
Nikki: Something anyway.
Nikki: You know the first person who came to mind for me, bill.
Nikki: Old Bill with his awkward, like, 1940s quotes, there's just a lot of you're so d*** beautiful and you're still my girl type of stuff.
Nikki: That just gives me the heebie GB's.
Nikki: So episode 13, the last day of the last decade of the entire 20th century.
Nikki: It's a Wonderful Life Episode 24 Both of these were just like perfect examples of his terrible lines.
Nikki: And It's a Wonderful Life.
Nikki: He minimized Charlene's feelings a lot and said, like, super insensitive things about her hormones and stuff.
Nikki: And then we had episode 13 where he just laid it on thick how much he worships her.
Nikki: I just can't do it.
Nikki: I just can't do it.
Salina: Even though we're married, you still take my breath away every day.
Salina: I love being with you, sleeping with you, and watching you be being pregnant.
Salina: And I'm just so d*** in love with you.
Salina: Was it that it's.
Nikki: That stuff right there, watching you being it.
Nikki: I can't do Bill.
Salina: So Bill's line, someone's going to be offended.
Nikki: I can live with it, man.
Nikki: I will own this one.
Nikki: That this is personal.
Salina: Everybody's mileage varies.
Nikki: My thing with Bill is personal.
Nikki: It's a real personal axe to grind.
Nikki: I can't quite put my finger on it.
Salina: I actually divided mine into bad, worse and worst.
Salina: And then I realized then your answer, Salina, is the worst.
Salina: And if you were going to ask me the line that bothered me the worst across the entire season, it would have to be in episode 19.
Salina: Payne grows up.
Salina: Payne talking to Julia the morning after her shenanigans, should have known.
Salina: And he says, you're going to make one sexy.
Salina: Just it's a whole just it's wrong.
Salina: It's wrong.
Salina: No son says that.
Salina: No, sun, no, it's just not know.
Salina: I said, I'm not doing hard lines in the sand anymore, but that's a hill I'm willing to die on.
Nikki: I actually had a runner up.
Nikki: A close second was Donald from episode two this season.
Salina: So that was my bad.
Nikki: It was rough.
Nikki: He said, actually, I rehearsed all these opening lines, but you just look so d*** beautiful.
Nikki: I can't say anything except you just look so d*** beautiful.
Nikki: And then he said, I hope that thing about spending the night together didn't offend you.
Nikki: That would have been my Mount Everest.
Nikki: But quite frankly, I'm happy right here, just hanging off the side of the cliff with you.
Nikki: So conquest vibes mixed with a healthy dose of guilt.
Nikki: No, thanks.
Salina: I'm cool.
Salina: Yeah, he was in my bad.
Salina: So was Bill.
Salina: And since I'll just go ahead and rip the bandaid off, my worst was actually Boyd from Tough Enough, episode 21.
Salina: And I just said, just anything he says is so cringey and so lame and so ridiculous that it's just like, it's too much.
Nikki: We really only get one great man in this series, and it's Anthony.
Salina: It's Anthony.
Nikki: All right.
Nikki: What about best line?
Salina: This one was easy for me.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: Bernice's sanity.
Nikki: Oh, okay.
Salina: It's a Bernice centric episode.
Salina: Good pacing.
Salina: They use all the characters in my mind right, so perfectly.
Salina: We all have a villain to join forces against her niece.
Salina: And then the twist of Sugar Bakers being the one that's making her look crazy, well, that's just sweet.
Salina: Sweet icing on the cake.
Nikki: That was the first one I wrote down, so I will give you my second one.
Salina: Okay.
Nikki: Which was episode 13, baby dolls, babies dolls and Dolly Parton or the last day of the entire decade of the 20th century?
Nikki: I looked back the way I came to this answer was I looked back at my fives from the season and I actually realized I'm not sure that my favorite episodes were the ones I gave fives.
Nikki: I think I actually might have undervalued some of my favorite episodes because I was being hypercritical of them.
