Designing Women S7 E2 - BJ Poteet: A Little Air in Her Hair

Up first in our last Designing Women season EVER: Ms. Bonnie Jean Poteet, or BJ “if you’re nasty” (per Nikki, which, let’s be honest, makes it way better). We’re gonna talk about her season trajectory: her highs and her lows, and generally, what these two seasoned gals thought of this brief and final show addition.

We’ll break somewhere in the middle to talk about the woman behind the woman: Judith Ivey. Then come back on Thursday for a downright scandalous “Extra Sugar” inspired by the midseason obsession with Squidgygate – the world loves a “gate”, ya know?

Come on y’all, let’s get into it! 

Or listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music.

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Transcript

Hey, Nikki, Hey, Salina, and hey, y'all, and welcome to Sweet Tea and tv. This is our season seven Bonnie Jean, AKA BJ Petite episode. Look, you can't be throwing around BJ with no context.

You cannot.

Hence, I mean, you can.

I mean, you can.

That's not what we're gonna do here.

Always contextualize context.

As a reminder, BJ is there to replace Allison, who was there to replace Suzanne, much to the chagrin of fans, and then the chagrin of fans and the chagrin of fans. but in Designing Women land, she is a new client who is looking for help redecorating house that her husband bought sight unseen. We learn a little bit of her backstory in the first episode, and so I'm going to share just a little bit of that to kind of get folks acquainted. So she was a court reporter who married Mr. James Poteet, a very wealthy litigator who wound up in her courtroom one day. They fell hard and fast for one another. now I felt bad because I get sad from here. He died during their.

Thanks for warning us.

Yeah, he died during their wedding reception from a heart condition only three months earlier. Through a string of shenanigans, she winds up becoming an overnight partner at Sugar Bakers. We talked about that first episode in our first episode, so we won't revisit that too much. But, you know, her immense wealth, much like Suzanne and Allison before her, are propping the business up. I thought I'd give that general flavor before you kind of take us into her major plot points and all of that.

So the episodes that were BJ focused, we have of Human Bondage

Great. So the episodes that were BJ focused, we have of Human Bondage. So this is the one you were talking about where we meet bj. This is after Allison pulled her money out of Sugar Bakers. and then we also learned that BJ's house has an interesting, quote, unquote, fun room. That's what I like to call it. then we have love letters, which you talked about in, episode one this season. This is where she finds an old love letter from James in her safety deposit box, which leads her to a breakdown over whether he was cheating on her. Then we have the Odyssey. She gets the ladies invited to the presidential inauguration, which leads them to take a doomed Odyssean adventure. And then we have sex, lies, and bad hair days where she depressedly. I think I invented that word. She depressedly celebrates her birthday.

I was okay with it.

Okay, thank you.

I depressedly do a lot of things.

Well, we may be depressedly celebrating our birthday this Year by getting bad haircuts, maybe. And then Julia sets her up on a bad date to make, her feel better.

Right.

So then, major plot points. I think you touched on a couple of these, but real quick to run through them

So then, major plot points. I think you touched on a couple of these, but real quick to run through them. the biggest one, obviously, is that she joined Sugar Baker, floated the business when their impending financial ruin otherwise threatened it. She establishes her credibility as an Atlanta font of wisdom by buying some billboards. Thanks to her big contributions to the Democratic Party, she gets the crew invited to the presidential inauguration. and that would be the Bill Clinton inauguration. And then maybe the biggest plot point in her backstory is her continuing to mourn her husband James, who died on their wedding day, which was one of your social or cultural references you mentioned in, episode one. and Morning James leads to a bad hairdo and some very bad dates later in the season, which we've talked about. Did I miss anything?

I don't think you missed anything.

Judith Ivy: BJ seemed more full drawn than Allison this season

but I wondered if maybe because so much of our stuff is superlative related, if it was worth talking a little bit about, or if this would be an okay place for me to share some of my thoughts. Just about her, I guess, trajectory here. Just basically, it felt to me anyway, like the writers are trying to write R I G H T any Allison wrongs. Just, like, from the get go. because she's warm and generous without strings and likable. And Allison was not those things. You know, Allison was always a little bit of a caricature to me, whereas BJ seemed almost immediately more full drawn. Or at least that was my perception of what the writers were aiming for. You know, it's not just in these billboards and her specific views on life, which felt like an interesting way to tell us that. but also her being a recovering alcoholic. M or it's funny, I guess she gives the Democratic Party. But I was pretty sure at some point she calls herself a libertarian. And in my mind, the libertarian is a Republican in a funny hat. So, I, I don't. And they would not like that definition. Okay, I'm very sorry. But if you look it up, usually when they have to vote one way or the other, a lot of times they go Republican. I'm just saying. So those were some of my thoughts. Not necessarily major plot points. Just like, just thinking about who BJ was as a character this season.

