Happy's Place

First off--opening scene looked too much like the Cheers bar.

The putting together Melissa Peterson and Reba again with their characters too similar to their old ones on the Reba TV show don't cut it.

Belissa Escobedo as Reba's half-sister not really cutting it. Not sure she knows how to be a comedian.

Hey, I like Reba's music, and even liked her first TV show, but this one is not cutting it for me.

Most of the other characters, especially the bookkeeper were weirdly portrayed. If one is a germaphobe why sit at a bar, and use.an air duster for cleaning off germs.

Wondering why Reba choose this script or is it she needs the money. Come on, she is touring, on The Voice and now this.

I have watched 3 episodes so far and getting through them has been an effort. I wanted so much to love this show because I love Reba and Melissa Peterman is always a joy, but even they cannot elevate this show past mediocre. The writing is average and the acting among most of the characters is mediocre. Aside from Peterman and Rex Lynn, the other characters are listless and boring. The two guys, Steve and Takota, are bland and uninteresting. And I feel the character of Isabella has been horribly miscast. Isabella is annoying in her effort to waltz in and try to change everything and worse, this character is not acted or played all that well by Escobedo. There is just no dynamic or chemistry between her and Reba's character. I think this would have played much better had they made Peterman the step-sister. Every scene with Reba and Peterson sparkles. That is the chemistry they should have played up.

Sadly, I don't see this getting a second season if they don't fix the issue that are holding this show back from being as good as it could be. I hope they do.

I waited until Ep-3 to write this, hoping that the show would improve.

In my opinion ...

The Emmett character is the most awesome and authentic actor on the show, such a grounding force. Reminds a bit of Mel from Alice's Diner, rough on the outside, soft and cuddly on the inside. Emmett is always insightful, truthful, and wise - all without raising his voice.

Melissa Peterman needs to focus more on her comedy and her funny little phobias, and less on "I wanna be Reba's sister". We've seen Barbra Jean and we loved her, but Melissa is a top-notch comedian and she deserves better roles.

Bobbie is, as much as I love Reba, Bobbie is just more of the same as Reba Hart, she's such a Bully. It is always "do everything her way or take the highway". There is never a negotiation. It was the same way on her other show, granted on that show she kind of needed to be a bully to raise good kids and keep her ex-husband in-check. But it really is exhausting to have her yelling throughout the entire show.

The younger sister, Isabella, waltzes in and immediately starts pushing her millennial entitled b*s* onto everyone else. Not a funny character at all. This is supposed to be a comedy show, right? The age difference makes the entire premise of the main story line too far-fetched.

Takoda and Steve have so much promise. They need more screen time. If you cannot tone down Bobbie's yelling, then at least enhance and give us more of these two to offset the negative Reba.

Having worked in a bar, many of the background things that are going on are just disgusting ... wiping her face with the same towel that she just wiped Bar Glasses with; putting the white wine on the shelf instead of in the refrigerator; just the way they make drinks - it all needs to be more believable. At least on Cheers, it looked realistic, like they were really serving drinks - not just moving props around.

I will stick it out a few more episodes to see if they can develop these characters. But right now, even after three episodes, I still don't care about any of the characters - and that saddens me, I really wanted to love this show.

My entire family wanted so much for this to be excellent. We love sitcoms and we love Reba, so had high hopes. Most of the characters are interesting and entertaining. Unfortunately, we find the little sister character to be unlikeable to the point of not wanting to watch the show. Our recommendation is for Bobbie to buy her out and send her off to the Peace Corps or something, and change the direction of the show to focus on Bobbie moving forward from her father's death and his betrayal with the support of the remaining zany cast of characters. We doubt Happy's Place will survive to see a second season in its current iteration. (We suspect the producers are trying to draw in Gen Z with the little sister character. We don't see them watching this show with or without her.)

As a fan of the original Reba (currently rewatching), this falls short. Aside from Reba and the half-sister, there was nothing here to make me care about the other characters - unlike the first episode of Reba where you got a feel for the dynamic of all the characters right away - the writing made the large cast work in a good way. This didn't happen here with a smaller cast.

I love the interaction between Melissa Peterman and Reba and I wish one of the networks or streaming services would give her a show like the old variety shows in the 70s, Carol Burnett, for example. She could sing, act and there's be a place for Melissa to let her comedic talent shine.

I wish them luck with the show but it's a half hour of my week I'm not going to waste.