Happy's Place is an American sitcom television series that premiered on October 18, 2024, on NBC. The series is created by Kevin & Julie Abbott and stars Reba McEntire, Melissa Peterman, Belissa Escobedo and Rex Linn. It follows the daughter of a deceased bar owner who discovers she has a half-sister, who herself has moved to Knoxville, Tennessee to receive her inheritance, prompting the two to operate the bar together.
Cast
Main
Reba McEntire as Bobbie, a woman who inherits half of a Knoxville, Tennessee bar founded by her father, Happy, following his death, and Isabella's paternal half-sister[1][2]
Belissa Escobedo as Isabella, Bobbie's Mexican American paternal half-sister, who also inherits half of Happy's Place following his death[1]
Melissa Peterman as Gabby, a bartender at Happy's Place. Peterman and McEntire have also co-starred in Reba (2001–2007).
Rex Linn as Emmett, the soft-spoken cook at Happy's Place and a longtime friend of Happy's
Bobbie, already mourning the loss of her father, Happy, gets a further shock when she unexpectedly meets her half-sister Isabella and learns that Happy jointly left his tavern to the both of them, forcing the set in her ways Bobbie and the cheery Isabella to navigate their new relationship as sisters. Isabella meets the eccentric staff of the tavern: Gabby, the talkative bartender; Steve, the nervous and germophobic accountant; Emmett, the soft-spoken cook and a longtime friend of Happy's; and Takoda, the well-meaning Native American waiter.
Bobbie gets irritated by the changes Isabella wants to make around the tavern. Bobbie tries to get her lawyer to talk Isabella out of taking half ownership of the tavern but it backfires, forcing a confrontation between the two of them.
Bobbie offers to let Isabella move in with her when she struggles to find a place to live but Emmett warns her that Isabella is now a roommate instead of a guest and will try to change things. When his words prove to be true and Bobbie loses her cool, Isabella moves back out and Bobbie realizes she misses her.
Emmett wants to revive Fish Fry Mondays, a tradition where he used to go fishing on Sundays with Happy and fry up the catch the next day. Bobbie is less than excited when Emmett wants to take her along because it means leaving the tavern in the staff's hands until Emmett reveals the real reason he used to drag Happy along with him. Meanwhile, Isabella learns bartending from Gabby and Gabby gets drunk with power.
When Gabby has her latest in a long string of heartbreaks, Bobbie and Isabella offer to help improve her dating profile. When that doesn't work, they throw a ladies' night at the tavern and are shocked when it inspires Gabby to have a baby.
Bobbie finally reluctantly decides to take Isabella to see Happy's house so she can get to know her father but it makes Bobbie question who Happy really was. Gabby tags along in search of a rumored valuable penny Happy had collected. Emmett and Steve spend their day off together at the tavern and unexpectedly find themselves bonding.
When the tavern loses out on a big holiday party that was going to pay the staff's health insurance for the year, Gabby offers an alternative plan that involves her friend Danny (Steve Howey). There's one small catch, though: Danny thinks that Gabby is Bobbie and vice versa and that Isabella is French. Steve decides to amuse himself by pretending to be Emmett and Takoda is unnerved by all the dishonesty.
Note: Steve Howey played Reba's son-in-law, Van Montgomery, on her earlier show Reba, and has a throwaway line near the end of the episode referring to that.
When Isabella wants to break up with he long distance boyfriend Jack, she struggles to figure out how to do it until Happy offers to write a Dear John letter to him. The letter backfires and inspires Jack to move to Tennessee to work things out with Isabella, who is even more reluctant to break up with Jack in person. Meanwhile, a local magazine article praises Emmett's cooking but Gabby is upset when she sees her name misspelled in the article.
Happy's Place prepares for their annual anniversary party where Happy would traditionally roast the regular patrons. Now that he is gone, Bobbie and Gabby each compete for the coveted emcee position. They respectively recruit Isabella and Steve to help them, leading the two toengage in a wager. If Bobbie wins, the germaphobic Steve has to kiss a dollar bill. If Gabby wins, Isabella has to go an entire day without bringing up her college education.
10
"The MacAllister Girls"
Pamela Fryman
Jon Haller
January 10, 2025 (2025-01-10)
TBD
When Bobbie's daughter, Gracie (Emma Kenney) returns home from military deployment, Isabella tries her best to get along with her strong willed niece, which ends up bringing out some long simmering issues between mother and daughter as Isabella tries to strengthen familiy ties. Meanwhile, the rest of the staff compete to see who can give Gracie the best homecoming present.
11
"Heart of the Matter"
TBA
TBA
January 17, 2025 (2025-01-17)
TBD
Production
Development
The series is created by Kevin Abbott, who will serve as showrunner and executive producer. The other executive producers are Michael Hanel, Pamela Fryman, Mindy Schultheis and Julie Abbott.[1]Reba McEntire is also an executive producer. On January 29, 2024, the series received a put pilot commitment by NBC.[13] On May 7, 2024, the series had been given a series order and reveals the title as Happy's Place. Universal Television produced the series.[14] On November 15, 2024, the series was given additional script orders, making the season total of 13 episodes.[15] On November 21, 2024, the series added 5 episodes, giving it an 18-episode full first season order.[16]
Casting
McEntire, who helped develop the pilot, plays the lead role of Bobbie.[13] On March 18, 2024, Melissa Peterman and Belissa Escobedo were cast in main roles for the pilot.[17] A minute later, Rex Linn, Tokala Black Elk and Pablo Castelblanco were cast in main roles for the pilot.[18] McEntire and Peterman previously were co-stars on the sitcom Reba.
Happy's Place premiered on October 18, 2024, on NBC.[19]
Reception
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 73% approval rating with an average rating of 5.8/10, based on 11 critic reviews.[20]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 60 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[21]
Ratings
Viewership and ratings per episode of Happy's Place
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