Reba McEntire and Belissa Escobedo in ‘Happy’s Place.’
NBC
Reba McEntire starred in six seasons of her self-titled WB (later the CW) sitcom, Reba — but, for all of the 127 episodes that aired, it’s probably the opening 29 seconds that still clung on the hardest to popular culture.
“I’m a Survivor,” Reba‘s theme and a slightly tweaked version of a track of the same name she also released in 2001, endures on TikTok and Instagram where it is often parodied for its lyrics about “a single mom who works too hard.” So, now that McEntire is returning to TV with a NBC sitcom, might musical lightning strike twice?
“It’s written, and we’re recording it at the end of this month,” McEntire told members of the TV press in a promotional event for her upcoming half-hour, Happy’s Place. “We’ll see if you like it.”
Rejoice, McEntire fans. Barring some real bad focus-grouping, the country star will also sing the theme song to Happy’s Place.
TV theme songs, especially ones sung by their own stars (see Frasier and The Drew Carey Show) have fallen so far out of favor. Opening sequences on broadcast comedies are now usually just a flash of the show’s name and maybe a creator credit — if the creator has the clout. Ditching an opening title sequence can save money, but mostly it just saves time. The broadcast sitcoms that remain run a tight 22 minutes, and throwing in a half-minute theme song means killing one or two darlings from every script.
Happy’s Place reunites McEntire with both her Reba producer Kevin Abbot and her Reba co-star Melissa Peterman. “Ever since we stopped doing Reba, we’ve been looking for another project to do,” said the actress and executive producer. “I love the sitcom genre. Out of all the things I do, this is my favorite.”
The creative team seems to be where similarities between the shows stop. Reba was about a mother of three (McEntire) whose husband leaves her for another woman (Peterman). Happy’s Place follows Bobbi (McEntire) in the aftermath of her father’s death, which results in her inheriting a bar and a new business partner in the half-sister (Belissa Escobedo) she never knew she had.
Bobbi is described as a widow who works at least one job. It is not immediately clear if she loves her kids and never stops. It seems safe to assume that she has gentle hands and the heart of a fighter. Obviously, she is a survivor.
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