Melissa Peterman Just Showed Why Reba McEntire & Rex Linn Are "Too Cute" Together
Melissa Peterman stars alongside Reba McEntire and Rex Linn on NBC's new sitcom Happy's Place.
Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman have crossed paths since their hit 2000s show Reba, but it wasn't until the idea for Happy's Place came along that reuniting on a comedy series felt right.
The show follows Bobbie (McEntire) begrudgingly working with her late father’s secret daughter Isabella (Belissa Escobedo) after they both inherit his bar.
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The storyline “presented a lot of interesting stories to tell,” Peterman explained in an interview with NBC Insider.
“We know people that know people that this happened … where somebody was like, ‘I’m gonna do 23andMe’ or all of a sudden you get an email going, ‘I think I’m your brother.,” Peterman said.
Why Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman waited for Happy’s Place to reunite
The new ensemble also features Peterman as bartender and Bobbie’s best friend Gabby, Rex Linn as resident chef Emmett, Tokala Black Elk as waiter Takoda, and Pablo Castelblanco as tavern accountant Steve.
“It just felt like we had … new people to play with and it lended itself to so many stories to tell … it just felt right,” Peterman said. “Reba was, has always been, a big believer of you’ll know it when you know it, and we had other things that came up in the years leading up to this that weren’t the right thing.”
Peterman recalled Escobedo sharing her theory on why Happy’s Place was meant to be.
“You had to wait for Happy’s Place so I could grow up to be in the show,” Peterman recalled Escobedo sharing. “And she’s right. I think we did.”
They needed her, Peterman reiterated.
“The person playing Reba's sister had to be really special, and it had to be somebody that could go toe to toe with Reba but be likable and fierce and funny and Belissa is all of those things, so that was really, to me like, a very important piece of the puzzle when she came on board,” Peterman said. “It just felt really right.”
Steve Howey will join in on the Happy's Place fun, too
The bar setting of Happy's Place opens itself up to the possibility of a lot of guest stars popping in at any time, Peterman said excitedly. One actor left Peterman unable to stop smiling during his time on set: Steve Howey (Reba, Shameless).
Howey previously played McEntire's son-in-law Van Montgomery in their past sitcom together. Now, he'll be playing someone Gabby knows, Peterman teased about his guest spot.
The actor will play a potential sperm donor for Gabby in a holiday episode titled "Ho-Ho-Howey," Series creator Kevin Abbot revealed to TVLine.
Peterman was often late to set because she found herself in his dressing room talking and catching up, she recalled warmly.
"It was just like old times," Peterman said about working with Howey again. "No one makes me laugh like Steve Howey and also it's that thing that I have with Reba where we all went through something together that no one else really did ... He knows everything about me."
Peterman is keeping her "fingers crossed" Howey's character will return again.
Reba McEntire and her boyfriend Rex Linn are “too cute” on the set of Happy’s Place
McEntire and her boyfriend Linn have been together for four years.
The trio worked together previously on the movie The Hammer before starting on the new sitcom.
“I’ve hung out with them and watched their relationship grow so it’s been really fun and also, Rex … he’s been in everything,” Peterman explained. (While on a five-hour flight, every movie she watched featured the actor!)
“He’s sort of that great actor that has done a lot, but he’d never done a sitcom, and Rex is such a pro and he loves to be prepared,” Peterman said. “He knocked it out of the park.”
The couple’s charm is “just too cute” even when they’re not shooting, according to Peterman.
“We have boosted tables so when you walk in, in the morning and they’re eating breakfast together it just looks like that cute couple you see at a restaurant,” Peterman said about seeing them during stints when the cast and crew aren’t filming. “They love and adore each other.”
Watch Happy’s Place Fridays at 8/7c on NBC. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