That seems fair.

On that note, can I say what.

We'Re calling our BJ Season 7 adventures?

Can you, on that note, tell us what our episode is called?

On that note, we're calling this episode BJ Potee. A little air in her hair. And on that note of BJ Potee.

Can we do a little sidebar?

Yes, it's a sidebar. Salina sidebar. She's got a keyboard. Looking for a reward by digging deep in the obscure Taking us on a detour. What you got? Salina? In Salina's sidebar.

That steady pace will never not have me over here.

Definite metronome bun going on on top.

Of your head as it slowly shakes down. Not that slowly. Got a lot going on up there today. Anyways, so since this is our first and last season with BJ Poteet, it felt right to spend a little time, I thought, talking about the actor who played bj, and that is Potee, and that is Judith Ivy.

Ivy is a two time Tony award winner for her stage work

So first of all, call it if you don't. Well, it doesn't matter if you know or not. Accent fake or real?

real, yes.

And can you guess its origin?

Virginia. No.

You want to take a second guess?

Mississippi.

You want to take a third guess?

Texas.

Good job. Thanks. We only had, like, 10, so we're gonna get there, and I was gonna line you up with a hint next.

I think in my. My mind flashed to something about her in Virginia, maybe, But I should have known Texas, because isn't that where BJ's from?

It is. Which I think, yeah, I think, maybe it was a little nod from, the writers. Who knows? But so, I mean, so Texas. So Texas. Good job. Uncanny how you just know, you know what I'm saying?

Just back into the parking space.

I hear those accents. I know. Oh, North Carolina. That's definitely Alabama. But Ivy was born on September 4, 1951, in El Paso, Texas. She's been married to producer tim brain since 1989. Somebody's gonna be like, it's brawn. Anyways, so, they have two children together. She's been in movies and on TV for decades, and. But I think she's still widely regarded for her stage work. It sounds like she might also prefer the ST. So I found a 2022 interview where she was talking a little bit about it, and she said when it comes to theaters, actors run the show, and she especially likes the audience that she plays often, too. You can also see then, like, how she was a good fit for a live studio audience. She wanted to be a painter initially, but was hooked when she saw Carol Channing and hello, Dolly in Chicago and would eventually study acting at Illinois University. Like, what a world that you're just, like, out randomly in a theater. One night get to see Carol Channing. So somebody's got to do it. Ivy is a two time Tony award winner, both times for best featured actress in a play. Once in 1983 play called Steaming, again in 1985 for Hurley Burley. Like that.

Glorious.

I love that. And there goes my, knowledge. I'm just like, I like saying that word. And then she's also been nominated two additional times. Once in 1992 for park your car in Harvard Yard, which I'm pretty sure they've gone.

But yeah, thank you.

I'm like someone else, please do it. My boss, Max. It isn't very good. And then in 2013 for a revival of the Heiress. Ivy also is a director, so in. She's directed a fair amount of plays for several years. There were two things that really caught my eye, though. She directed a run of Still Magnolias at the Alley Theater, as well as a play called Southern Comforts. And if I'm reading this right, I think she directed Dixie Carter and Hal Holbrook in that.

Oh, wow.

There's a little connection there.

Nikki Haley has guest starred on several TV shows and several movies

and I also just sort of wanted to tease out this idea, like I want to talk about her background, but also, I, you know, when we were talking in the initial episode about the episode I didn't like, and she was in the mausoleum and doing the whole monologue. Yeah. I think you could really see that stage actor at work and that she is a, like a real. A performer's performer, you know. But she's guest starred in a lot of TV shows, mostly one episode here and there kind of deals or like a three to five episode stint. But things that we. And the reason I wanted to share this is because I think she's a little bit of a chameleon. Even though, like, I do think she has a unique look about her. I think she is such a good performer that there are things I've seen her in and I just did not even connect the dots until I was looking at her filmography. But Will and Grace, Nurse Jackie, Grey's Anatomy, Big Love, White Collar, Law and Order, svu. And the one that caught my eye is she was in a sitcom in 1996 with Dave Chappelle called Buddies. She was like main cast, but it only lasted like half a season.

