Stream It Or Skip It?
We really liked the first season of Happy’s Place, Reba McEntire’s return to sticoms, because the show’s writers weren’t trying to weigh it down with gags, and relied a lot on the chemistry among the cast and trying to develop the characters they play. It helped that McEntire was reunited with her Reba co-star Melissa Peterman, who took most of the physical humor load so that the rest of the gang could go deeper. Now that Reba’s character Bobbie and her bar’s cook Emmett, played by McEntire’s real-life boyfriend Rex Linn, are sweet on each other, where is this show going?
HAPPY’S PLACE SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: At the bar at Happy’s Place, the co-owner Bobbie (Reba McEntire) and the cook, Emmett (Rex Linn), both go to pick up a pencil Bobbie dropped on the bar, and the two of them stare at each other with googoo eyes.
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The Gist: Yes, the two of them are sweet on each other, and everyone at the bar knows it. Isabella (Belissa Escobedo), who is the co-owner of the bar and also a half-sister Bobbie didn’t know she had until her father, Happy, passes away; is tired of Emmett popping by Bobbie’s house to “check on” the two of them. But bartender Gabby (Melissa Peterman) knows that Izzy encouraged the two of them to get together, and doesn’t think it was a good idea. Steve (Pablo Castelblanco), the accountant and Takoda (Tokala Black Elk), the waiter, are just icked out by it all.
But when the gang at Happy’s find out that all Bobbie and Emmett are doing is talking, Izzie encourages Bobbie to ask him out. Bobbie is old fashioned and won’t do it. Even Gabby comes around. Empowered by the encouragement, Bobbie goes into Emmett’s tiny kitchen and, while he’s cutting some London broil, asks him on a date — and his response is unexpected.
When Bobbie comes out of the kitchen with a quizzical look on her face, Gabby and Izzy want to know what happened. The guys, on the other hand, don’t think that it’s anyone’s business. Actually Takoda just wants to know how the London broil turned out. Steve goes back to the kitchen to ask his friend Emmett about it, and is surprised when he finds out his reasons for it.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? During the first season, we described Happy’s Place as Cheers meets Reba, which still seems to be accurate.
Our Take: While Happy’s Place, created by Kevin and Julie Abbott, has never been the funniest show, we always appreciated that the show doesn’t try to go for cheap gags but instead roots all of its comedy in the characters and the found family that populates Happy’s Place (the bar as well as the series). That continues in the second season, with a couple of twists that will make the season a little more interesting.
We wondered how things would go once Izzy is integrated into the Happy’s family, and Bobbie accepts the fact that her father had an affair that produced a sister that’s young enough to be her granddaughter. Would Izzy just blend into the group and the oddness of her and Bobbie’s sisterhood blend into the woodwork of the show? That’s what we thought, until Emmett, who worked for Happy for a long time, told Steve the promise to his old friend that prevents him from dating Bobbie.
It turns out that it’s not any kind of promise not to date her, but it’s because he knew about Isabella for years before Happy’s death and vowed never to tell someone. He’s afraid that once he and Bobbie are dating, that truth will come out and ruin their friendship. It’s a pretty deep character development for what is a genial workplace sitcom, but we think it’s going to be a story that’s treated with the right combination of comedy and drama.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Emmett tells Steve what the promise he made to Happy was.
Sleeper Star: IMDb says both Carol Kane and Christopher Lloyd for this upcoming season, and we’re on board for seeing both of them.
Most Pilot-y Line: A running joke in the episode is Bobbie being asked if she was going to ask Emmett out in the outfit she was wearing. Do they think Emmett is that kind of guy? He doesn’t seem that way to us.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Happy’s Place is never going to be a laugh riot. But the ensemble has a nice chemistry with each other, and the show isn’t afraid of going into a little deeper emotional territory to make the characters and their relationship to each other deeper than you tend to see in a traditional sitcom.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
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