After cousin Allison leaves Sugarbakers, Julia needs cash but is refused a bank loan. To cheer themselves up, the women play poker with a wealthy client -- who wins the business from them. Sugarbaker's could use an infusion of cash, and at a rowdy party given by potential new client B.J., the gals kick up their heels in wild abandon.
b: 25 Sep 92 pc: 701 w: Linda Bloodworth-Thomason d: David Steinberg
Carlene allows herself to be seduced by her ex-husband, then admits she was just using him for sex.
b: 2 Oct 92 pc: 702 w: Mark Alton Brown and Dee LaDuke d: David Steinberg
After Julia completely rewrites a letter Mary Jo asked her to proofread, Mary Jo comes unraveled on a fashion-show runway, where she just plain has her fill of know-it-all Julia. Meanwhile, back at the office, B.J. has her hands full with angry vegetarians.
b: 16 Oct 92 pc: 703 w: Mark Alton Brown & Dee LaDuke d: David Steinberg
rc: Bernice
In an attempt at spontaneity, a carefree Mary Jo takes off for Nashville on "a hen party on wheels" with Julia and Bernice, but become terrified when a trucker Bernice flirted with at a diner pursues them. Meanwhile, back at the office, Carlene and Anthony put their noses to the grindstone studying for midterms.
b: 23 Oct 92 pc: 704 w: Mark Alton Brown & Dee LaDuke d: David Steinberg
rc: Bernice
Julia fears the emotional roller coaster of menopause -- just as her affair with Phillip heats up, and is upset when she discovers a Sugerbakers "Change of Life" surprise party.
b: 30 Oct 92 pc: 705 w: Norma Safford Vela d: David Steinberg
rc: Etienne
After Vanessa calls off their wedding, Anthony joins the gang on a getaway to Las Vegas, where he nurses his broken heart -- in the company of a show stopping showgirl he impulsively weds.
b: 6 Nov 92 pc: 706 w: Norma Safford Vela d: Charles Frank
rc: Bernice, Etienne
BJ offers to help a desperate Anthony, who invents various schemes to extricate himself from his hasty marriage to a Las Vegas showgirl.
b: 13 Nov 92 pc: 707 w: Linda Jean LaBrown d: David Steinberg
rc:
A steamy love letter from another woman found in James' safe-deposit box shatters B.J.'s image of her late husband as a faithful companion worthy of her trust. Meanwhile, reveling in the destruction of her old car, a symbol of her days as a suburban housewife, Mary Jo goes wild in a new red convertible.
b: 20 Nov 92 pc: 708 w: Norma Safford Vela d: David Steinberg
rc: Etienne
Etienne drives Anthony crazy trying to be the perfect wife, and the Sugarbakers crew throw a Las Vegas style wedding shower for them.
b: 4 Dec 92 pc: 709 w: Norma Safford Vela d: David Steinberg
rc: Etienne
B.J. goes overboard showering everyone with gifts, and law student Anthony gets carried away trying to help Mary Jo win a small-claims case involving her defective freezer.
b: 11 Dec 92 pc: 710 w: Danny Margosi & Robert Horn d: David Steinberg
rc: Craig
Mary Jo dates a handsome idiot, a to-die-for toyboy male model who seems to have few toys in the attic and little in common with her.
b: 8 Jan 93 pc: 711 w: Jeannie Elias d: David Steinberg
rc: Bernice
B.J.'s contribution to the Democratic Party gets the Sugarbaker crew invited to the Inaugural Ball, but the trip proves to be a party for no one, even Julia, who struggles to maintain a cheery disposition in the face of disaster as bad weather forces a change in plans.
b: 15 Jan 93 pc: 712 w: Dee LaDuke & Mark Alton Brown d: David Steinberg
rc: Bernice
After eye surgery, Bernice overhears the gals talk of putting Mary Jo's dog out of its misery and figures they're planning her own mercy killing, so she barricades herself inside the storeroom. Meanwhile, Julia gets caught listing to a London phone line which plays tapes of Princess Diana's private conversations with her boyfriend.
b: 22 Jan 93 pc: 713 w: Cathryn Michon d: David Steinberg
NOTE: Some sources credit Dee LaDuke and Mark Alton Brown as writers.
rc: Etienne
Anthony and Etienne renew their vows for Etienne's visiting parents and Anthony's grandmother at a ceremony at B.J.'s, where anything that could go wrong does.
b: 5 Feb 93 pc: 714 w: Mimi Pond d: David Steinberg
rc: Bernice
Julia's old mentor for her bohemian art school days in New York unveils his nude portrait of Julia.
b: 12 Feb 93 pc: 715 w: Emily Levine d: David Steinberg
rc: Bernice
B.J.'s dating adventures take a turn for the worse on her birthday, when a bad-hair day and two miserable blind dates have her vowing to give up men, so Julia tries to cheer her up by getting her a date with a really nice fellow.
b: 5 Mar 93 pc: 716 w: Robert Horn & Dan Margosis d: David Steinberg
rc: Bernice
Worshiping hordes gather outside Sugarbaker's after the face of Elvis mysteriously appears on a snow shovel belonging to Mary Jo, who attracts the attention of a "paraspectacular" expert (Gilpin) -- especially when she apparently restores her neighbor's damaged hearing.
b: 12 Mar 93 pc: 717 w: Emily Levine d: David Steinberg
rc: Bernice
Anthony is jealous of Etienne's successful writer friend, who shares a vivid past with her, but tries to be gracious by throwing a signing party for him.
b: 2 Apr 93 pc: 718 w: Emily Levine d: David Steinberg
rc: Bernice
A visit from Julia's meddlesome former schoolmistress is extended -- on ghostly instructions from her deceased husband, it turns out -- until the desperate Sugarbakers women hold a seance to try to force her to leave.
b: 30 Apr 93 pc: 719 w: Emily Levine d: David Steinberg
rc: Bernice
There's no skirting the fact that Carlene is confused by new beau Eric (Kean), whose unusual habit (cross-dressing) she begins to understand only by tapping into her own masculine side.
b: 7 May 93 pc: 720 w: Daniel Margolis & Robert Horn d: David Steinberg
rc: Craig, Bernice, Etienne
With Sugarbakers facing bankruptcy, the designers are forced to accept an unpleasant assignment: "modernizing" an antebellum mansion for a businessman's ditsy bride.
b: 24 May 93 pc: 721 w: David Steinberg and Daniel Margolis and Robert Horn d: David Steinberg
rc: Craig, Bernice, Etienne
Impending bankruptcy and an assignment to redecorate an ante-bellum mansion for a ditsy bride lead the Sugarbakers women to spin daydreams of Tara and Gone with the Wind.
b: 24 May 93 pc: 722 w: David Steinberg and Daniel Margolis and Robert Horn d: David Steinberg