Walking the Emmys red carpet last month, Ayo Edebiri briefly lost her cool at the sight of two of her fellow actresses. “Oh my God! Literally, my legs are shaking,†a slack-jawed The Bear star told the duo. “I’ve truly spent so many hours of my life with the both of you.†The stars in question? Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman, whose work together on McEntire’s early-aughts sitcom Reba has lived on for decades in syndication and streaming — so much so that the series is arguably more popular today than when it first aired on the tiny WB Network. NBC is tapping into that lingering love by reuniting McEntire and Peterman for a new Friday-night sitcom, Happy’s Place, which casts Nashville icon McEntire as a woman who inherits her father’s neighborhood bar and a half-sister (Belissa Escobedo) she never knew existed. In true sitcom fashion, the two end up running the bar together, with Peterman serving as friend and sometimes foil to both.
While it’s been more than 15 years since Reba signed off the air, Peterman never stopped working on sitcoms, spending six seasons and 100 episodes on the ABC Family (a.k.a. Freeform) comedy Baby Daddy before landing a recurring gig as Brenda Sparks in CBS’s Young Sheldon, which ended its run last spring. She and McEntire also remained tight friends, with Peterman, a stand-up comedian, opening for McEntire’s music tours multiple times, co-starring with her in the Lifetime movie The Hammer, and co-hosting the first season of McEntire’s podcast Living & Learning. Should recent history repeat itself — and if the strong ratings for last week’s premiere are any indication, it just might — Peterman and McEntire will be hanging out on the Happy’s Place set until at least 2030. That is when Peterman’s not playing 25 Words or Less, hosting Person, Place or Thing, or appearing in Hallmark’s latest Christmas venture. (Yes, she’s got a show with the network coming up, too.)
I was looking at your IMDb credits, and what stood out to me was that Reba wasn’t just your breakthrough role — it was your first regular role in a TV show, period. You sort of did a reverse George Clooney and got a big hit with your first at-bat.
It’s not an understatement to say that that show changed everything for me, professionally and personally. I’ve got lifelong friends from it. Reba and I were talking about this just the other day — I was so young. It was my first job as a series regular. I just wanted to do a good job and keep my head down. I had no idea that it was going to be this thing, or that it would still be this thing how many years later. At the time, it was just “I have a job, and I like these people, and it’s fun.†Everything felt very new and different, and I was really observing and watching how things worked.
Reba did very well by the standards of the WB circa 2001, but it wasn’t a massive hit back then because the WB was such a relatively small network. Then it went into syndication and onto streaming, and its legacy seems to grow every year. In some way, it’s now bigger than it was when it was on the air. Is that how you see it?Â
Oh, absolutely. The WB was a great place to be, but people then had to look for us a little bit more. It did well for them, and people really liked it, but it was absolutely bigger in syndication. And now that we’re on Netflix, I see a whole other giant wave of it. Reba and I were lucky enough to be present at the Emmys not too long ago. There was a mom who loved the show who was probably in her 30s or maybe 40, and she had two of her little girls that were 8 or 9 and were just discovering Reba on Netflix. And they drove down to where we were doing the Emmys to wait outside to say hi to Barbra Jean and Reba. And the theme song is a giant thing on TikTok.
Is there an extended friends-of-Reba universe? She does music, she does reality TV, she does acting. I can see there being parties where it’s you, Kelly Clarkson, and who knows who else.Â
Oh, yeah, Reba is a bridge that brings a lot of people together. It’s so fun because she knows Dolly and Snoop. I have been lucky enough to be at places because of Reba and you’re like, “How cool is it that I’m getting to meet…?†One time, I was with her in Nashville, and she’s like, “Hey, do you want to drop by the studio with me? I’ve got to do something.†So Vince Gill walked in and I was just losing it. I said, “You need to warn people! To you that’s no big deal, but it usually is a big deal.â€
Let’s talk about Happy’s Place. How did you hear about the show and was there ever a question whether you’d say yes to joining it?
After the original show ended, Reba and I remained friends. We vacationed together. Even if she was in Nashville and I was in L.A., we made an effort to take care of the friendship part. We always knew we wanted to work together again. The dream was a multi-cam because we want that camaraderie and that collaboration with our cast. A few projects would come up, but they didn’t work out. Years go by and you think, Well, is it going to happen? Are we going to get another chance at this? Reba’s always been a believer of what’s supposed to happen will, and when the time is right, it will. So I didn’t allow myself to get disappointed.
At some point, Kevin Abbott, who was our showrunner back on Reba, and his wife Julie came to us with an idea. They pitched it and I thought it was a great concept. Reba did, too. Then they wrote the pilot, then NBC liked the pilot, then we were going to make the pilot. At every step, I’d get a little more like, “Oh my God, could it happen?†And that’s where we are now. Belissa, who plays Reba’s half-sister on the show, is 26, and she said something to Reba in an interview recently: “You guys just had to wait for me to grow up so I could be in the show.†And I think that’s right, because she’s perfect for it.
