Reba McEntire Shares Secrets To Heartfelt Sitcoms Known For Comedy, Charm

Reba McEntire’s decades-long career in entertainment has cemented the singer-songwriter’s status as a Queen of Country — and a Queen of Comedy.

The legendary country artist, who recently celebrated her 70th birthday, has long been known for her sitcoms with heartfelt storylines and lovable characters. McEntire premiered her current sitcom, Happy’s Place, in October 2024. The Julie Abbott- and Kevin Abbott-created comedy stars McEntire as Bobbie, “a tough but lovable woman who inherits her late father’s Tennessee tavern - only to discover that her new co-owner is also the half-sister she never knew she had,” per NBC. “They couldn’t be more different, but they’ll navigate this new life together... because at Happy’s Place, everyone is family.”

McEntire’s close-knit Happy’s Place cast includes her real-life boyfriend, actor Rex Linn, plus Belissa Escobedo, Pablo Castelblanco, Tokala Black Elk and Melissa Peterman, who reunites with the country star from the pair’s Reba days. The iconic early 2000s sitcom stars McEntire as a single mother of three living in Houston, Texas. Peterman plays her unlikely friend, alongside cast mates Christopher Rich, Steve Howey, JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Scarlett Pomers and Mitch Holleman. The series premiered in 2001, and ended in 2007. Rich and Howey — who played McEntire's ex-husband and her son-in-law, respectively — have each made guest appearances in the first season of Happy’s Place.

It might be fitting that McEntire’s Reba character works as a realtor (in one episode, she’s tasked with making a sales pitch to fellow country legend Dolly Parton, whose character is interviewing McEntire's for a job). The “Fancy” hitmaker is putting her sitcom skills to work with Realtor.com, telling sitcom-worthy stories to share information about the home-buying process in a way that’s “warm, friendly and approachable,” McEntire said in a recent interview with iHeartCountry (she's “more equipped” to sell Parton a home now, she said with a laugh: “It is funny that I was a realtor in Reba, and here I am… I didn’t put those two together. That’s unbelievable”). McEntire said the Nearly Home “episodes” she’s working on in her new, unique team-up include stories about a little dog named Rhubarb who “has the zooms” and needs a yard, and more. “These are interesting, and they’re cute. They’re funny.”

McEntire considers the No. 1 secret to a successful sitcom to be “the writing. If it’s not on the page, it’s not on the stage.” She credited her showrunner and head writer with telling stories in “a great voice of comedy and heart. …That’s what I love so much about the Andy Griffith Show, (for example), how he raised Opie – I used that raising my son – but it is very important to have heart in there. You gotta laugh, but you gotta cry. You’ve got to hit all of those emotions.”

The Oklahoma-born superstar emphasized the importance of inviting her audience — including sitcom live studio audiences and concert crowds — to be part of something with her. She said “that’s what a sitcom does. You’re watching in your living room; I’m in the living room with you. …It connects people to the story, the experience, whatever’s happened, hopefully you learn something from it (and) you can use it in your own life.

“Kevin Abbott, our showrunner, is so thoughtful that he will come in after we’ve done three takes of one scene, and he’ll give us new lines for the audience,” McEntire added of the mutual kinship between the cast and the viewers. “And some of those might take and is the one they take for the episode you see on television. But if not, it’s something just to entertain the audience. He’s there for everybody. And it entertains us, too.”

McEntire’s expert work in entertainment recently earned her the title as one of Variety’s honorees at the inaugural Power of Women: Nashville event. McEntire was honored alongside Kelsea Ballerini, Mickey Guyton and Sheryl Crow for her impact on the music industry and philanthropic efforts. Speaking with iHeartCountry on the day of the event, McEntire remembered a lesson she and her siblings learned from their father.

“‘You leave a place better than where you found it.’ And so, that’s what I want to do in my career,” she said. “I want to learn from Dolly, and Loretta (Lynn), and Tammy (Wynette), and Anne Murray, Barbara Mandrell, Brenda Lee. I want to learn from them. They worked hard to get where they are. I worked hard to (get to) where I am. But I also want to help Kelsea and Brittney (Spencer) and all the other new girls coming up. They’re doing so good, and they’re strong women. That’s what it takes to be in this business – in any business – you gotta be a strong woman, put your foot down, know how to get what you want to get, and you have a goal in your career and you work hard to get there. ...I was proud to be a part of it. It was a strong room. You could feel the strength. And as I said in my acceptance speech, when women get together, they can move mountains. That’s true. I know because I had a very strong grandmother, mother, sisters, aunts, cousins, they’re very strong. When you get all of us together, we’re going to come up with something great.”

“I’m talking about women who broke down doors, lifted each other up, and paved the way for all of us in this room to do what we love to do so much. And I wouldn’t be standing here today without the strong, fearless trailblazers who came before me.”

McEntire’s pledge to help other artists also showed when she claimed an iconic red chair to serve as a coach on The Voice. She said on the smash-hit competition show, “we want to lift up” the up-and-coming artists. “We want to inspire. We want to encourage, not tear down. They get enough of that out there in the world.” McEntire passed the baton to Ballerini, who is serving as a coach for the first time this season with Adam Levine, John Legend and Michael Bublé.

Next, McEntire is looking ahead to hosting the milestone 60th Academy of Country Music Awards, returning on Thursday (May 8) to the world headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. McEntire is hosting the star-studded show for her 18th time, more than any other artist. She’s also gearing up to take the stage at Nashville’s first and only Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) rodeo, taking place from May 29 through May 31 (Jelly Roll and Tim McGraw will also perform that weekend). McEntire is returning to the screen in the film adaptation of Fannie Flagg’s New York Times bestselling novel, The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion. Plus, the Queen of Sitcoms is heading back o the Happy’s Place set to bring the second season to life, she confirmed as she reminisced on a rehearsal the group ran over a dinner that McEntire and Linn hosted (Linn and Escobedo have a running competition to see how spicy they can handle their meals, and “he’s catching up!”).

“I’ve got to listen to the arc of the second season, and it’s gonna be good,” McEntire teased. “And all of the characters – and I do call us ‘characters,’ the actors, we are characters in our own right. We’re so diversified that we bring to the table something in real life that I think comes through on the screen. …We love each other. We respect each other’s opinion on things, their individual lifestyle, their background, their heritage. It’s a fun family.”