It is New Year's Eve, and everyone is dressed in their finery, anticipating a fun-filled night on the town. The identity of Charlene's date is kept secret until a news flash reports that the infamous ""Shadow"" is the subject of a massive manhunt.

Julia thinks she's ready to resume dating, but Alison disagrees, questioning the manliness of Julia's new beau. Meanwhile, Allison and Anthony continue to bicker about who owns Suzanne's house, until Anthony obtains an affidavit asserting his right to occupy the house -- and allows Allison to stay on only as her personal servant.

Mary Jo protectively takes divorcee Carlene under her wing -- going overboard with a lie about Carlene's latest flame -- when ex-hubby Dwayne shows up to sweep Carlene off her feet again.

When Allison's ex-convict former flame (whom she turned in for insider trading) is released, she fears he is plotting revenge, instead, he proposes to her.

Perhaps the most famous episode, and a rare instance of a situation comedy making direct political comment on a current issue. The Sugarbakers women take sides on the controversial confirmation hearings of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill's accusation of sexual harassment: Mary Jo and Julia side with Hill and Allison with Thomas. Conflict spills over into Allison's birthday party, where Mary Jo and Julia turn up in costume just in time to hear a television interview about the hearings with Allison.

When Mary Jo's womanizing brother visits, falls for Allison, and takes her and Quinton on a deer-hunting trip, the women secretly tag along.

Julia's second date with electrician Rusty becomes a group outing with Carlene and Allison dating junior-college guys, and Anthony tagging along to the drive-in with Bernice to keep an eye on things.

Mary Jo and Julia are trapped under anchorman Chuck Tremain's bed when a Christmas design contest inspires them to examine a competitor's handiwork for evidence of plagiarism.

When their van breaks down the women become unwelcome guests at a men's club retreat Wildman Sanctuary, where Anthony is trying to land a new account.

Anthony sees opportunity when his normally unfriendly law professor is attracted to Carlene and invites the two of them to his annual Christmas party.

Carlene moves into her own apartment on the wrong side of town, where space is at a minimum and burglars roam free, so the Sugarbakers staff visit to try to persuade her to find a better home.

A tough-talking, hard-drinking, temperamental Broadway has-been promises to make Julia rue the day that she stole the role of Mame from her in Anthony's community-theater production. But on opening night she is too drunk to perform and Anthony is pressed into taking on the role.

Julia stages a sit-in at the mall to protest racial mistreatment of Anthony by brutish cops who accosted him for window shopping near a jewelry store -- and television coverage links Anthony romantically with Allison.

Songwriter Carlene gains notoriety -- and her first groupie -- by entering her ditty in the semi-finals Atlanta's theme-song contest, where she performs with Mary Jo and Julia, all decked out in ""big hair"" and costumes.

On an overnight Girl Scout outing, Carlene's leadership abilities take a beating, while Allison's methods seem to charm the spoiled troopers, and Mary Jo and Julia advocate roughing it.

Julia strolls down memory lane while awaiting the results of hysterectomy tests at a hospital whose workers are on strike, and a surgeon turns out to be her prescription for romance.

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.

Carlene allows herself to be seduced by her ex-husband, then admits she was just using him for sex.

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.

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.

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.

BJ offers to help a desperate Anthony, who invents various schemes to extricate himself from his hasty marriage to a Las Vegas showgirl.

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.

Etienne drives Anthony crazy trying to be the perfect wife, and the Sugarbakers crew throw a Las Vegas style wedding shower for them.

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.

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.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.

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.

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.

Julia's old mentor for her bohemian art school days in New York unveils his nude portrait of Julia.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

With Sugarbaker's in such bad financial shape, the ladies are grateful when B. J. gets them a job redecorating a house that resembles the great home from Gone With The Wind --- until they find out that the new lady of the house plans to rip out the grand staircase and replace it with an elevator. To make matters worse, B. J. finds out that their client is trying to take over Poteet Industries and plans to give Sugarbaker's to his young bride Kiki --- renaming it ""Kikibaker's"".

With Julia continuing to fight to save the antebellum Kearney mansion, B.J. struggles to save Sugarbaker's and Poteet Industries from a take over from the Kearneys. However, despite their efforts, Kiki Kearney announces her new plans for ""Kikibaker's,"" Lester Kearney announces that the purchase of Poteet Industries is complete, and the modernizing of the mansion gets under way. Though Anthony and the women are fired for insubordination, when Craig, a friend of Mary Jo's, stumbles on some embarrassing news about the Kearney's illegal financial activities, Poteet Industries and Sugarbaker's are saved from the take over.