Oh, wow.

Yeah. I don't know. I mean, it's Dave Chappelle, so she's also appeared in several movies, including the Devil's Advocate. I mentioned that because this is a movie I've seen 187 times. And I did not until I read that even after watching this season of Designing Women, I was like, oh, it's Keanu Reeves's mom. Oh, hold on. You still haven't seen the Devil's Advocate, right? Yeah, no, I've seen. You have seen? Yeah.

I mean, I couldn't call to memory his religious mom. Okay.

Like, yeah. so anyway, I don't want to do any spoilies. It's only 30 years old.

Again, I've seen it, so it wouldn't be spoilies for me.

It's not just about you, Nikki.

It's always just about me.

You're such a. Leo Said the only child. More recently, in 2022, she starred in Sarah Pauli's Women Talking, which won an Academy Award for best adapted scre play and was also nominated by Best Picture. This is just like. Is it like the quick synopsis is Do Nothing, Stay and Fight or leave. In 2010, the women of an isolated religious community grapple with reconciling a brutal reality with their faith. I'm gonna level with you. I'm really gonna have to be in a seriously. Okay place.

No kidding.

I've heard it's incredibly heavy.

Oh, my God.

but anyways, you can definitely see again how stage, chops would be very helpful here. A lot of big names. Rooney Mara, Claire Foy. and then also, you know, that's the Queen of England, y'all. Frances McDormand and Jessie Buckley. One of the reasons I wanted to bring up this movie is because I was reading an interview about it, and she had this to say about her stint on Designing Women. She said that her time on the show was a joy, of course. Like, how many people are like, what a terrible time.

A lot. A lot of actors say that.

I guess enough time has passed. It will be fine. But she said that she'd actually have really loved to work with Jean Smart. And before Designing the Designment and Designing Women, they did a Broadway show together about Edith Piaf. in his recent. As a recent connection to our show, she also starred in hello Again with Shelley Long, of course. We just recently did an episode on the cult classic Troop Beverly Hills. If anyone wants to go revisit that. I will not take Nikki through the slogan again. Not right now. And then we'll link to some interviews so that you can see for yourself what Ivy is like. But she seems like a really cool lady with a lot of depth and heart, so, you know, Judith, Ms. Ivy, come on the show anyways with that.

Designing Women ended in 1993, and it made me sad

Not only is she A superlative in real life. I can't do it. You want to talk about. You want to talk about best, and worst episode overall for you in our superlative section? I do.

Can I add one thing to your sidebar?

Oh, yes.

It's not like a great transition or anything, but, I found a 1993 People article. April 1993. This was me looking for some other reason. I came back and copied and pasted this into my notes. when I knew you were going to do the sidebar, she said, BJ is a comfortable fit. I feel like I've been doing her forever. And so when she made this quote was just before they all found out that Designing Women was over. And it made me feel really sad. So, one, it made me happy that her experience in the show had been so good because we were sort of coming off very challenging times for the cast and, characters on this show. So I love that she felt like it was a comfortable fit. It sounds like she did have a great experience, even in 1993, on the show. But it made me really sad that she felt like she really had carved something out there, and then it all just was gone. Yeah, that must be the life of an actor. I just. I don't know that I could do that.

I think so, yeah. I mean, it's kind of like. I mean, and there's a lot of jobs out there, but that's all. I also. I don't know how people do those that. It's just. There's not a lot of certainty whether it's sales or, like, having to keep business going. like.

Like a design firm.

Like a design firm. I mean, how would you even. Like, I hear it's hard, but anyway, so, yeah.

Yeah, it just made me sad because it did sound like between the quote you said years later and the quote right after having done it, that she really enjoyed her time there. So, yeah. Bounce back with Dave Chappelle.

Well, we may have not. We may have not liked season seven all that much. but I'm glad that she had a good time. Yeah, it's really important.

Do you want to talk about best and worst episodes of Designing Women

On the note of good times, do you want to talk about best and worst episodes?

I do, and I want to just go ahead and prime up the fact that I've already given my answers away a little bit because her episodes, incidentally, count among my most and least favorite of the season.

Oh, interesting.

