Reba McEntire is thrilled to be part of Happy’s Place, her new sitcom on NBC. The multi-talented superstar is no stranger to acting, but feels a special excitement about being part of the debut season of the comedic show.
“I love that genre,” McEntire says on the Today Show. “I like sitcoms. I was a huge fan of them growing up, and then getting to do the Reba show, one season of Malibu Country, and now back with the team, my producers, showrunners, doing this new show, it’s just so much fun. I love everything about it.”
Happy’s Place also teams McEntire up with her former Reba co-star, Melissa Peterman, as well as her longtime boyfriend, Rex Linn. The Grand Ole Opry member reveals it was her idea to add Linn to the Happy’s Place cast.
“When we were working on this, they said, ‘We’re going to have a short-order cook,’ and I said, ‘That’s gotta be Rex,'” McEntire reveals. “We have a blast. I love it. He brings me into work. He drives us to work and then takes us home, and he’s my rehearsal coach, so I rehearse a lot.”
Not many couples would want their personal and professional lives to combine, but McEntire loves that she and Linn get to spend so much time together.
“We love to act,” McEntire tells Us Weekly. “We want to be prepared. So, he and I rehearse a lot. We did a Lifetime movie together. We did Big Sky on ABC. We’ve both been on Young Sheldon, and now we’re doing Happy’s Place together, so we get real serious about rehearsals and we know our dialogue for sure. To have fun and be comfortable with dialogue, you’ve got to know it. We work hard on that.”
Happy’s Place had a successful debut week, with more than ten million views. For McEntire, the success of the show makes perfect sense.
“I think it’s the simplicity of it, the nostalgic aspect of it, because everybody remembers watching sitcoms going up,” the 69-year-old says. “They kind of went away for a while, which was really scary to me, because I love this format.”
Happy’s Place isn’t McEntire’s only TV show this fall. She’s back again as a coach for her third season of The Voice,
“It’s like they know me, and that just makes me feel great,” McEntire says, speaking of how people on the show react when they see her. “I’ve loved it. I really have. This is my third season, and getting to hang out with Gwen [Stefani], I just love Gwen, she’s just perfect and so funny.”
McEntire not only stars in Happy’s Place, but she also wrote the theme song, alongside Carole King, which she sings as well. Happy’s Place airs at 8:00 PM ET on NBC, and is available to stream the next day on Peacock. Find all of McEntire’s music and upcoming shows at Reba.com.
Photo Credits: Courtesy of NBC