If Reba McEntire is your jam, NBC is the place to be this fall. In addition to serving as a coach on The Voice, the country music star is set to debut the new comedy series Happy’s Place on the 2024 TV schedule, putting that fiery red hair front and center of the network’s primetime programming three nights a week. Fans of McEntire’s eponymous 2000s sitcom are excited to see her return to the format — reuniting her with Reba co-star Melissa Peterman, no less — but what do critics think after screening the first two episodes?
Happy’s Place premieres October 18, and will see Reba McEntire’s Bobbie coming to terms with her father’s death, as well as the newfound knowledge that she has a half-sister Isabella (Belissa Escobedo). Let’s see what the reviews are saying, starting with Sarah Little of ScreenRant, who rates the series 7 out of 10. Little says Happy’s Place might not live up to Reba (so far anyway), but it establishes itself as a solid sitcom with the potential to be great. The critic continues:
The premiere gives us a proper look at the NBC sitcom's story and what to expect from it going forward. Usually, if we don't like a premiere, it's quite unlikely we'll enjoy the rest of the comedy series. However, the Happy's Place pilot constructs a rich plot that can go in many different directions. As a result, Reba McEntire's new sitcom isn't being set up for disappointment and has the potential to be her most successful project since Reba ended over 17 years ago.
Aramide Tinubu of Variety says that while Happy’s Place is not a reboot of Reba, it has all the heart, fun and familiarity that drew fans in 20+ years ago. The sitcom adds some modern flair to tried-and-true tropes of traditional comedy in a way that’s both hilarious and nostalgic, Tinubu says, writing:
Happy’s Place is nostalgic, funny and heartfelt. In addition to an eclectic cast of characters and McEntire’s signature edge woven throughout the comedy, the Tennessee-set sitcom feels like a universal crowdpleaser about family, friendship and generational divisions while paying homage to past TV shows’ rhythmic beats and tone.
Several critics, however, aren’t as sold on Reba’s return to the sitcom space. Dave Nemetz of TV Line gives it a C+, saying Happy’s Place is retro in all the wrong ways with most of its jokes centered around the generational divide between Bobbie and Isabella. In Nemetz’s words:
The punchlines mostly fall flat, and the story turns soppy and sentimental when it touches on the indiscretions of Bobbie’s late father. Peterman, though, is a saving grace, able to turn even a tired joke into a laugh, and her well-honed comedic chemistry with McEntire definitely shines through here. The problem is Escobedo’s Isabella: She’s annoyingly self-righteous and not particularly likable, making her an awkward fit with the rest of the cast. By cramming a Gen Z worldview into a pre-Y2K sitcom format, Happy’s Place is trying to straddle two eras… and is all the more shaky because of it.
Kelly Lawler of USA TODAY says she wanted desperately to love Happy’s Place, but she agrees that dumb workplace jokes and tired generational jabs aren’t enough to sustain this comedy, especially since the characters are developed as thinly as the plot. Lawler gives the first two episodes 2 out of 4 stars and says:
You would think that a new sitcom starring McEntire and Peterman set in a Tennessee bar (hello, Cheers aspirations) and with another very dysfunctional family dynamic would be a guarantee of another Reba-style good time. Alas, NBC's Happy's Place is no Reba. It's just another low-rent sitcom with stale jokes, bland characters and a limp plot. It's not so much that it's bad, it's just so boring, banal and blah. And that is simply not good enough for the likes of three-time Grammy winner McEntire, 69. She deserves scripts that sing just as well as she does.
Manuel Betancourt of AV Club also gives the sitcom a middling C+, writing that for a show that opens with death and centers around Bobbie’s world being upended, the tone is oppressively sunny and uses its serious subject matter as punchline fodder. The critic also comments on the lack of character depth, particularly involving Belissa Escobedo’s. In Betancourt’s words:
To demand Happy’s Place not use Isabella as a mere plot device to rev up McEntire’s hilariously irascible Bobbie may be asking too much. … She exists to disturb Bobbie’s fragile ecosystem at Happy’s Place the tavern all while keeping Happy’s Place the sitcom in well-worn and well-trodden territory. That’s meant both as praise and critique. This is a sitcom that plays to its star’s strengths (McEntire can be heard singing by episode two) and that knows there is, perhaps, a desire to bask in the old-fashioned trappings of the multi-cam sitcom.
The critics seem split over how successful the generation gap-centered comedy works on Happy’s Place, but fans of Reba McEntire (and Reba) will likely want to tune in and see for themselves! The series premieres at 8 p.m. ET Friday, October 18 on NBC and can be streamed the next day with a Peacock subscription.