Nikki: So this one I really loved the arch of life and death because we talked about the birth of Charlene's baby.
Nikki: We talked about minibelle's passing.
Nikki: I thought the humor was really spot on.
Nikki: It was a very long episode, but it was still very funny and also very touching.
Nikki: My only beef was that it sometimes felt like several episodes glued together.
Nikki: Minibel's Story was really powerful, but sort of like backburnered in the overall part of the episode, I almost think that could have been separate.
Nikki: And that was my comments in the episode.
Nikki: I ended up rating it down for that.
Nikki: But when I think back on the season, that is a front runner for me.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: All right.
Nikki: What about best guest star?
Salina: I went with Olivia Brown as Vanessa.
Nikki: Oh, okay.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: I mean, she's cute, she's funny, and we're never going to see her again.
Salina: So I'd like to give her some do.
Nikki: You know, it's so funny because you brought up one of your mulligans was that you would have pushed us to do an extra sugar on the character of Sam from excuse me or Julia and Suzanne's Big Adventure.
Nikki: He was actually my front runner for best guest star because I thought he was really charming.
Nikki: I loved how he handled the women.
Nikki: So I would say he was probably my top guest star.
Nikki: So our last category is best team up.
Nikki: What you got?
Salina: So my favorite is episode ten where we I think it's called Manhunt.
Salina: I think we renamed it old Widow Shively.
Salina: And it's Mary Jo and Suzanne, where Suzanne helps Mary Jo follow the advice in the dating book.
Salina: I just loved it was to spoiler alert.
Salina: I don't know we ever get another team up from them.
Salina: Now that we've previewed five, we've never gotten really one before.
Salina: They were kind of always a little, you know, I think it's hard for me because normally I would say Anthony and Suzanne all day, any day, but we get so many from them that this one felt a little bit more unique.
Salina: And I like the way they played off each other.
Nikki: So we're going to flip flop each other then.
Nikki: So I would say the Suzanne and Charlene team up at the end of the season, and I think I said this maybe in the second to last episode, the one where she shoots Anthony, that was probably the most surprising to me.
Nikki: Pair up.
Nikki: Now that you've said Mary Jo, I'm wondering oh, well, I guess that's true.
Nikki: But I'd never expected Charlene and Suzanne to get together.
Nikki: They just feel to me like oil and water.
Nikki: And so that was a surprising team up.
Nikki: But actually, my favorite was Suzanne and Anthony.
Nikki: And specifically, I was thinking of episode one this season where Anthony gets hurt and Suzanne sort of like, nurses him back to health.
Nikki: There was just so sort of she tries.
Nikki: She tries.
Nikki: There was, like, love there.
Nikki: And it was sort of planting the seeds for her, saying she loves him at the end of the season.
Nikki: And so knowing now what I know, that puts it in a new light for me.
Nikki: So that was my favorite.
Salina: That's a good way of looking at it.
Nikki: So that's it.
Nikki: Are you ready for season five.
Salina: Bring it on.
Nikki: She's so do it.
Nikki: She's so excited.
Nikki: Before we kick off season five, we've picked a handful of our favorite episodes of all time that we're going to re air through the month of September.
Nikki: We're still deciding which ones they're going to be, but they're going to be good.
Nikki: We're going to go way back into the archive.
Salina: What if we only aired the ones we said we'd like to do over?
Salina: Wait till you get a load of these.
Nikki: That'd be on brand.
Nikki: I feel like at this point, yeah, we're going all the way back.
Nikki: I think we're going to revisit some of our earlier seasons, too, which will be exciting.
Nikki: But whatever we choose, every Monday you can expect a main episode from a previous season and every Thursday you can expect an extra sugar.
Nikki: We're staying on our schedule.
Salina: I'm like, we may not deliver it.
Nikki: But you can all you want it all day long.
Nikki: But first up, we're going to take a break next week.
Nikki: Then we'll be back with our traditional special episode.
