Reba

Synopsis

Set in Houston, Texas, middle-aged wisecracking Reba Hart (Reba McEntire) has her life thrown upside down when she learns her husband, Brock Hart (Christopher Rich), had an affair and is expecting a baby with his young dental hygienist Barbra Jean (Melissa Peterman), and that her daughter Cheyenne (JoAnna Garcia Swisher) is pregnant with her boyfriend (later husband), high school football star Van Montgomery (Steve Howey). Amidst the new chaos and dysfunction, Reba attempts to connect with pre-teen daughter Kyra (Scarlett Pomers) and care for young son Jake (Mitch Holleman).

Cast and characters

Main

Reba McEntire as Reba Hart: a single mom who struggles with taking care of everyone in her house after her husband divorces her for his dental hygienist. She is temperamental and prone to sarcastic remarks, but Reba can also be kind and caring, and is usually the sensible one. Though she frequently moves between jobs, she eventually settles in as a real estate agent.

Christopher Rich as Brock Hart: Reba's ex-husband, a dentist and golfer, who leaves her for his much younger, pregnant, dental hygienist, Barbra Jean. He is vain, addicted to tanning, and tries to convince everyone that he is still young. Brock sometimes shows regret for his divorce from Reba because of all the chaos it causes his children. His marriage with Barbra Jean is rocky, due to his selfishness and impetuousness, but he is in love with her.

JoAnna García as Cheyenne Hart: Reba and Brock's oldest daughter and Kyra and Jake's sister, who initially is looking forward to her senior year of high school before learning she is pregnant. She marries Van, who moves into Reba's house after his parents disown him. She goes into labor on graduation day. She can be somewhat air-headed and self-centered, but she can also be thoughtful and kind-hearted. She is very sensitive, especially when she is insulted (mainly by Kyra). Her work ethic and sense of responsibility improve as she raises her daughter and study in college. Cheyenne also begins volunteering at a homeless shelter, greatly reducing her shallowness. When she comes to the realization that she is an alcoholic, she's inspired to discontinue dentistry as her major, and instead decides to study counseling for those affected by alcohol and drugs. She cares greatly for her entire family.

Steve Howey as Van Montgomery: The star cornerback (CB) of his high school's football team, and Cheyenne's boyfriend. When Cheyenne becomes pregnant with his child, Van's parents kick him out of the house. He consequently marries Cheyenne and moves in with her at Reba's house, and his future in professional sports looks bright until an injury to his tailbone reveals that he has spinal stenosis. He works to recover his life after the loss of his football career, and he eventually becomes a successful real estate agent in a partnership with Reba. Van is portrayed as a big goof and is not good with words, especially when it comes to Cheyenne. Kyra loves making fun of him. He also bonds with Jake, though they grow more antagonistic towards each other as Jake grows closer to his teen years. He cares deeply for his in-laws, especially Reba, for taking him in and caring for him in his darkest hours. His relationship with his parents remains strained throughout the series, and they never truly make up.

Production

Opening sequences

The show's theme song, "I'm a Survivor", was written by Shelby Kennedy and Phillip White and performed by Reba McEntire. The song comes from Reba's album Greatest Hits Vol. 3: I'm a Survivor. Though the first part of the TV version's lyrics appear elsewhere in the song, the album version has a different chorus: "The baby girl without a chance / a victim of circumstance / the one who ought to give up / but she's just too hard-headed / a single mom who works two jobs / who loves her kids and never stops / with gentle hands and the heart of a fighter / I'm a survivor." The show's lyrics are as follows:

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

In season 1, the opening credits were black-and-white photos of cast members interspersed with clips of each cast member from the show (mostly if not all from the pilot episode), along with color video shots of Reba on a soundstage. The theme song, "I'm a Survivor", was slower and softer, very similar to the original album version. The first ten episodes of season two featured a truncated opening sequence: Cast and crew names were shown during the first and second segments of the show. The song was re-recorded at a faster, more energetic pace, but only two lines of the chorus ("Who I am is who I want to be / I'm a survivor") were sung. New video inserts of McEntire were shot and played with a color photo of the entire cast at the end.

From the 11th episode of season 2 onwards, a full opening sequence was returned to the show. The fast-paced song played among the new shots of McEntire (which were also taken from The WB's promotional campaign during the 2002–03 season) plus clips of cast members from previous episodes as their names scroll past the screen horizontally. In seasons 5 and 6, the song was re-mixed again, with gentler guitars replacing a harder-edged sax solo.

Cancellation

Midway through season 6, word began circulating that the CW had ordered "the back nine", or the remaining episodes that would have given Reba a full-season order, but on January 19, 2007, during the network's TCA Press Tour, it was revealed that the series had been canceled, with no "back nine" on order. The series finale was filmed in December 2006.

