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TVGUIDE: Welcome, Dixie, glad you could join us this evening.
DIXIE: Hello, everybody! Tonight both of the shows I'm doing air. I'm very excited. I'm hoping that those who remember me fondly from Designing Women will also tune in to Family Law at 10 and Ladies Man at 8:30 and see if they make a connection with those shows as well. In fact, just turn on CBS at 8:00 and stay there the whole evening. So, welcome. I'm ready for your questions.
QUESTION: I love your old show Designing Women. What happened to it?
DIXIE: Designing Women was canceled in 1994, I believe. The writing had not sustained a high level, and it was a shame, because some of us thought that the show could have gone on for a full 10-year run if care had been taken with it.
QUESTION: When did Designing Women end? Do you still keep in touch with your costars?
DIXIE: Designing Women is still running, so it hasn't actually ended. More people have seen the show in syndication than when it was running on CBS for seven years. And, yes... I got the most adorable little red velvet slippers from Annie Potts for my birthday last May. I saw Jean Smart just last Friday. I saw Meshach at the theater last spring. And I have seen Jan Hooks at least once a year since we stopped filming. Alice Ghostley and her husband, Felice Orlandi, are dinner guests at our home a couple of times a year. Several crew members from Designing Women happen to be involved in one or the other of the new shows I am doing. Cos Cosentino is working on Ladies Man, and Les Banda is working on Family Law.
QUESTION: Hi, Ms. Carter, I've been a fan of yours since the soap days. I'm watching you on Ladies Man right now. Are you going to do both shows?
QUESTION: My contractual obligation is to Family Law. When the producers of that show can schedule me free, then I am allowed to do Ladies Man. Both sets of producers have been wonderful to me.
QUESTION: Was Designing Women your first comedy sitcom?
DIXIE: No. When I was still living in New York City, I did a sitcom for David Susskind called On Our Own. Following that, I did a short-lived series for Miller-Milkis-Boyett called Out of the Blue. It was that series that moved me to California. After that, I did Diff'rent Strokes, Filthy Rich and then Designing Women, which was written by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who also wrote Filthy Rich.
QUESTION: What do you and your husband do during hiatus?
DIXIE: Sometimes we do a play. My favorite thing to do is go back to New York for a month of cabaret performances and then go to Tennessee and eat grease for several weeks. I have a lot of family in Tennessee, which is my real home, the place I was born.
QUESTION: Please tell me something about Family Law -- is it a comedy?
DIXIE It is called an hour drama. But, it has strong comedic elements. The writing is, to my mind, both touching and witty.
QUESTION: Dixie, how do you stay in great shape?
DIXIE: I practice yoga. I have done two yoga videos. Lately, I have started working out with the Pilates method. Mari Winsor is my teacher. Almost every day I walk on the treadmill a mile or two. I do not eat proteins with carbohydrates, and I drink an enormous amount of water.
QUESTION: Hi, do you like what you do? How long have been doing it?
DIXIE: I tell people that I perform for free. They pay me for the disappointments. LOL I started singing for the One Quart of Fresh Strawberries when I was two years old. That was in church in McLemoresville, TN. I stopped performing during my first marriage. That was a hiatus of about seven years. Getting back into a career was difficult. Since I'm not going to say how old I am, I don't want to give you the exact number of years I have been performing. Let's just say that it's been a good, long time. And, yes, I do love it.
QUESTION: I still miss you as Julia on Designing Women... loved you on Filthy Rich, as well. So glad to see you back on the TV screen!! How's Hal? He was great as Reese Watson. Keep up the good work!!
DIXIE: Hal is wonderful, as always. Thank you for your kind words. I will do my best!
QUESTION: I want to wish you the best of luck with Family Law. Loved you in Designing Women.
DIXIE: Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am very grateful for the continuing support I feel from my dear friends out there who loved Designing Women as I did.
QUESTION: Dixie, do you have any sons or daughters?
DIXIE: Yes, I have two daughters, both Harvard graduates. I have three stepchildren from my marriage to Hal, and three stepchildren from my first marriage, so I count myself having lots of chirrens!
QUESTION: How did you get involved in acting? I mean, did you have other plans and goals for your life, and if so, what?
DIXIE: My plan was my dream, which was to sing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. A botched tonsillectomy made that dream impossible to come true. I fell into comedic acting, singing in revues in New York City, never realizing that this would turn into "what I do." My training was at the wonderful Front Street Theater in Memphis, where I had the good fortune to play the soprano lead in lots of musical comedies before I left to go to New York.
