Meshach Taylor Fan Club Forming

Two words: Designing Women. We’re all familiar with the groundbreaking show which chronicles the lives and loves of four sophisticated Southern women. We can recite their names in our sleep: Suzanne, Julia, Mary Jo, and Charlene—each with a distinct personality: Suzanne Sugarbaker, the self-centered ex-beauty queen; Julia Sugarbaker, Suzanne's sharp-tounged older sister nicknamed “the terminator”; Mary Jo, a divorced, single mother; and, of course, the naïve and trusting Charlene. How do they all get along? We don’t know, but we’re sure to laugh as we watch them try!

The “fifth Beetle” (I’m more inclined to think of him as John or Paul), if you will, is Anthony Bouvier, played by Meshach Taylor. The courier for the firm, Anthony is always ready with a disarming comment, keeping the girls on their toes, and, more importantly, keeping them honest.

Meshach not only has won an Emmy for his performance in the PBS-produced Huckleberry Finn, he’s also been in virtually every great ‘80s TV show—Hill Street Blues, The Golden Girls, ALF, Punky Brewster, and Ultra Warrior. All superlatives have been exhausted in describing his breakout performance in Mannequin as Hollywood Montrose.

I like to call Meshach a “Sasquatch” of the industry because he really is a giant in Hollywood. Just like the one sighting of Bigfoot in the Patterson-Gimlin film, we’ll only witness a figure like Meshach once in our lifetime.

In the inaugural meeting of The Meshach Taylor Fan Club, I plan on having everyone share their favorite Meshach Moments (MMs), engage in some DW Meschach-centric trivia, and share DW recipes. I’m going to confine the recipes to Meshach’s favorites for the first meeting. In subsequent meetings, we can branch out and share other castmember’s recipes (might I suggest Delta Burke’s bundt cake?). What I want everyone to keep in mind is that this is more a celebration of MESHACH than Designing Women.

If you're interested in attending the first meeting, please, do holler.