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Reba McEntire Debuts Theme Song for Her New TV Show ‘Happy’s Place’
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Reba McEntire Debuts Theme Song for Her New TV Show ‘Happy’s Place’

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With the theme song to her 2001-2007 sitcom of the same name, Oklahoma native Reba McEntire memorably exclaimed, “I’m a Survivor.”

With the newly released theme for her upcoming series, the Country Music Hall of Famer is apparently hoping viewers will feel at home — and feel the love.

The entertainment icon released the theme “Happy’s Place” via MCA Nashville on all music platforms on Friday. The song debuted a week before the premiere of her anticipated new comedy series: “Happy’s Place” will air on NBC on October 18 at 7 p.m.

The Chockie native collaborated with fellow entertainment icon and legendary songwriter Carole King to write the theme “Happy’s Place.”

“I’m so excited to have the opportunity to write the theme song for ‘Happy’s Place’ with my good friend, Carole King,” Reba said in a statement. “It just doesn’t get much better than that! I hope my fans will love this song as much as the theme song for the Reba show.”

The ‘Reba’ theme ‘I’m a Survivor’ has proven to be a surprising staple for the flaming hitmaker, and continues to inspire internet memes and TikTok trends.

How will the new series put Reba on NBC three times a week this fall?

Once “Happy’s Place” debuts on Oct. 18, fans can expect to see Reba at least three days a week on NBC this fall: The three-time Grammy Award winner is back as a coach on the Emmy Award-winning series “The Voice” after winning season 25 in the spring. Reba guides the contestants on Season 26 of The Voice, along with fellow returning coach (and Sooner State transplant) Gwen Stefani and coaches newcomers Snoop Dogg and Michael Bublé.

Reba confirmed in a spring interview with The Oklahoman that filming was completed in April for the pilot episode of “Happy’s Place,” which stars Belissa Escobedo, Melissa Peterman, Pablo Castelblanco, Tokala Black Elk and Rex Linn.

The half-hour multi-camera series airs on the network Friday at 7 p.m. It will be the start of a new NBC comedy hour, followed by the return of Season 3 of fan-favorite “Lopez vs. Lopez,” starring comedic actor George Lopez, on Fridays at 7:30 p.m. The news magazine “Dateline NBC” closes the evening from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM on Friday.

All new episodes will stream the next day on Peacock, along with the rest of NBC’s entertainment schedule.

What is Reba’s new sitcom ‘Happy’s Place’ about?

With ‘Happy’s Place’, Reba is now active in the restaurant world, both on TV and in real life.

The new show stars Reba as Bobbie, who inherits her father’s Tennessee bar, Happy’s Place, when he dies. Her character is less than thrilled when she learns she has a new business partner: the younger half-sister she never knew she had, played by “Blue Beetle” star Escobedo.

Peterman stars as Gabby, an old tavern bartender who wishes she were Bobbie’s sister, while Linn, Reba’s actor friend and fellow Oklahoman, plays a taciturn chef named Emmett.

“Yellowstone” actor Black Elk, a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe and a direct descendant of the Lakota holy man Black Elk, has been cast as a friendly waiter with handyman skills named Takoda. Castelblanco (“Alaska Daily”) plays Steve, the restaurant’s accountant who works at the bar and doesn’t like change.

Reba and Peterman famously became good friends when they starred together in the still-beloved 2001-2007 TV series “Reba.” They made a boisterous appearance as presenters at last month’s Primetime Emmy Awards, where their red carpet presence made Ayo Edebiri, an Emmy-winning star of the hit FX series “The Bear,” literally squeal with delight.

However, that’s not the only reunion of ‘Reba’ on ‘Happy’s Place’. “Reba” executive producers Kevin Abbott, Michael Hanel and Mindy Schultheis are back together for the new project, alongside a new addition to the creative team, Julie Abbott.

Kevin Abbott is also the writer of the new series, while Reba is one of the executive producers.

“My crew, my producers and my showrunner, we’ve been working together for a long time. Since 2006, when ‘Reba’ was canceled, we’ve been trying to find another story,” Reba told The Oklahoman in a one-on-one interview backstage at the Western Heritage Awards in April in Oklahoma City.

“My showrunner Kevin Abbott and his wife, Julie, were the ones who came up with this idea – and we ran with it. And NBC liked it so much that we were able to do a pilot with it, and we hope to find out soon whether we will be able to continue with it a little further.”

“Happy’s Place” is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

Where in Oklahoma is Reba’s real restaurant?

The “Reba” reunion on “Happy’s Place” comes as McEntire’s series of the same name, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy TV Series in 2004, and remains a popular title.

All episodes of the six-season show are now streaming on Hulu, and the series debuted on Netflix in the spring.

Reba told The Oklahoman that she hopes to bring her real-world experience to the new TV show: She opened her namesake home-state restaurant Reba’s Place in early 2023 in a 100-year-old building in downtown Atoka.

“I have a lot more knowledge about running a restaurant and a tavern than I did before, so yeah, I think it will help,” said Reba, who grew up on an Atoka County ranch in nearby Chockie.