I’d imagine the writers of Happy’s Place are trying to capture the chemistry you and Reba had on the first show. But your new character, Gabby, is not just a carbon copy of Barbra Jean, right?Â
Well, Barbra Jean was sort of forced on Reba because of a marriage, and Gabby works with her. It’s a different relationship. Gabby is a friend, but a friend who always wants to be closer. My character is definitely a little bit quirky, but she’s more savvy than Barbra Jean. We know the fans want what they loved about Reba, which is that chemistry, and we do maintain that. It’s almost like repertory theater, where we’re characters in a new play. We’re like eight episodes into taping, and I feel like I’m getting to know Gabby now. Ultimately, the show is about these three women that are in different places in their life — different ages, different backgrounds — who all have something to learn from each other.
Before Happy’s Place, were there any discussions about doing a proper reboot or continuation of Reba, like the current resurrection of Frasier?
There was always talk of whether a reboot was possible. Sometimes it was about who owned the show or what cast members were available. But it didn’t really pan out. I think that’s when the idea of, “Well, if that’s not going to work, let’s try to figure out a way that we can still do something together.†There’s always a possibility there could be some sort of a reunion movie or a reboot, and Reba and I are hopeful that the cast of the original show will come do something with us sometime on Happy’s Place.
With Reba and Baby Daddy, you’ve been a regular on two shows that lasted 100 or more episodes. Then you were in like three dozen episodes of Young Sheldon. That’s a lot of success for a TV actor, and certainly a rarity. But in all of those shows, you carved out a role as a No. 2 or a supporting player versus the lead. Was there a point where you decided that leaning into that role made more sense than, say, doing a dozen one-season shows where you’re a lead?
A lot of it is not in your control. There’s a superpower in being the supporting person, and it’s a skill. There’s no ego in it, because the reality is if she looks good, I look better; if I look good, she looks better. That’s the secret. In an ensemble cast, if somebody has a great moment and they get the longest laugh ever, no one should be jealous. They should be like, “Oh, we all got the longest laugh ever.†No one’s counting the laughs.
Also, I’m drawn to that kind of supporting character. When you’re not the lead, you get to be a little crazier. At least that’s what I tell myself. [Laughs.]
And if you think about something like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, where one person’s name was in the title, every actor in that ensemble was just as crucial to the success as the other. They were all huge in their own way.Â
Exactly. When you have great writing and you have a great cast, everyone is a star at some point.
You also got super lucky with your first movie role, and I know this because I’ve heard you talk about it on 25 Words or Less: You played Hooker No. 2 in Fargo. How did that happen?
A casting director out of Chicago, Jane Brody, had come to my college to teach a semester of auditions and cold reading. I was a senior with a theater major, and I took her class, and she remembered me when she started casting for Fargo. She brought me in to audition for the Coen brothers. I believe I went in for a different role first — I think the other lady of the evening. I got called back in weeks later and they started pairing me with other actors. I got it from taking a class in college, really.
That must have been insane for someone just starting out.
The audition was very surreal. I remember I asked Joel Coen for change for the vending machine. I didn’t know who he was when he walked in right before the audition. Obviously, I knew who the Coen brothers were, but it wasn’t like now with social media. You didn’t know people’s faces very well, so I didn’t recognize them. He gave me change for a dollar so I could get a Mountain Dew before my audition.
On the unscripted side, I started watching you regularly on Meredith Vieira’s syndicated game show 25 Words or Less during the pandemic. It has become one of my favorite things on TV. I know the pay isn’t great in daytime TV, so what’s made you do so many episodes of it?
I love watching game shows, and I love playing them. I got asked to do the first season of 25 Words in 2019, and I just clicked with Meredith. We had such a fun time. When they came back for season two, which filmed during the start of the pandemic, they said, “We want to have you on more. We think you’re a great player.†I’m so grateful they did because that show saved my brain during COVID. Just getting out of the house and getting to use my mind was wonderful. And then to watch somebody win money made me feel better during that awful time. And Meredith’s like my big sister. She gives me great advice all the time.
The relationship you built on 25 Words led to you hosting Person, Place or Thing, which is from the same syndicator. What’s the difference between hosting versus being a regular player?
What I love about hosting is that I just get to be myself. I genuinely enjoy the contestants, and my job is to make them comfortable, make them shine, and to listen. A lot of it is improv. If you let the players talk and you’re in the moment and present, something funny will just happen. The other part is, I love giving away other people’s money. That’s joyful to me. As a player, I’m probably not as enjoyable because I’m very competitive. But I don’t have to compete as a host.
The other fun thing you’ve done recently is appear in the Haul Out the Holly Christmas movies for Hallmark. Is there a third one in the works?
I believe there is a desire for Haul Out the Holly 3. It obviously won’t be this Christmas season. But that was a magical cast. I got to improvise a line with Stephen Tobolowsky, which was a dream come true. He’s the funniest human ever. But next I am a judge on Finding Mr. Christmas, which is on Hallmark+. Jonathan Bennett is the host, and it’s ten guys competing to be the next Hallmark leading man. It’s really, really fun.
What about the Melissa Peterman Hallmark Christmas movie? When are we getting your Christmas romance?
I’m thinking about that. I’m probably not the typical romantic lead, but it would be fun. I am always thinking about what I want to do with them.