Country singer and actress Reba McEntire is marking 25 years since REBA introduced viewers to the Hart family, and her anniversary message puts the people who welcomed them first.
“Thankful you all welcomed the Hart family into your lives and for all the memories this show brought us!” McEntire shared in the caption of an earlier October Instagram post.
The thank-you came with a trip through the sitcom’s past: McEntire shared promotional images featuring herself and fellow actresses JoAnna Garcia Swisher and Melissa Peterman. A quarter-century later, the faces are familiar, and so are the relationships that made the show matter to its cast.
REBA began in 2001 and ran for six seasons, ending in 2007 after airing on The WB and The CW, according to Good Housekeeping’s anniversary report. McEntire played Reba Hart, Garcia Swisher played her daughter Cheyenne and Peterman played Barbra Jean.
Good Housekeeping reported that both Garcia Swisher and Peterman responded to the milestone, emphasizing the friendships and family they gained from the series.
The show may have ended, but the people who made it can still recognize what they built together — and the audience that helped it last.
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There is a present-day chapter to the story, too. McEntire and Peterman now work together on HAPPY’S PLACE, which returns for its third season Friday, Oct. 23, at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, with episodes streaming the following day on Peacock, according to the network’s season guide.
The setting is different this time. McEntire plays Bobbie, who inherits her father’s Knoxville tavern and discovers she has a half-sister, Isabella, played by actress Belissa Escobedo.
Peterman plays Gabby, Bobbie’s friend and the tavern’s bartender. Their partnership links the two sitcoms without making HAPPY’S PLACE a continuation of the Hart family’s story.
The current ensemble also includes actor Rex Linn as chef Emmett, actor Tokala Black Elk as waiter and handyman Takoda and actor Pablo Castelblanco as accountant Steve, as outlined in NBC’s cast guide. McEntire and Peterman have familiar company, but they are part of a different workplace family.
That group celebrated together when the new series earned another season. In NBC Insider’s own interview about the renewal, Peterman described learning the news after an afternoon nap and then joining the flurry of cast messages and calls.
“I was taking a little disco nap in the afternoon and that was the best news to wake up to,” Peterman said, recalling hearing about the renewal.
The cast later went to dinner together, with the celebration coinciding with Castelblanco’s birthday. It is a small, specific picture of the offscreen relationships that can grow around a shared job.
None of that replaces REBA, and McEntire’s anniversary post does not suggest it should. Instead, the milestone offers room to appreciate an earlier cast while two of its stars continue making something new together.
Twenty-five years after the premiere, McEntire’s emphasis remains on gratitude: for the memories, for the family viewers invited into their homes and for the people who shared the experience. For fans who still think fondly of the Harts, that is a welcome reason to look back.
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