Reba McEntire loves the sitcom genre. “Out of all the things I get to do, this is my favorite. It’s camaraderie, fun, creative. You go to work and play,” says the down-to-earth hitmaker and current coach on The Voice, who starred as a wisecracking, divorced mom in Reba (2001-7 on The WB, followed by The CW). That show, which earned the songstress a Golden Globe nomination, used her anthem, “I’m a Survivor” as the theme song.
For her new NBC comedy Happy’s Place, McEntire is recording an original song for its theme music and playing another character who can stick with it. Now she’s reliable Bobbie, who inherits her dad’s Knoxville tavern, Happy’s Place, her workplace for 10 years, only to discover the new co-owner is a younger, 20-something half-sister she never knew she had. That’s Isabella (Belissa Escobedo, who got her first big TV break in 2020’s The Baker and The Beauty), who’s overflowing with new business ideas.
“Bobbie’s pretty intense. She’s loyal, a very hard worker, and loves what she gets to do. She’s devoted to the tavern and to her dad’s memory and wants everything to stay as it is,” McEntire said at the Television Critics Association press tour, where TV Insider welcomed the series stars into our video suite. “She solely depends on [the tavern] because her husband has died. Her daughter is deployed, so she’s kind of on her own except for her tavern family.”
When Isabella walks in the door after being called there by those settling Happy’s estate, the newfound siblings have mixed feelings. “It’s a little bit of a shock for both of us. Happiness [for Isabella]. Shock [for Bobbie.]” McEntire says. “The whole [series premiere] is [about] absorbing and adjusting. It’s huge news. Life-jarring.”
Adds Escobedo, “Bobbie and Isabella both had no idea the other existed. Isabella grew up with a single mom not really knowing who her dad was. So, she always had that piece missing. She’s given this opportunity to find a family for her own.”
Reba Reunion
On Happy’s Place it’s not only the newfound blood relations who are reeling from the discovery. So is Bobbie’s tavern family including the needy and dramatic bartender who would have loved to be Bobbie’s sister: Gabby, played by Melissa Peterman. “There’s a little bit of jealousy for just a second [when Isabella appears],” Peterman says.
Peterman and McEntire are a pairing that previously struck comedy gold. On Reba, Peterman portrayed a dental hygienist, Barbra Jean (“BJ” for short) who got pregnant after an affair with her boss, Reba’s husband Brock (Christopher Rich, who McEntire credits with teaching her the sitcom ropes, “I would pull Chris into the kitchen part, and say, ‘What do they mean when they say this?’ I went through acting 101.”) The domestic reshuffling and BJ’s desire to befriend Reba, much to the latter’s annoyance, gave the sitcom some of its biggest laughs.
“We’d been looking for something [to do together] since Reba was canceled in 2006. So, long, long time,” McEntire says of reuniting. “Almost had something, didn’t work out. I’ve always been a firm believer that timing is everything and everything happens for a reason. Thank God, because this is such a good show. It’s got so much heart. I’m glad we’re reunited.”
Peterman says that bringing “heart” to the set is a carry-over from the Reba days. “From day one [on the earlier sitcom], Reba made sure that we all knew we were here for the same reason, to have fun, make a good show, respect each other and be a little grateful for it,” says the actress. In their ensuing twenty-year friendship Peterman has opened for McEntire’s tour as a standup, and they vacation together.
The work reunion was made even sweeter because the executive producer on Happy’s Place and Reba are one in the same. That would be Kevin Abbott, who has produced numerous sitcoms, from The Golden Girls to Last Man Standing. “He understands my lingo,” McEntire says. “He knows when to pull certain things out that I say, probably incorrectly, but my way of saying it, and we’ll all laugh about it.” Adds Peterman, “He knows my voice so well. He can write to that.”
Abbott spent a year tossing around ideas for a Reba-centered story along with his writing team, Mindy Schultheis, and Michael Hanel who also worked on Reba. But when Abbott saw the pilot, he asked NBC for a reshoot. “Have you ever turned in a project that you’re really proud of and then at night, you wake up and go, ‘Aw, shit! I should have done it that way?’ Well, I did that, but I’d already spent a couple million dollars. Sorry, NBC!”
Reshooting a pilot is far from unheard-of. And Abbott really wanted to get this series right. He says, “We like to tell stories that are reflective of little dilemmas that people actually encounter and to try to find humor in those.” These predicaments reveal the new chapter they’ve all entered since Reba ended almost 20 years ago.
“It’s a pleasure to take everything that we have gone through in our lives, the growth that we’ve had, and continue to apply [that to stories],” Abbott says. “It’s nice to do this at a tavern as opposed to [in] a family [setting] show because we’re both now at our stage where the kids are grown. It’s more interesting to us to do more adult stories — even though they are told for a family.”
