It’s a big difference.
(Image credit: NBC)
Reba McEntire is reuniting with the Reba team for the new series Happy’s Place, but it’s not a Reba reboot, and many elements of the show prove it. On top of the NBC sitcom on the 2024 TV schedule involving all-new characters and storylines, it’s also got a setting that is totally different from the network shows the singer has done in the past. And it just makes sense.
Happy’s Place centers on McEntire’s Bobbie as she inherits her father’s tavern with the half-sister she never knew about. With the show taking place almost entirely in the bar, it’s going to be a bit of a change of pace for the country singer. This is because the setting overall is very different from Reba’s other shows, and executive producer Kevin Abbott told TV Insider why that is, saying:
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]. 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.
Since the series is about Bobbie and her long-lost half-sister owning a tavern together, of course, there will be some family themes. However, it is going to be interesting to see how that is played out in a bar rather than a house, which is the typical main setting for a family sitcom. Happy’s Place already sounds like it’s going to be an interesting series, and getting both more adult storylines and family storylines (that aren’t our typical ones) will be intriguing to see.
With Happy’s Place coming from the Reba team, there will be some similarities between the two shows. While it is hard to beat a comedy like Reba, which has been making a comeback on Netflix ahead of Happy’s Place‘s premiere, it sounds like the team is taking great care of it and making sure this new project is quite different.
It is fun to have sitcoms like Reba, of course, but the concept of a family show that takes place in a house has been done over and over and over again. So, it’s nice to have a bit of a switch-up, and it’ll be fun to see the singer/actress in a totally new setting.
That being said, a different setting is not all that fans can look forward to with Happy’s Place. Fans shouldn’t be surprised that Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman are reuniting for the new series, as the two have remained close since Reba. Meanwhile, McEntire is pulling double duty by filming both The Voice and Happy’s Place, so she is working as hard as ever, and it’s all for the fans.
Happy’s Place premieres on Friday, October 18 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Fans will see then just how different the series is compared to McEntire’s other network shows and what the sitcom is truly all about.
