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Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman are excited for the world to see their new sitcom, Happy’s Place.
Talking from Sunday’s Television Critics Association panel, 69-year-old McEntire and her longtime friend and co-star, 51, opened up about reuniting on their latest series more than 17 years after Reba came to an end. While it’s been nearly two decades since the actresses brought Reba Hart and Barbara Jean Hart to life in the WB comedy, they say it’s as if no time has passed at all.
“It’s just easy, it’s like riding a bike,” Peterman told the room as McEntire shook her head in agreement. Peterman continued, “We’ve never really left each other. I mean, the show ended, and we’ve been friends ever since.”
The pair have also appeared alongside each other in shows like Young Sheldon, The Hammer and Baby Daddy in the years since Reba ended.
Also returning from the Reba days is executive producer Kevin Abbott, who has the difficult but fun challenge of turning the off-screen besties — and former on-screen friends with a complicated history — into two completely new characters with an entirely new relationship.
When asked how they are planning to not “backslide” into the classic Reba and Barbara Jean banter, the ladies shared that they never fully will be able to separate themselves from it (mostly because that’s how they are in real life), but that they put it in the executive producer’s hands to mold the new relationship in the show. Peterman plays a bartender at Happy’s Place, which is co-owned by McEntire’s character.
“We rely totally on the writing,” McEntire said, to which Peterman replied, “Pressure’s all on Kevin.”
The show also marks McEntire’s triumphant return to sitcoms, something she told the audience that she was all too happy to do.
“I love the sitcom genre. Of all the things I get to do, this is my favorite,” The Voice coach said. “And to get to work with these folks, that’s icing on the cake.”
Happy’s Place also stars Hocus Pocus 2 and Blue Beetle star Belissa Escobedo, McEntire’s real-life boyfriend Rex Linn, Pablo Castelblanco and Tokala Black Elk. The show follows McEntire’s character, Bobbie, returning home to take over her father’s bar after his death, only to discover that she has to run the establishment alongside a half-sister, Isabella (Escobedo), whom she was never told about.
In May, ET spoke with McEntire at one of the red carpets for The Voice, where she spoke about the show, albeit briefly and without too many details.
“The cast is wonderful. We’re so excited,” she said. “We shot the pilot and everybody said, ‘You know, this is like a second season first episode instead of the pilot and that’s the way I felt. Everybody gelled, everybody got along, and the writing is wonderful, so I’m really happy. I’m so happy.”
On Sunday, Abbott revealed that they were going back to the drawing board to reshoot the pilot in order to take the show in a different direction. The cast and crew did promise, however, that the changes will only make the show funnier and better moving forward.
Prior to Reba’s May interview, Peterman shared her own thoughts with ET on reuniting with McEntire, saying it feels “like coming home.”
“I think that in this business, we have a lot of Hollywood friends and you have friends that you share just the good stuff with,” Peterman described, her eyes welling up in April. “I think I knew that when we started sharing real-life stuff that it was forever. I know she’s got my back — whether we ever work together again, she is on my side always, and she knows I’m [on] hers.”
Happy’s Place premieres on NBC on Friday, Oct. 18 at 8 p.m.
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