Reba McEntire Dishes on New Sitcom and Its Connection to ‘Reba’ (Exclusive)
Written by Rtradio on May 7, 2024
Reba McEntire is headed back to scripted TV and she couldn’t be more thrilled!
The country icon spoke with ET’s Ash Crossan ahead of The Voice‘s first season 25 live show on Monday, and opened up about returning to the world of sitcoms following the cancellation of her fan-favorite eponymous show, Reba, which aired for six seasons on The WB and The CW.
“It’s brand new,” she shared. “We’ve done the pilot — it’s called Happy’s Place — and fingers crossed they take us to series.”
While the new series isn’t a continuation of Reba, there are some familiar faces both behind the scenes and in front of the camera.
“We have been working on trying to get another show since we were canceled on the Reba show,” McEntire noted. “We got to do Malibu Country for one season. We’ve got the same producers, same showrunner, same writers and now we’re back with Melissa Peterman and Rex Linn, my boyfriend, and wonderful, wonderful cast and crew.
“We had such a good time doing the pilot — we can’t wait to go back,” she raved.
In January, ET confirmed that McEntire, 68, plans to make her triumphant return to sitcoms with an original NBC series that was picked up for a pilot.
According to representatives for NBC and Universal Television, The Voice coach will star and act as executive producer for the multi-cam comedy that sees her character, Bobbie, inheriting her father’s restaurant following his death. Things get interesting — and presumably hilarious — when she discovers that her business partner in the endeavor is a half-sister she never knew she had.
Hocus Pocus 2 star Belissa Escobedo stars as Bobbie’s younger half-sister, Isabella, while Reba star Melissa Peterman reunites with McEntire as she plays Gabby, a bartender at Bobbie’s newly-inherited restaurant.
For now, however, McEntire is focused on The Voice, and shepherding her remaining three team members through the live shows and, hopefully, to her first-ever victory on the singing competition.
“I’ve got three wonderful artists,” she shared. “They’re prepared, they picked great songs… They’ve picked emotional songs, because when I’m in the audience I want that song to touch my heart.”
The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. PT/ET on NBC.
RELATED CONTENT:
