Reba McEntire has been an entertainment icon across the past 50 years, and is somehow as busy as she’s ever been, leading two series centered squarely on NBC’s Fall TV schedule. Now in her third season among The Voice’s coaching quartet, the country queen is now also starring in the bar-set sitcom Happy’s Place. The family-friendly comedy reteams her with Melissa Peterman and their former boss Kevin Abbott, who talked to CinemaBlend about how well McEntire handled the complicated filming schedule.
Considering The Voice pretapes the bulk of its season, from the auditions through the quarterfinals, before jumping into two weeks of live episodes, that production schedule can be a long and arduous one for all involved. So it’s bonkers that Reba McEntire signed on for another series while still holding down the fort on the singing competition. And when I asked Happy’s Place creator Kevin Abbott if there were scheduling issues, he jokingly looked at me like I just asked if water was wet, saying:
We get Reba half the time, and then we get an animatronic Reba the rest of the time. Her schedule — she is the busiest person in the world. I was pitching her a story the other day in her in a dressing room, and I was like, 'You know, the bad thing about this is you're the only person I can't complain to about how busy I am.' It doesn't work. I don't know if she sleeps, you know? The woman is crazy.
I can imagine that sitting down in one of The Voice's chairs for so many hours at a time can be an inspiration to do something else that requires a bit more physical activity, though "starring in a new broadcast comedy" is at the extreme end of the spectrum of options. At least to me, and I have no trouble admitting that I don't have nearly the amount of gusto and dedication that Reba McEntire does. Though I guess if I had my own show...
In any case, one key element that made things a few degrees easier on everyone involved is that both shows are under the NBCUniversal umbrella, and so Abbott & Co. were able to at least take advantage of sets and stage locations. As he put it:
The Voice, I mean, they put us right next door on set; their stage is next to our stage. So they are wonderful about helping try to make it all work.
Anyone who's involved with filming 2 1/2 hours of TV content a week knows that every second spared is as valuable as every penny saved, so not having to worry about traveling long distances between projects is no doubt a huge relief for McEntire, who'd previously had to fly from one coast to the other to balance her concert schedule with appearing in ABC's Big Sky.
The way Kevin Abbott sees it, any sacrifice made is one worth making in order to get to work with the Grammy-winning legend. And it sounds like he's also just plainly impressed to see her survive from one day to the next without imploding. As he told me:
We have to get creative sometimes. It's not just a normal schedule. We do work around Reba. But hey, she's worth it. If you have to work around somebody's schedule. Reba is the one you want to work around. She just is amazing. How she has the energy she has, I do not know.
So far, critics have been a little split about Happy's Place this early into its run, but I think everyone would agree that it's the kind of sitcom that families can sit and watch together, despite being set inside a bar, and that it stars one of the hardest working entertainers in the biz. I'll drink to that.
Happy's Place airs new episodes Friday nights on CBS at 8:00 p.m. ET, and is available to stream the next day with a Peacock subscription.
