Killing All the Right People

"Killing All the Right People" is the 26th episode of the sitcom Designing Women. Originally airing on October 5, 1987, as the fourth episode of the second season. It features Tony Goldwyn as Kendall Dobbs, a young man dying of AIDS who asks the women to design his funeral. Series creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's mother died of AIDS and her experience with her mother's disease and the prejudice associated with it inspired the episode.

"Killing All the Right People"
Designing Women episode
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 4
Directed byHarry Thomason
Written byLinda Bloodworth-Thomason
Original air dateOctober 5, 1987 (1987-10-05)
Guest appearance(s)

Plot

Production

"Killing All the Right People" was written by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, the creator of Designing Women, whose mother died after contracting AIDS from a blood transfusion.[1] Although there was a screening test available that could have been used to identify unsafe blood, not all blood banks utilized it, allowing infected blood to be unknowingly spread through transfusions.[2] During her mother's illness, Bloodworth-Thomason saw the prejudice people with AIDS experience, particularly the prejudice against gay men with AIDS.[3] The episode's title is derived from a comment she overheard in the hospital: "The good thing about AIDS is that it's killing all the right people."[4] She incorporated a version of the remark into the script.

Awards

"Killing All the Right People" was nominated for two Emmy Awards. Linda Bloodworth-Thomason was nominated for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series and Roger Bondelli received a nomination for Outstanding Editing for a Series - Multi-Camera Production.[5]

Notes
  1. Bianco, Robert (1988-08-05). "The Lady Behind 'Designing Women'". Deseret News. Scripps Howard News Service. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
  2. AIDS Information and Controversy - CDC summary, May 16, 1994 Archived 2010-12-13 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved October 3, 2007
  3. PopMatters review of The Best of Designing Women DVD, September 2, 2003, retrieved October 3, 2007
  4. Capsuto, p. 221
  5. Vancheri, Barbara; Weiskind, Ron (1988-12-13). "Networks play it 'safe' with AIDS". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 17. Retrieved 2009-01-29.

References
  • Capsuto, Steven (2000). Alternate Channels: The Uncensored Story of Gay and Lesbian Images on Radio and Television. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-41243-5.

See also

"Killing All the Right People" at the Internet Movie Database

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