Nikki: That's where one of us watches a movie we haven't either seen before or we haven't seen in a while.
Nikki: Then we report back to the show.
Nikki: We did a fun bracket tournament on social media and in our Patreon page this year.
Nikki: And after what I can only say is a heated competition, we ended up with the First Wives Club.
Nikki: Yeah, I say heated competition.
Nikki: I don't know.
Salina: I had like in the first round when you voted yes.
Salina: Okay.
Salina: It was heated.
Nikki: So we're going to talk about the first Wives Club.
Nikki: So that reminding us how we got to that is a nice plug to remind you to follow us on social.
Nikki: If you're not there, we try to keep it fresh over there.
Nikki: We try to do fun stuff.
Salina: Right.
Nikki: Help me, Salina.
Nikki: Yes.
Nikki: Instagram and Facebook at Sweetv.
Nikki: You can email us sweettvpod@gmail.com.
Nikki: You can also find us on our website.
Nikki: That's where we post show notes and transcripts of each episode.
Nikki: WW.
Nikki: Sweettv.com.
Nikki: And we're on YouTube search sweet.
Nikki: Tea and TV podcast.
Nikki: And then this is our final plug for the season, I guess, of the main season.
Nikki: Remember to rate and review us wherever you're listening.
Nikki: You can also visit the Support us page of the website for other ways to support the show.
Nikki: And then, Salina, before we go, I think you have a late breaking extra sugar.
Salina: I do.
Salina: This just came together at the last minute and what we're going to talk about is some Atlanta deep cut references okay.
Salina: That we got across season four, some maybe I missed.
Salina: And so we're going to try and solve that.
Nikki: This is your mulligan.
Salina: That's right.
Salina: Well, yeah, that's true.
Salina: Actually, this was a mulligan and I took that sucker and made it into an entire extra sugar.
Salina: But also revisiting something that I mentioned earlier in the season that I said I would come back to, and I'm finally going to get to my word on that promise is kept.
Nikki: So come back Thursday for that.
Nikki: And in the meantime, do you want to say anything to everybody?
Nikki: I want to say a sincere thank you for supporting us through season four.
Salina: Oh, that's really nice.
Salina: Because I was like, bye.
Nikki: I saw it in your face.
Nikki: It wasn't registering.
Nikki: It's just a chance for us to say genuinely, if you didn't hear it, as we were talking about some of our mulligans, as we've gone off our rocker a couple times throughout the season, this is a real effort for us.
Nikki: This is fun and challenging and we put a lot of ourselves into it.
Nikki: And it's always amazing when a listener comments that a segment resonated with them like Candice did or someone messages us on social media and tells us that they really loved one post that we did.
Nikki: And that sort of community and that sort of like talking with one another and having meaningful conversation means a lot.
Nikki: And I'm just so grateful to everyone who listens every single week.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: I don't know I'm going to be able to do any better than that.
Salina: I think all of that holds true.
Salina: I think being able to see some real, true, diehard Designing Women fans come around this season has been really fun and interesting and I think we're doing this for a whole host of reasons and I think we're even getting to see some of that evolve in real time.
Salina: I think that's what we were always looking for.
Salina: And yeah, just thank you so much for tuning in.
Salina: Thank you for sharing in this experience with us.
Salina: And it is an absolute honor every time we hear from you and we hope to hear from you more in this next season as it's a little bittersweet because we'll be saying goodbye to two of our favorite characters.
Nikki: All right, well, thanks for that, but not us.
Salina: We'll be here.
Salina: And you know what that means.
Nikki: What does it mean, Salina?
Salina: It means we'll see you around the bin.
Salina: It.
Nikki: Really went off the rails.
Nikki: I'm sorry.
Salina: And maybe I can get some forgiveness for that extra sugar.
Nikki: Your extra sugar was fantastic.
Salina: Oh, sure.
Nikki: The punch and like, it's all I can think about.
Nikki: Yeah.