QUESTION: I just finished watching Ladies Man, where you're the rich mother-in-law. Will your character be different on Family Law? Or are both of them shades of Designing Women?
DIXIE: I hope you didn't think the woman on Ladies Man bore any resemblance to Julia Sugarbaker. My feeling about her is that she is totally superficial, vain, self-absorbed and materialistic. The Family Law character is very different -- grew up poor, has spent time in jail, has had a hard life. Neither of these women have the refinement of Julia Sugarbaker.
QUESTION: Is that really your house that you have in the BellSouth ads?
DIXIE: It is, because it has to be. There's something called "truth in advertising." It was purchased for the commercial campaign, however.
QUESTION: How is your relationship with the former cast of Designing Women? Any hopes of a reunion show? You and Delta Burke had great chemistry!
DIXIE: I agree. Maybe one day CBS will undertake to pull us all together for a special show. I think it would be fun.
QUESTION: Who are the writers of both shows?
DIXIE: Family Law is written by Paul Haggis, who is the executive producer and has directed several of them. Ann Kenney is his writing partner. There are several other writers, but Paul is the BOSS. Ladies Man is written by its executive producer also. His name is Chris Thompson. He is also doing the new show for FOX called Action.
QUESTION: Where do you live when not working in a series or film?
DIXIE: I live right here in Los Angeles, but when I take time away, we go to Tennessee. My father, my husband and myself.
QUESTION: What's Family Law about? I remember something about divorce.
DIXIE: Kathleen Quinlan's character has had her husband walk out, taking with him the other lawyers in the firm, all the clients and all the furniture. She is grasping at straws to keep her business afloat. She grabs Christopher McDonald, who is an ambulance chaser, me, Randi King, who is a pretty tough cookie, and the only lawyer who stayed with her in the firm, who is played by Julie Warner.
QUESTION: What is your favorite food?
DIXIE: My favorite food really is crispy fried chicken, which I don't get to eat very often, believe me. My second favorite food is green salads, which I do eat every day.
QUESTION: What is the "ingredient" in a script or play that makes you interested in performing in it?
DIXIE: My part, of course. And for any of the parts to be really good, there has to be a good story. After that, if a sense of humor can come into play, that's the best. These days, it's a thrill to read a script that isn't so vulgar, you blush while you're reading it.
QUESTION: Hey, Dixie, missed you big time on TV. Hope at least once on your new shows they let you say, "Have you all COMPLETELY lost your minds?!" Will you be doing any more cabaret in New York City?
DIXIE: I hope so. I agree with you... I love, love, love that line. We all got to say it. I used to enjoy hearing Jean Smart say that line. I will be doing some singing soon... October 23 is Fort Worth and October 30 is San Diego. I'm doing a benefit in San Diego for the old Globe Theater.
QUESTION: Hi, Ms Carter. What actors/actresses have most influenced you? A great fan here.
DIXIE: Maria Callas, Frank Sinatra, Irene Dunne, Jeanette MacDonald, Katharine Hepburn... that's about it.
QUESTION: Do you think that you serve as a role model for older actresses?
DIXIE: Recently I've been told that this is true, and I'm very touched, very complimented.
QUESTION: Dixie, are you a true outspoken Southerner like Julia Sugarbaker?
DIXIE: Not to that extent. First of all, I'm much more conservative politically than Julia was. And secondly, it's much more difficult for me to be confrontational.
QUESTION: What is or has been your favorite role either in a sitcom or movie?
DIXIE: My favorite role was Maria Callas in Master Class, which I did on Broadway for the first half of 1997. I also loved playing Blanche in Streetcar Named Desire. And Julia Sugarbaker is at the top of my list for anything in TV or film. We will see what happens with these two roles. Certainly, the role of Randi King on Family Law feels very, very promising.
TVGUIDE: Dixie, thanks so much for joining us this evening. Best of luck with Family Law. Please come back and chat with us again.
DIXIE: I've enjoyed chatting online with everyone. Mr. Holbrook and I are going to have our dinner in front of the television tonight, as you can imagine. And I hope everyone will pray with me for the success of the CBS lineup. Bye-bye for now!
TVGUIDE: Thanks again. And thanks for all of you who joined us tonight and submitted questions.
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