When “Happy’s Place” premiered in October 2024, fans got a chance to see country music star Reba McEntire back on the small screen again. The show became a beloved NBC staple in its first season, prompting interest in how this sitcom came to be. In a video interview with IndieWire, McEntire and other crucial members of the show’s creation team spilled some key secrets behind the hit series.

Here, we’ll review some behind-the-scenes details about the show’s tone, and how “Happy’s Place” as we know it almost never happened.

McEntire Says Balancing Comedy and Drama Was Key

GettyReba McEntire attends Variety Power Of Women: Nashville on May 01, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee.
One thing many fans love about “Happy’s Place” is its balance between comedy and sad or difficult moments, which McEntire said was a key part of the creation process. According to the country singer, the team took the balancing act lessons they learned while working on “Reba” and translated them into this new project. “[There were] lessons that we learned on the ‘Reba’ show that we carried over into Happyy’s Place,” she explained. “We’ve got to laugh. We got to cry. But if we do it together, we’re all stronger.”

Co-creator Kevin Abbott shared that McEntire is the ideal person to help bring that balance to “Happy’s Place.” “Reba as a star is just uniquely suited to do that,” he said. “She’s a really warm, wonderful, deeply sensitive. person. And, you know, that wants to be communicated in the show.” He also shared that he and McEntire are on the same wavelength when it comes to the show’s tone.

The Series Was Almost a True ‘Reba’ Reboot

Getty(L-R) Steve Howey, Melissa Peterman, Reba McEntire, Joanna Garcia, Mitch Holeman, Scarlett Pomers and Christopher Rich from the cast of “Reba” attend a celebration of the show’s 100th episode December 12, 2005 in Culver City, California.
It’s no secret that “Happy’s Place” quickly became an informal “Reba” reunion, with several of the original castmates starring (or at least appearing for cameos) in the series. However, Abbott revealed, the sitcom was almost a full-on reboot instead of an original series. “We were working on a reboot, actually,” he said. “For about a year, the old team had gotten together.”

Abbott went on to explain that the core team put together a pitch for the “Reba” reboot, and even got the original cast to agree to participate. However, the reboot that he, McEntire, and the rest of the team envisioned just wasn’t meant to be. “There was a lot of chaos then, with Disney and Fox becoming one company,” he said. Once the dust settled, the powers that be informed the “Reba” team that they planned to pass on the reboot for financial reasons.

Although fans lost out on what could have been a fun new chapter for the “Reba” characters, “Happy’s Place” has proved to be a very popular replacement. NBC renewed the series for a second season, which premieres this fall.