Happy’s Place Cast & Showrunner On Recapturing Reba’s Feel-Good Themes After Scrapped Reboot
NBC’s multi-camera sitcom, Happy’s Place, premiered on October 18 and airs new episodes Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The series was created by Kevin and Julie Abbott, with Reba McEntire, Michael Hanel, Mindy Schultheis, Matt Berry, and Pamela Fryman onboard as executive producers. Happy’s Place sees McEntire return to comedy as the show’s leading lady and reunite with former Reba co-star, Melissa Peterman.
After her father passes, Bobbie inherits his tavern and vows to maintain an uplifting environment for patrons. However, the protagonist’s own spirits drop when she discovers that Happy kept a monumental secret from his family. Bobbie is unexpectedly introduced to Isabella, who is not only her new business partner but the twentysomething half-sister she didn’t know existed. If his daughters want the tavern to honor Happy’s legacy, they must build a relationship and accept one another as part of the family.
While visiting the Happy’s Place set, ScreenRant participates in round tables with showrunner Kevin Abbott and cast members Reba McEntire, Belissa Escobedo, Rex Linn, Pablo Castelblanco, Tokala Black Elk, and Melissa Peterman. They discuss what their characters bring to the sitcom, the wholesome relationship between the tavern staff, and how the creatives hoped to recapture Reba’s feel-good themes.
Peterman Discusses Her New Onscreen Dynamic With McEntire In Happy’s Place
“In this one, we’re already a little bit ahead. We are friends.”
Every actor in Happy’s Place has a unique role, allowing its ensemble cast to shine. Peterman plays Gabby, the tavern’s long-term bartender who takes her position very seriously. “This is her family,” shares the actor. “I feel like Gabby’s a little bit lonely, and she considers her work family and her regulars her people. She’s there to make them happy.”
While Gabby is best friends with Bobbie in the 2024 sitcom, Peterman’s and McEntire’s characters didn’t start off on the best foot in Reba. “In the original show, Barbra Jean was foisted on her,” Peterman reminds viewers. “There was no choice. I married her ex-husband. In this one, we’re already a little bit ahead. We are friends.” Happy’s Place allowed the actors to incorporate their pre-established relationship into a new series, as well as welcome Belissa Escobedo into the family.
What we did is we brought the chemistry that we have as real people and as real-life friends into these new characters. You can’t erase that. So I feel like we’re just the same people in a new play almost. I’m already Bobbie’s friend. I start out as a friend, but we still have a way to go.
What I like about bringing Belissa into the mix, is she is almost, in a way, a Barbra Jean. She’s someone unexpectedly foisted on her. But what’s great is there’s now this trifecta of these three women in different places in their life and they all have something to learn from each other and maybe something to teach each other too.
Linn, Castelblanco, And Elk Break Down Their Characters’ Roles In Happy’s Place
“We’re amplifying and supporting each other, and we’re pulling each other towards becoming better people.”
Rex Linn’s character, Emmett, is described as a man of few words, but the cook is seen as a father figure among the staff. “Emmett’s best friend was Happy,” the actor shares. “He’s a little bit gruff, but he’s also a very understanding guy. He indirectly navigates the ship as it were from the kitchen and has a lot of life insight.” The crew all have a connection to Happy, with Tokala Black Elk believing the owner helped his character, Takoda, find a place to belong.
I think that my character basically wouldn’t grow without Happy. Happy actually put me inside of this group and caused me to be inside of this family. It’s like all of us are put together inside of this unit, but there’s kind of a feeling like we’re amplifying and supporting each other, and we’re pulling each other towards becoming better people.
Meanwhile, Pablo Castelblanco, who plays Steve, shares that the accountant faces his fair share of struggles during Happy’s Place season 1. “Steve has OCD, so he doesn’t like germs, but he also doesn’t like change at all,” he says. “Things have to be the way he sets it up, or he gets stressed out.” Castelblanco continues on to say that viewers will see Steve work on himself as the show continues.
