It's been over a decade since country music star and actress Reba McEntire graced the small screen as the lead in a sitcom. After the success of her eponymous sitcom 'Reba,' which ended in 2007, and short-lived ABC series Malibu Country (canceled in 2013) McEntire has mainly focused on her music career and smaller roles in other series.
Howver, Reba is now back with an all-new sitcom for NBC: 'Happy's Place.' In it, she plays the lead role of Bobbie, a woman who inherits part of a Tennessee bar after her father dies. The other part belongs to half-sister, Isabella, who she never knew about, and is played by 'Blue Beetle' star Belissa Escobedo.
Part of the comedic premise of Escobedo's role is the vast differences with McEntire, both physically and emotionally. However, that didn't prevent the two actresses from building a bond as sisters both on and off-camera.
"I think we really lucked out because Reba and I immediately had this friendship and we really have a very similar sense of humor...it was just very natural. There wasn't anything specific we did but I just care about her so much...we developed a very sisterly relationship off-camera and we're lucky that that translated so well," Escobedo said.
Along with the bar that Bobbie and Isabella inherit comes a host of characters including Steve, a germophobic accountant with OCD, and Takoda, a kind-hearted waiter.
Actors Pablo Castelblanco and Tokala Black Elk play Steve and Takoda, respectively. Along with Escobedo, they all discussed their experience working on the show in an exclusive interview with The Latin Times.
Tokala Black Elk echoed Escobedo's sentiment and highlifamilial bond between the cast members of the show, saying, "The essence of 'Happy's Place' is basically it's like a big family...And we have this essence of taking care of each other. And I want to say that Takoda's character is kind of like a older brother to everybody. He's a friend of everybody and loyalty to his family."
However, the journey to making it as a lead in an NBC sitcom has been a long one for the actors. Castelblanco, who was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, moved to Los Angeles by himself at the age of 17 to pursue his dream of acting. While he had wanted to be an actor before then, he credits seeing Colombian actress Sofía Vergara on the hit ABC series 'Modern Family' as part of his inspiration to take the leap.
Castelblanco stated "I think part of my inspiration was Sofía Vergara while she was on 'Modern Family.'... When I decided to come act in the United States, Netflix and Prime Video didn't exist like it does now. I felt that I would be more valued as an artist here than at that time in Colombia...But now I really want to go back to Colombia to work... But yes, I think it was more of a result of seeing Sofia Vergara do something so different and unique that made me want to come and try it.
And while for Tokala Black Elk, an active member of the Sioux tribe, the leap from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota wasn't so large in distance, he also credits seeing someone like him on TV as inspiration to pursue an acting career.
"I am a person that grew up not seeing very many people that looked like me on TV...there was a guy that played in a TV show called 'Renegade' that made me go, hey, there's a native guy on this show... He went ahead and made sure that he put the name Sonny Sixkiller for his character. The reason why he did that was because whenever he was a kid, the only native that he saw that got promoted by television and by media out there at all was a football player that made it to the national championship game in the NCAA, and his name was Sonny Sixkiller."
Escobedo, Castelblanco, and Elk are all people of color, and seeing them all as leads in this major network sitcom with an icon of country music is likely to inspire future generations of artists to leap to follow their dreams like these talented actors did.
'Happy's Place' airs on NBC on Fridays at 8/7 central time.
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