But for the best, I picked episode, 16, sex, lies, and Bad Hair Days. this is the one where she celebrates her birthday she starts dating again. There's just a lot to enjoy here. BJ really gets to shine in this one. I think that's not always the case, as we so know, as we have learned over the years. It may be your episode, but then sometimes it gets snatched from you and really becomes someone else's. But Judith Ivy really shows us that she has the comedic chops. And there was a lot of good lines, including from Bernice and Anthony, but I'll save those for their episodes. One from BJ that I just thought was particularly clever was 16 volume in a week in Aruba won't make this hair relax. I just felt that sentiment in my bones, you know, as my bun shakes down. It will not be contained. And then, the way that they set her up, set up her dates really worked for me. And the writers really gave us the worst of both worlds. So first, we get the womanizer. On the first date. It's very clear that he's there for sex and sex along. And while I do applaud him prioritizing safe sex and sexual health, like, be less weird, dude. And then the second date is, like, maybe too enthusiastic. He's over complimenting. He's commenting on their future together within 30 seconds. But the best part is it's the same waiter both nights. And so we see her desperation really growing with each date. She politely mouths, help me with the first guy. And then on the second date, she's like, help me. And also, like, who of us can't relate to that feeling? Doesn't have to be on a date, just in life sometimes.

Monday through Friday.

Right. Thematically, I like that it brought up some things as well. So, rhetorical questions coming at you. You don't have to answer these unless you feel so inclined. I will not. This is a little heterosexual centric, but this idea of, like, why does it mean more when you get a compliment from a man versus a woman? Or why do their opinions mean more? Or why do people think that everything can be fixed by a date or a man? I also thought it was a little weird that Patriarchy. Yes. Thank you. See, there is an answer. I thought it was weird that Julia, like, brought these things up and then was like, I have someone I can send you on a date with.

Yes.

And then related. This episode shows that kind of female camaraderie and friendship is not only important, it's just as valuable as romance. And then we get to see that camaraderie play out in the most fantastic way when they take down the tool at the bar, which is really nice. That's all my reasons. Did I pass?

You passed. You didn't sell me. Because my best, episode was episode one, of Human Bondage. It's. But honestly, it's largely because I wasn't super annoyed with the way we met this character, which is not the way we. We've experienced, Designing Women's new characters over time. we didn't end up with a ton of unanswered questions about her entrance. Like, like we had when Carlene came in and then Char. Is Charlene, like, really gone? Is she going forever? Why is she going? Is she gonna come back? We weren't left with that. or like, when, Allison came in, we were sort of like, wait, so Suzanne's just gone? Like, she just went to Japan or whatever, and she's never coming back? We weren't left with all that. Like, we. It was tidy. Allison went and started a new business. She's not coming back. Now we've got day. we also established her backstory in a fun way. So there were all those little crumbs, which I think you mentioned, where we learn a little bit about her in a not so in your face way. Like, we don't need a biography of her. We just learn it through these cute little remarks or these cute little discussions that they're having. we visit her house, so we're already on set somewhere else in the show, which is always a favorite of mine. and then they get into shenanigans. And I felt like. Like I mentioned this earlier, I feel like the cast felt melded to me. It didn't feel like she was attack on. It felt like. I mean, you can tell they meet at first, but very quickly. They all. And that might be her unique charm or her unique warmth that you talked about, but you definitely feel that comfort very early on. So it's. It had all the makings of a good character introduction and then a good intro to the season because we kind of. I mean, for better, for worse, we saw what we were going to get this season, which is silliness and shenanigans, which I really liked. and then I had an honorable mention that I really liked her outing in episode three, Mary Jo versus the Terminator. And it's because of something I said in episode one. That whole line that she had with Julia about, like, if you disagree with me, get your own billboard. I feel like she established herself as opinionated but not obnoxious. It. But, you know, I guess you could read that as my way or the highway, which can be obnoxious for some people. But she. You got a good read of who she is without her being irritated. So I really liked that episode as well.

Very nice.

Episode eight was a disappointment for me. The plot was a little weak. The payoff wasn't particularly rewarding

Well, what about worst episodes?

Love Letters? Yeah. Episode eight. you talked about a lot of this stuff. It's pretty, just not great. The plot was a little weak. The payoff wasn't particularly rewarding. the subplot about Mary Jo with the sports car was an interesting choice. and basically we just spent a lot of time at Sugar Baker's talking about magazines in the mail. we only got Mary Jo's escapades described to us.

But that's not enough for you.

It's not. It just didn't do it for me. Then like you said, we end up in that weird crypt with her, like maybe talking to James. it just wasn't well written. It spiraled a little bit and then it ended kind of abruptly, which I felt like, as you've already said, was kind of a disappointment for BJ's character.

Yep. Yeah, I think, I think, this is just not how I want to spend my time in a sitcom. You know, it. It wasn't actually dramatic enough and it wasn't funny enough. And so if that's the case, then. Then I don't know that again, we keep talking about the plane landing and I don't think the plane has landed if it's not one of those things.

Yeah.

And honestly, I think the reason that really stood out to me is because there weren't really a lot of BJ episodes. So you kind of want more for her. And it's like, I think both you and I feel really warm to her and we're just. We didn't. It sounds like we just didn't get enough of her. So I guess that's a good problem to have.

You won't you want to be left wanting more versus feeling like you had too much? I guess. But yeah, I feel like you touched on this earlier. It's probably somewhere in my notes somewhere. But this concept of Lost was such a. Or loss was such a big part of her character that it was this. It was a shame that this was the way we explored that. That for her was. Did he cheat on me? And because I found this random letter that was from like the 50s, so also, don't you think the ink would have been fade? Like it just would have been kind of obvious. It was really old.

Do you know what I Mean, Yeah.

That'S a fair point.

It's just not well thought out.

Yeah.

I talked about some of my favorite moments with BJ in our season opener

how about funniest moments?

I feel like I'm missing some, so I'm looking forward to seeing yours. I'm scrolling my notes real quick to see.

Vamp. Vamp Salina. So I talked about some of my favorite moments with BJ in our season opener. But fortunately, she had so many good singers, I just pulled more.

Perfect.

Yeah.

So I do have two.

Oh, wonderful. I started with episode six in Viva Las Vegas. So this is when all of the ladies first meet Etienne. Okay. For the first time. and they meet. They meet her in a kind of awkward position since it's post coid Willy.

please don't ever say that again.

He wants to know. Know who they are. ATN does. If didn't do it right that time. Anyways, BJ says we're all his wives and we're taking them back to Utah. That was pretty good.

What's yours? so in episode three, she had a part where she said, I wouldn't wrap myself too much in Switzerland. I mean, 600 years of peace and tranquility and what is that? Country produced the cuckoo clock.

Pretty good.

It was very funny.

Episode nine, the vision thing. They're throwing Etienne a wedding shower, and someone asked, what do you get a former Las Vegas showgirl? And BJ answered, just about anything. When you consider she's probably been eating olives and beer nuts for breakfast for the past 10 years, something to turn her eggs with would be much appreciated. She's kind of like Ron White in, her, like, timbre.

Yeah, I could see that.

Yeah.

I found one that I was missing. I knew I was missing something. It was episode nine. she said, I've always thought of Love is a fire. It's like a surprise whether it ends up keeping you warm or burning your house down and wise and why, which is actually what I gave. It was wise words from BJ.

Oh, there you go. My last one is episode 15, New Julia, New York Morning. When everyone was admitting their deep secrets, BJ shared how she was a go go dancer in a cage, and she knows how to send those tassels in the opposite direction to the tune of Proud Mary. Good for you, girl. Good for you.

In episode 12, the Odyssey, I really liked when she said, I hate to sound nouveau riche, but half the reason people want to have as much money as I do is to avoid standing in lines like this.

Amen. One day, maybe I'll get the point to be nouveau cringy. or most obnoxious moment.

So I don't have anything in particular for her.

BJ's deadpan delivery sometimes reads flat on the show

I will say my one beef with BJ's character, which falls maybe kind of an obnoxious category a little bit, is that her deadpan delivery sometimes reads flat. So there were occasions where I felt like, I don't want this to sound like a criticism of her acting because I'm not an actor and I have no idea what I'm talking about. But there were just times where I felt like. Like, I'm not even sure what we're supposed to be taking from this character. Like, it's not deadpan, like sardonic humor. It's just, like, flat. It just feels like she just delivered the lines and we're done. And there were a couple times not flippant, more like just without any sort of emotion or any sort of, any sort of emotion. Just. There was nothing to it. It was just. He would just deliver the line and be done with it. And I think it was supposed to read deadpan. I think she the, like, straight and narrow from everybody else in the cast, and she was meant to be unflappable because she'd been through all these other crazy things in her life. Like, nothing was gonna surprise her at this point, but every now and then it was just sort of like, oh, we're just done here. And it wasn't really a joke necessarily, but it also wasn't not a joke. So it just left me feeling not quite sure what to do with her character.