He is not someone that is letting that define him. He’s working on it. I think that’s the most exciting thing about playing this character is that it’s someone that is actually trying to deal with it and create bonds. He has a family [within the tavern] who he can rely on to push himself out of his comfort zone.
Abbott Wanted Happy’s Place To Recapture Reba’s Positive Themes
“When people get done watching our shows, we want them to feel good.”
A Reba reboot was previously in the works with Kevin Abbott at the helm until executives opted to scrap the show due to various financial reasons. When asked if Happy’s Place was meant to appeal to fans of the 2001 sitcom, Abbott admits that he and McEntire are drawn to similar types of stories. “We have a very similar sense of humor, and thematically, we like positivity,” the showrunner says. “When people get done watching our shows, we want them to feel good. We want them to walk away having really enjoyed themselves and maybe gotten half an hour out of the tension of life.”
Abbott continues on to discuss themes he hoped to carry over from Reba, sharing that the new series also comes from an emotional place. “When I’m with Reba, we’re going to tell stories a certain way and hit certain themes of family and forgiveness and responsibility to other people.” However, the showrunner was interested in switching up the venue, and his wife, Julie Abbott, proposed the tavern setting.
Julie, my wife, came up with the concept of having Happy’s Place and bringing in family in a different way so that we get to tell more adult stories, not necessarily from an R-rated perspective, but from an adult perspective. We found that really interesting when you’re seeing different viewpoints on life during the times we’re in, and to be able to capture some of those and see how they kind of bounce off each other.
We can find commonalities that you wouldn’t necessarily think are there. We tend to want to bring people together and find the things that people share rather than the things that tear people apart. That’s why we brought in Belissa, and Pablo, and Tokala. We wanted to get some different perspectives on life so that we could honor those and show how, “Yeah, we might be different, but we’re also more similar than you think.”
McEntire And Escobedo Were Excited About Their Characters’ Familial Relationship
“I fall in love with her. She’s just everything. I didn’t have a little sister.”
While Happy’s Place begins after the death of Bobbie’s father, Reba McEntire says that viewers almost forget about the loss due to what her character gains. “He went to heaven. He’s having a great time,” the star jokes. “And then I find out about my half-sister. I think that the focus changes on the loss to, ‘Look what he’s left me with! Why did he do this? Why didn’t he fix it before he left?’ And then I fall in love with her. She’s just everything. I didn’t have a little sister. It was just me and daddy.”
Despite not knowing her father, Isabella doesn’t waste any time staking her claim on the tavern and is quick to give orders to the staff. “She comes off a little strong,” Belissa Escobedo admits about her character. “She went through her whole life wanting to find a place where she felt accepted and loved, and she’s presented this opportunity, and even though it’s an immediate loss of gaining a dad and losing him all at once, she finds Bobbie through that. It’s a blessing for her to find this. That’s why she moves states and is like, ‘I’m here. I’m ready.’ She does not give up until she’s given a chance.”
In addition to reuniting with her former Reba co-stars, McEntire was enthusiastic to have new faces on board and develop Bobbie and Isabella’s familial relationship.
Our cast on the Reba show was magnificent, but with this cast, and Kevin said it at the very beginning, it’s like the first episode of the second season instead of a pilot. We gel. I don’t know why, but this show was meant to be at this time. Somebody asked Melissa and me why it took so long for us to get back together. We gave our reasoning, and then Belissa said, “They had to wait until I grew up.”
Those hoping for more Reba cameos throughout Happy’s Place’s run are in luck, as Abbott would love to reunite with additional cast members. “We love the cast, and we know that they’d be great,” the showrunner acknowledges. “When the opportunity arises, we’ll certainly do that. We have ideas, but we haven’t yet formalized anything.”
About Happy’s Place Season 1
Writer Kevin Abbott executive produces with Reba McEntire, Michael Hanel, Mindy Schultheis, Matt Berry and Pamela Fryman
Bobbie (Reba McEntire) inherits her father’s tavern (Happy’s Place) and is surprised to discover that she has a new business partner, Isabella (Belissa Escobedo), a twentysomething half-sister that she never knew she had.
New episodes of Happy’s Place air Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
