Linda Bloodworth-Thomason is behind the wheel of a cart traversing a studio lot at a brisk clip, her words creating a wake as formidable as the vehicle`s.
”I really do have a mission with the show,” says the real designing woman behind television`s ”Designing Women.” ”It`s to change the way people think about women. And the way they think about a region.
”I want to do a show for everyone in America who has a misconception about strong women, feminists and Southerners` humor,” continues the creator, principal writer and co-executive producer of the show. ”Lots of women are afraid of saying they`re a feminist because they think it means unfeminine, unsexual,” she says, pulling the cart to a halt in front of Soundstage 26.
”I wanted to show that these women could be really beautiful and desirable-you don`t have to be, but you could be-sexy, desirable, attractive and very strong in your opinions.”
After four seasons, the ”Designing Women” is one of CBS`s biggest hits, and usually its top-rated show. Having weathered cancellation and stinging attacks from some critics, the show has endured, gathering awards as well as praise for its progressive protrayal of women and its willingness and ability to deal with issues in a comedy framework.
”It adds a bit of chili pepper to the mix of what otherwise is a pretty bland (television) stew,” observes J. Fred MacDonald, curator of Chicago`s Museum of Broadcast Communications, and author of several books on television. Adds Larry Gelbart, producer of the ”M+A+S+H” televison series and an early admirer of Bloodworth-Thomason`s work: ”It`s done in a very sharp, very clever way. It`s just a very savvy show.”
Bloodworth-Thomason, 43, has proved as resilient as the production. Despite personal tragedies and professional setbacks, this daughter of the Poplar Bluff, Mo., has risen to one of television`s top spots. In a notoriously fickle and transitory industry, she`s among the few who have been able to craft and keep on the air a top quality series, and is among an even more exclusive enclave of women who have achieved that status.
A fierce independence, along with formidable writing and entrepreneurial talent has propelled her. Her alliance with husband Harry Thomason-a high school football-coach-turned-filmmaker and now her partner in the couple`s Mozark Productions-also has been an integral component.
Nurtured in a close-knit, outspoken and vocal family-she says members climbed atop chairs to proclaim their opinions-Bloodworth-Thomason` s earliest ambition was to be her family`s first female attorney. Her grandfather, father, uncles, cousins and now, brother, all have been partners in the Bloodworth family law firm.
Instead, after she graduated from the University of Missouri, Bloodworth- Thomason went to California. ”I never had a well-thought-out agenda,” she tells a visitor in the floral-chintz-appointed office she shares with her husband on the Burbank Studios lot.
”I was going to go to law school and at the last minute I decided I was really tired of school, and my friends were coming out here and it`s amazing how your life can hinge on these stupid adolescent decisions.”
She sold advertising for the Wall Street Journal. Then, inspired by broadcaster Shana Alexander, she got a job writing for the Los Angeles Daily
(law) Journal. ”I got paid $300 a month and I carried a 60-pound tape recorder up and down hills and interviewed every judge in superior court. I thought I was Bat Girl.”
It was while she was teaching English in the impoverished Watts section of Los Angeles that she met actress Mary Kay Place-then a secretary-at a party, and the two teamed up to try comedy writing. They crafted a script and sent it to Larry Gelbart.
”I didn`t have any idea what I was doing,” she recalls. ”I just turned it in and everything wonderful started happening to me.”
Gelbart, now also a Tony Award winner for his Broadway musical ”City of Angels,” remembers that the two were the first females to write for
”M+A+S+H.” ”They were flying a little blind,” he confirms. But ”they were bright and gifted.”
Of Bloodworth-Thomason he says: ”She has a shining intelligence and a sense of humor that was not saved for the page . . . many people in this business exist in conformity. She was very much who she was, and not one of the many.”
Bloodworth-Thomason says of Gelbart: ”He was an inspiration to me. I took all of his scripts home-he eventually wrote 96-and studied them. He`s the reason I wanted to become a writer.”
Bloodworth-Thomason`s first ”M+A+S+H” script garnered an Emmy nomination. Later, Good Housekeeping magazine named her comedy writer of the year. She wrote five episodes for ”M+A+S+H.” Scripts for ”Rhoda,” ”Paper Moon” and others followed. She also crafted the original pilot of ”One Day at a Time.” Still her professional progress was not painless.
”When I wrote my first pilot, I heard they liked it,” she says, ”But I`m sure no one even read it-I know now how things work. It was sad that I thought I actually had a series. I assumed if something was good, it would be on.
”So when they called me and told me they were passing on the pilot, I was so young and naive, still very immersed in the college terminology of pass/fail, that I started screaming, `That`s great!` And I remember the person said, `Oh, no, honey, you don`t understand. We`re not doing your show.` That was my first hard brick wall. It took me a long, long time to realize how deals are made, and how people all know each other, and yes, it has something to do with talent, but if you`re so far from the seat of power-probably the janitor read my script. . . . So it took me a long time to get a show on.”
She kept churning out work as a free-lancer.
”I didn`t want to work for anyone. I wanted to have my own show. I knew that from the get-go.”
In 1982, she wrote ”Filthy Rich,” a quirky send-up of the
”Dynasty”-”Dallas” glittery prime-time soap opera genre. The CBS program premiered at No. 1, but took a quick ratings plunge and was swiftly canceled. Yet the experience reinforced her developing philosophy.
”I learned that a network`s idea for me to do would not be what I should do,” she says. ”I would never come up with an outrageous concept. I just take people that could be your friends in real normal situations and then I might add the bizarre. But I would never again do a show that is based on a bizarre concept.”
Another benefit of the project was connecting with actresses Dixie Carter and Delta Burke, who were members of the ”Filthy Rich” cast, and now are stars of ”Designing Women.”
But it would be four years before they would work together. In the interim, Bloodworth-Thomason reluctantly submitted to one more network-conceived venture. She and husband, Harry Thomason, produced
”Limestreet,” starring Robert Wagner. ”I loved RJ, but the show itself was a disaster,” she says.