Yeah, I don't think I realized until, like, pulling together notes for her episode to just like, she is, She is basically one liners. So, that's a lot of what her role is, I think, to, like, punctuate or comment on what's going on around the situation, which speaks to the smaller amount of episodes that she had.

And it feels like we experienced a little that with Suzanne sometimes, but there. And I hate to get into the comparing characters to one another because they're really not a comparison to one another, but there was a little. Little sparkle, like a little shimmer to it that made it feel. There was something else there, like an intonation in the voice or, you know, a wink at the camera or something like that that just sometimes felt like it was missing. And it just felt sometimes she landed without any seasoning, which I thought was unfortunate because I thought her lines were so funny at times. And so I just. I don't know if it was uneven writing or bad direction on how to act the line or if I'm in the minority here and I'm the only person that, that sees it. But there were a couple of times where I was just like, just kind of bland.

I'd have to go back and watch now. well,

Don't, don't.

I'm not gonna do it. Don't you worry about it. I, I didn't have any. I could have sat here and like tried to come up with something, but I, I was kind of doing that.

And I was like, that's why.

Yeah, I mean, I just think it was a pretty easygoing character. She seemed to not really capture any of the troublesome areas that some of our other folks, went through this year.

And so I think that's why the deadpan thing bothered me because I think it was almost like an overcorrection at times. Like, we want you to be so middle of the road that people don't have any reaction to you.

Oh boy.

And so I feel like on occasion I don't, again, I say, I don't know if it was direction that she was given or what, but there was just times where it's almost personality less like you said, like just delivering a one liner but with no personality, just to have said it so that it transitions us to the next thing. And I just thought that was a little bit of a shame.

It is kind of interesting, an interesting exercise to think about. Like, you know, obviously they knew after season six and the ratings had took that nosedive how much they might have been freaking out and how much they may or may. I'm, speculating of here, of course, but like how much they may or may have not been exercising things like focus groups to try and fix things and just, you know, some of these things that we were talking about in our season opener. I mean, maybe that's some of the things that came up through some of research, or whatever they might have tried to do to try and save the show. And unfortunately you just can't recapture the magic. You can't get back an audience at that time period that's already gone and, and angry and all of that.

Mary Jo gave us a few plots related to society and culture

So yeah, what about the most socially or culturally important or relevant plot?

I think she gave us a few plots related to society and culture. So like the concept of the gold digger. There were a couple of times she talked in early episodes about how when she married James, like his family wasn't particularly excited about it because she just seemed to be this person who came from quote, unquote A, lower station in life and kind of took his fortune. So we dug into that a little bit with her character, nouveau riche. She talked about, of course, being the widower, and then dating at a certain age and all the things that come with that. we also got insight into women reaching a certain point in their lives in episode 16, Sex, Lies, and bad hair dye. I think I especially liked this line, which I actually think was Mary Jo. She says, because that's the kind of thing women do when they come up against a milestone event. They either side sell their house or decide to become a therapist or go completely crazy and change their hair. Well, thank you, Mary Jo. I came in here feeling like I was stupid. Now I know it's worse. I'm a stupid cliche. And then, not to mention, we got to talk about safe sex with one of her dates. So we. We're kind of all over the place with culture and society.

That's funny.

The show kind of sprinkled loss of a spouse in over the episodes

you know, I got to thinking a little bit about, again, the loss of a spouse specifically, and. And how they kind of. Kind of sprinkled it in over the episodes without necessarily beating us over the head with it. Except for the.

With the exception of Love Letters, that one episode. All about it.

Because sometimes it would be stuff like. Just like with his tux, in the episode where Anthony actually, you know, gets married in front of his family. And so, the wedding redux. And there was her talking about how just talking about weddings made her a little sad. Had. Which is understandable because her husband died at the wedding. And that's really, gonna make weddings very hard for a long, long time. But, also, this idea of just, like, losing someone, it comes with these milestones, whether it's first birthdays and. Or holidays or whatever it is, or choosing to move on or all of those things feel like if you're someone who has lost someone, it might be somehow a cold comfort, at least to see that someone else is going through it, too, and they're trying to navigate it, too.

as we're talking about this, I'm thinking it's interesting. She and Julia never found common ground on that.

Yeah.