The series finale garnered 4.44 million viewers in its final half-hour. Rumors continued to float on the CW's message boards and Reba fan sites that the series might still have a chance at renewal, citing the possible removal of programming chief Dawn Ostroff, or that Lifetime expressed interest in a Van/Cheyenne spinoff series. It was soon announced that Garcia and Howey had each been signed to new shows for CBS and FOX respectively.

An interview with Reba McEntire, as part of the press coverage of her then upcoming Duets album, revealed that the show was not being shopped around and that the series was indeed finished. In an interview with Variety on May 29, 2007, 20th Century Fox TV president Gary Newman said that he had regretted The WB's handling of the show in later years, saying that he was sure the series would have been a hit for CBS or ABC. The final season of Reba was originally scheduled to debut in the spring of 2007. However, following the cancellation of the drama Runaway, the series returned in November 2006.

Proposed revival

A revival of Reba was pitched by McEntire and the show's creators, around the time of Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox, but despite Disney approval and the original cast agreeing to return the reboot was ultimately not greenlit. Kevin Abbott and Reba took the opportunity to spin the pitch into a new sitcom that eventually would be greenlit: Happy's Place. There, Melissa Peterman was cast as a main character opposite Reba, and as of 2026, former Reba co-stars Steve Howey, Christopher Rich, and JoAnna Garcia Swisher have appeared in guest roles in the series (with Howey briefly breaking character & the fourth wall at the end of his episode making humorous reference to Reba).

American ratings

Reba set a new all-time viewership record for any program on the WB's Friday night (best-ever Friday in women 18–49). During its five seasons on the Friday night lineup, it often ranked 4th in its timeslot (ahead of both UPN and Fox), with a few episodes bringing in over 5 million viewers.

Reba's premiere on The CW Sunday averaged 4.02 million viewers, including 1.64 million viewers and 40 percent among adults 18–49 more than when Everybody Hates Chris and All of Us premiered in the same time slot, thus making Reba the highest rated sitcom on the network. With Reba as a lead in, 7th Heaven saw a season high of 4.51 million viewers.

Reba was averaging 3.63 million viewers since the beginning of its sixth season, making it the seventh most-watched show and the most-watched sitcom on The CW throughout the 2006–07 television season. The new Reba episodes vary as being either sixth or seventh most-watched program on the network, sometimes ranking as high as #3 for the week.

Throughout The CW's inaugural season (2006–07), no other program had higher viewer turnout for repeat airings than Reba. As a result of the lackluster ratings for encores of the summer drama Hidden Palms, repeats of Reba returned to the CW's schedule in June 2007 after being absent for three months, and they immediately became the most-watched program of the night. Later in the summer, repeats of Reba were the most-viewed program on The CW.

Critical reception

Carole Horst of Variety commented positively on the premise of the first episode and described the show as an "upscale Roseanne". Joly Herman of Common Sense Media stated that it was "funny" while noting the fact that it touched on serious issues like teen pregnancy, alcoholism and depression.

Broadcast

History

The series was originally cancelled when The WB's rival network UPN merged with them to transform into The CW. However, in an 11th hour move on May 17, 2006, The CW renewed Reba with a 13-episode order, reportedly to fulfill a syndication contract worth $20 million. In November 2006, The CW announced that the show would be paired with 7th Heaven, Sundays at 7:00 p.m., beginning later that month. Reba encores were scheduled for Sundays at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT, with a new episode at 7:30 p.m. Reba became the top-rated sitcom on the CW, also surpassing the dramas Supernatural, One Tree Hill, and Veronica Mars. The final episode aired on February 18, 2007.

Syndication

Reba has aired in syndication on Lifetime, Ion Television, Peachtree TV, The CW Plus, and Hallmark Channel. In September 2006, Reba began airing on the new CW Daytime block, and remained there until September 2008. It began airing on CMT on Wednesday August 1, 2012, in high definition, and also began airing on ABC Family (now Freeform) on August 6, 2012. It began airing on TV Land in 2015. As of August 2019, however, the series was pulled from both TV Land and Freeform. The show made its network premiere on UPtv on August 2, 2019. On April 5, 2021, the series began airing again on the Hallmark Channel.

International

Reba was broadcast worldwide in over 30 countries. The series was successful in the Czech Republic (under the name "The Diary of a Seasoned Mother") where the season premiere on September 29, 2007, garnered over 1 million viewers. It was also successful in Canada, Mexico, and Croatia.

Streaming

Reba is currently available to stream on Hulu and Amazon Freevee. From May 6, 2024, to November 5, 2025, the series became available for streaming on Netflix.

Home media

20th Century Fox has released the entire series run, seasons 1–6, of Reba on DVD in Region 1. All discs are double-sided in an effort to reduce the economics of producing the sets. In 2010, seasons 1–4 were re-released in standard, more compact DVD cases to match the fifth and sixth season releases.