Reba McEntire’s new sitcom Happy’s Place shares a similar premise with Ashton Kutcher’s Western sitcom that premiered in 2016.
Happy’s Place centers on McEntire’s character, Bobbie, who inherits the titular local restaurant from her late father.
However, as seen in the Happy’s Place trailer, Bobbie soon discovers that she’ll be co-running the family business with Isabella (Belissa Escobedo).
The half-sister she never knew she had.
Happy’s Place will be written by Kevin Abbott, who will also serve as executive producer alongside Michael Hanel and Mindy Schultheis.
All of whom previously worked on McEntire’s beloved 2000s sitcom, Reba.
McEntire played the titular matriarch of the central Hart family on Reba, which ran for six seasons from 2001-2007.
With a shared focus on family and much of the same team behind it, Happy’s Place will be the perfect replacement show for Reba.
But it also has a lot in common with a much more recent Netflix sitcom starring Ashton Kutcher that ended four years ago.
Based on their similar premises, Happy’s Place has the potential to be a great replacement for the Netflix Western sitcom The Ranch.
Set in the fictional small town of Garrison, Colorado, The Ranch followed That ’70s Show stars Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson as Colt and Rooster Bennett, two brothers who help run the titular cattle ranch owned by their father Beau (Sam Elliott). The Ranch also starred Debra Winger as Maggie Bennett, Beau’s ex-wife and Colt and Rooster’s mother, who owns the local bar.
Happy’s Place and The Ranch share similar central settings and both feature prior sitcom stars.
Like The Ranch,Happy’s Place also follows two siblings running the family business in a small rural town. There are some key differences, of course, like the fact that Colt and Rooster grew up together and share the same mother and father, both of whom are still alive. Still, Happy’s Place and The Ranch share similar central settings and both feature prior sitcom stars. So far, Happy’s Place is shaping up to be a solid replacement for fans of The Ranch.
After premiering in 2016, The Ranch ran for four seasons, each of which was released biannually in two 10-episode parts. Although the popular Netflix show received somewhat poor reviews from critics, reflected by its average critic’s score of 63.5% on Rotten Tomatoes, The Ranch had a strong following and was watched by millions of viewers throughout its run (via Business Insider). The Ranch came to an end with the release of season 4, part 2 in January 2020, right before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic which gutted a ton of ongoing productions and series.
Kutcher stated…that The Ranch had simply come to an organic conclusion and that there wasn’t any story left to tell.
According to Ashton Kutcher, who was an executive producer on the series, Netflix didn’t cancel The Ranch. Instead, Kutcher revealed on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast that the creative team behind The Ranch felt that the series had come to an organic conclusion and decided it was time to end it. “The story was told,” Kutcher told Maron. “I love everything that we did…We got to the point where we were able to let everybody know this was the last season, and that we were going to wrap it up, so everybody had time to find their next gig.”
Prior to the series’ end, Danny Masterson was fired from The Ranch in the wake of the numerous sexual assault allegations made against him in 2017. After only appearing in part 1 of season 3 in June 2018, his character was presumed dead in a motorcycle accident and subsequently written off the show, though this had no bearing on The Ranch eventually coming to an end in 2020. Masterson was later convicted on two counts of rape in 2023 and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Throughout its four-season run, The Ranch featured several of Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson’s That ’70s Show co-stars. In seasons 1-2 of The Ranch, Wilmer Valderrama, who played Fez on That ’70s Show, guest-starred as Umberto, a former Iron River ranch hand. Debra Jo Rupp and Kurtwood Smith, who played Kitty and Red Forman on That ’70s Show, also guest-starred in seasons 2-4 of The Ranch. Rupp played Janice Phillips, the mother of Colt’s love interest Abby (Elisha Cuthbert), while Smith played the Bennetts’ neighbor, Sam Peterson.
Peterman’s casting as Gabby, a longtime bartender at the titular restaurant, sets up the possibility for more of the Reba cast to appear in Happy’s Place.
Happy’s Place is already following in The Ranch’s footsteps by casting one of its lead’s former sitcom co-stars. Happy’s Place reunites Reba McEntire with Melissa Peterman, who played Barbra Jean on all six seasons of Reba. Peterman’s casting as Gabby, a longtime bartender at the titular restaurant, sets up the possibility for more Reba cast members to appear in Happy’s Place. In fact, Happy’s Place could finally reunite Reba McEntire with Joanna Garcia Swisher, who has expressed interest in working with her former TV mother again after playing Reba’s daughter Cheyenne on Reba.
Melissa Peterman’s casting in Happy’s Place doesn’t just mirror The Ranch’s sitcom casting trend–it also continues a trend between her and Reba McEntire. Since Reba concluded in 2007 after six seasons, Peterman and McEntire have worked together on several TV shows and one TV movie. In 2011, McEntire made a special guest appearance in episode 3 of Peterman’s Reba follow-up sitcom, Working Class, which was canceled after one season due to low ratings. McEntire also appeared in two episodes of Peterman’s next sitcom, Baby Daddy, which had a much longer run.
Happy’s Place will mark the duo’s first TV series since Reba in which they both play lead roles.
McEntire also had a recurring role as June Ballard on Young Sheldon, in which Peterman played Brenda Sparks. Although they appeared in some of the same episodes (including the series’ penultimate episode, “Funeral,” in 2024), McEntire and Peterman never acted together in Young Sheldon. McEntire and Peterman’s most recent collaboration was the Lifetime TV movie Reba McEntire’s The Hammer, in which McEntire played a judge. As their next project in a string of collaborations over the last 15 years, Happy’s Place will mark the duo’s first TV series since Reba in which they both play lead roles.
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Source: USA Today