Because Juliet just recently lost Reese.

Right.

And then before that, Hayden. Yeah, they never really put the two of them together, especially in this Love Letters episode. Right, Right.

Weird.

Now I'm mad. I bucked up over that one.

I'm so upset.

Oh, my gosh.

I also wanted to mention, uh, her recovery from alcoholism

I also wanted to mention, her recovery from alcoholism. I. I was just going to say I think this could have been a socially important topic, but unless I just missed it, they only mentioned it or time. A time or two and never really came back to it. And maybe this was more of a missed opportunity because there are certainly millions and millions of people just here in the US Alone that struggle with some kind of drinking disorder. and that's not just those people. Then each of those millions of people have people in their lives. And it's like a domino's effect. And so it's, it's also a topic that doesn't get hit, a lot in sitcoms. So maybe like Grace Under Fire back in the 90s. then there's a mom, the Chuck Lorre show with Alice and Janet Janney and Anna Faris. Now that rap back in 2021. And they actually spent a lot of time like in AA in the show that was like kind of the genesis of the comedy. A lot of time is their friends who were in AA with them. and, it might have been na, but I think it was aa. Anyways, I just, you know, I think, there are ways to approach that topic that can bring humor and also bring light.

And I wonder if it, because it, it came up in the first episode, it was just planted and then left. And so I wonder if it was meant to come up later. And it just never did because it did feel like an odd, a very strange character point to make without exploring it a little further.

Right. Unless they just really wanted her to stay clear headed so she could win that poker game.

And they needed her to make a couple really funny jokes about her old life and how reformed she is. But that's a weird way to do that.

Interesting.

This is the first season with BJ and she had some struggles this season

So you, want to rate this sucker?

I'm ready. My rating scale is Cow punching, Bronco busting, Knockdown, Drag out Ladies nights.

Oh, I like that.

Thank you.

That's very nice.

so since this is the first season with bj, I'm thinking about her rating, obviously in terms of how I think the season was for her overall, not her in comparison to previous seasons or anything. So I think I landed at about a 3.6. Cow, punching Bronco busting knockdown, Drag out Ladies Nights with the understanding that three is perfectly acceptable, like accomplishing the mission and doing the job. I feel like, like I said earlier, she's just missing some seasoning. She at times felt really bland to me. I know she was meant to read dry, but at times I think that didn't translate quite the way I wanted it.

To.

But other times, her personality came straight through, and she was super warm and likable and a great foil to other characters. But, it was just a little bit inconsistent for me. And that, I think, colored my rating for her a little bit.

Okay, I gave her four out of five Darlin Sweetheart, Pudding Pie routines. This is what BJ does when she can't remember your name. That is quite Southern, by the way. But, you know, the kind of the way I did it is like, she kind of feels like a little bit of a tit for tat is going on in her life. So, yeah, I said it. So her husband has died, which is terrible. But on the other hand, she's rich. I would never talk about someone in real life. This is a character, so we're gonna be a little blase. All right, buckle up. She becomes a partner in Sugar Bakers and gets at least five new friends out of it. She starts dating again, though some could argue it's not the most successful start. That's fine. Her biggest struggle all season comes in the finale when her late husband's company and fortune is threatened. But that's all resolved before the credits roll. Sugar Bakers is saved and all is well. So I think it's fair to say BJ is not only up, she is thriving when the series ends. That's my argument. I want to go. I'll allow it.

Come back Thursday for extra sugar. Going to be talking about celebrity scandals

All right, so that's a wrap on our take on the, newest member of Sugar Bakers. So I'd love to ask what people think. What do they think about her? And did we get it right? Did we miss anything? You can email us sweet tvpod gmail.com or submit a comment on our website, www.sweettv.com. of course, you can follow along with us and engage Instagram and Facebook at Sweet T&TV tick tock@sweettvpod. And we're on YouTube if you just search Sweet Tea TV. There, are also several ways to support the show. You can tell your family and friends about us, rate and review wherever you listen to the podcast. And then we have some ways to support the show from the support us tab on our website. So come back Thursday for extra sugar. Salina, do you want to tell them what we're going to talk about?

Yeah, my mind blank for, like, 1 1/2 seconds. But I do know.

we are.

Going to be talking about celebrity scandals. That was something. All right, well, you know, when. Yeah.

Excitement.

Well, you know, drama. You know what that means?

What does it mean?

Means we'll see you around the van. Bye.