Reba McEntire will go down in history as one of the best country artists to ever do it.
Over her Mc-entire (sorry, had to do it) country music career, Reba has released 32 studio albums, 25 compilation projects, and two live albums. She’s always stayed busy with music, and that was even when she was starring in her own hit television show.
On this date in 2001, McEntire’s American sitcom Reba premiered, and it was an instant hit. If you’ve never watched Reba show off her acting chops in her TV show, what have you been doing with your life?
The show was set in Houston, Texas and featured Reba McEntire playing a version of herself (named Reba Nell Hart). Reba’s character is a single mother (who worked too hard) who stayed busy raising her kids while also juggling a strange relationship with her neighbor Barbra Jean (Melissa Peterman), who her ex-husband Brock (Christopher Rich) left Reba for.
Reba ran for six seasons, and its final episode aired in February of 2007. During its long run, the show was one of the most successful programs on the WB (now the CW), especially with the demographic of women between the ages of 14 from 49.
The show, which was recorded live in front of a studio audience, aired on Friday nights and often had viewership over 5 million people, which as far as TV ratings go, is a pretty impressive statistic. However, halfway through the show’s sixth (and last) season, there were rumors that it would not be renewed.
And sure enough, in January of 2007, the network revealed that the “back half” of season six would not be ordered, and the show was canceled. Since then, it has done fairly well with syndication, playing re-runs on networks like Lifetime, Ion, Freeform, and the Hallmark Channel.
Anytime I’m flipping through the channels and it’s on, I stop in and watch, even if it’s just for a moment. Most of the time, I’m hoping that I stop in right at the beginning so I can sing along to the banger of a theme song it had:
“My roots are planted in the past,
Though my life is changing fast,
Who I am is who I want to be.
A single mom, who works too hard,
Who loves her kids and never stops.
With gentle hands and the heart of a fighter.
I’m a survivor…”
You can sing along to “I’m A Survivor” too by clicking on the video link below:
