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<blockquote data-quote="Daniel Avery" data-source="post: 295205" data-attributes="member: 27">I don&#039;t know if this is the intention, but I always assumed that Diane worked there because she could feel intellectually superior to everyone else there (the &quot;big fish in a small pond&quot;).&nbsp; If she were to hang out with the intellectual elites, they would recognize immediately that she was not their intellectual equal, and she would always feel inferior to them.&nbsp; She didn&#039;t have to suck up to anyone at the bar, but on the other hand no one else there placed much importance on being the smartest person in the room (except maybe Cliff, but he was more of a trivial mind rather than witty or clever).Speaking of Newhart&#039;s Stephanie, her portrayer, Julia Duffy, ended up playing a role similar to Diane Chambers on Designing Women.&nbsp; The role of Alison was a famous failure for that series even as Duffy did a great job playing her.&nbsp; The chief reason the character did not work as it was written was because, like you state about Diane, the character was set up to be central, and yet was a punching bag for the other characters.&nbsp; Unlike Diane, however, Alison was not balanced out with more scenes of her softer, more human side, and certainly did not have the writing behind her to allow viewers to see behind her snobbery and insecurity.Speaking of Carla, one of her wittier remarks still sticks in my mind.&nbsp; Diane, speaking of a planned trip of some sort to the UK, commented that if she had time, she &quot;might look up Chuck and Di,&quot; in that snobbish tone of hers as if they were friends.&nbsp; Carla told her she hoped she would &quot;upchuck and die&quot;.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Daniel Avery, post: 295205, member: 27"] I don't know if this is the intention, but I always assumed that Diane worked there because she could feel intellectually superior to everyone else there (the "big fish in a small pond"). If she were to hang out with the intellectual elites, they would recognize immediately that she was not their intellectual equal, and she would always feel inferior to them. She didn't have to suck up to anyone at the bar, but on the other hand no one else there placed much importance on being the smartest person in the room (except maybe Cliff, but he was more of a trivial mind rather than witty or clever). Speaking of [I]Newhart[/I]'s Stephanie, her portrayer, Julia Duffy, ended up playing a role similar to Diane Chambers on [I]Designing Women. [/I]The role of Alison was a famous failure for that series even as Duffy did a great job playing her. The chief reason the character did not work as it was written was because, like you state about Diane, the character was set up to be central, and yet was a punching bag for the other characters. Unlike Diane, however, Alison was not balanced out with more scenes of her softer, more human side, and certainly did not have the writing behind her to allow viewers to see behind her snobbery and insecurity. Speaking of Carla, one of her wittier remarks still sticks in my mind. Diane, speaking of a planned trip of some sort to the UK, commented that if she had time, she "might look up Chuck and Di," in that snobbish tone of hers as if they were friends. Carla told her she hoped she would "upchuck and die". [/QUOTE]

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