REBA (TV SERIES)

'''Reba''' is an American sitcom starring country music singer Reba McEntire. It premiered on The WB Television Network (The WB) network in 2001, where it ran for five seasons before moving to The CW Television Network for its final season. When it premiered on The CW, the show became the top rated sitcom on the network, as it was on The WB Television Network (The WB). The series has ended, with its finale airing on Sunday February 18, 2007.

Contents

Synopsis

Characters

Episodes

Opening sequences

Production Notes

Goofs

Awards

DVD releases

Series end

"Reba" airings

Ratings for the 6th season

International

See also

References

External links

Synopsis

The show is set in the suburbs of Houston, Texas, and stars Reba McEntire as a wisecracking single mother Reba Hart, whose ex-husband Brock (Christopher Rich) has left her to marry the young, ditzy dental hygienist Barbra Jean (Melissa Peterman). Ironically, though Reba sees "B.J." as her nemesis, Barbra Jean considers Reba her best (and perhaps only) friend. As the show progresses Reba slowly and painfully comes to the conclusion that despite all her efforts to hate Barbra Jean, she likes Barbra Jean and considers Barbra Jean her friend. During the show's first season, Reba's oldest daughter, then-high school senior Cheyenne (Joanna García), became pregnant. In the pilot episode, Cheyenne married her baby's father, fellow high-schooler Van Montgomery (Steve Howey), a dim-witted but well-meaning football player. Van moves in with them, as his own parents kicked him out for standing by Cheyenne, and comes to view Reba as a surrogate parent (something Reba is very comfortable with). Reba's other two children are Kyra (Scarlett Pomers), a rebellious teenager who shares Reba's sarcastic streak, and Jake (Mitch Holleman), a young boy just trying to sort through the mess of his family. Since the fifth season, Van and Reba have been real estate partners. The show strives to comically, but realistically portray the trials and tribulations of family life in modern society.
The show was canceled when The WB Television Network (The WB) and UPN merged into The CW Television Network. However, in an 11th hour move on May 17, 2006, The CW renewed ''Reba'' with a 13-episode order,^[1] reportedly to fulfill a syndication contract worth $20 million.^[2] In November 2006, The CW announced that the show would be paired with ''7th Heaven'', Sundays at 7 p.m., beginning later that month.^[3] ''Reba'' encores are 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''.^[4] The final episode aired on February 18, 2007.
Additional reruns of the show are a part of The CW Daytime and Lifetime TV.

Characters

(In the same order as credits, however last two aren't regulars.)

★ Reba Nell Hart (née McKinney)

★ Brock Enroll Hart

★ Cheyenne Montgomery (née Hart)

★ Van Montgomery

★ Kyra Eleanor Hart

★ Jake Mitchell Hart

★ Barbra Jean Hart (née Booker)

★ Elizabeth Montgomery

★ Henry Charles Jesus Hart

Episodes

Main articles: List of Reba episodes

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 ''. 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 one, the opening credits were black-and-white photos of cast members interspersed with clips of each cast member from the show, 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 eleven 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 Reba were shot and played with a color photo of the entire cast at the end.
From the second half of season two onwards, a full opening sequence was returned to the show. The fast-paced song played among the new shots of Reba plus clips of cast members from previous episodes as their names scroll past the screen horizontally. In seasons five and six, the song was re-mixed again, with more accompanying instruments.

Production Notes

★ ''Reba'' was the most-watched comedy series on The WB for all of its run on that network, as well as on its one season on the The CW Television Network.

★ ''Reba'' set a new all-time viewership record for any program on the WB's Friday night (best-ever Friday in women 18-49).

★ The original name of the show was ''Deep in the Heart'', but Reba McEntire felt that her huge fanbase would identify better if her character had her name, so they changed the show and main character to ''Reba''.

★ McEntire was named executive producer in 2002.

★ The exterior shots for Reba and Barbra Jean's houses are the same houses used in ''Desperate Housewives.'' This may explain why there are several ''Housewives'' references in the later seasons, including a semi-recurring role by James Denton in a few episodes.

★ ''Reba's premiere on The CW Television Network 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.

★ For much of the fifth season (20 out of 22 episodes), Scarlett Pomers was not seen. It was later revealed that she was undergoing treatment for anorexia. She returned in the sixth season premiere to wild applause from the audience. In her first scene, Reba asks where she's been. Her response was, "I went to get something to eat." At the end of the same episode, she heads to the kitchen, and when Van asks where she's going, and she responds, "Getting something to eat," he replies with "Okay, see you next year", a reference to her long absence.

★ Reba McEntire and Joanna García are the only ones to appear in every episode. Melissa Peterman was not in a few episodes in Season 1 because she was not written in, because her character wasn't as big then. She also missed one episode of Season 5 for the birth of her child. Mitch Holleman was not written into a few episodes of some seasons. Also, he was in some episodes but had no lines, or his lines were cut during editing. Scarlett Pomers was not written into two episodes, one in Season 3 and one in Season 4. She also missed 20 out of 22 episodes in Season 5 for her anorexia, as stated above.

★ Originally Reba was scheduled to air in the spring of 2007 as a mid season, but due to the canceling of Runaway, the CW decided to air Reba earlier than expected.

★ When moved to 8/7 central on Fridays, the shows ratings increased to over 4 million viewers. That lasted until The WB moved it back to 9/8 central for unknown reasons. The shows fifth season was the first that showed a decline in ratings, which was the trend at most WB shows at that time.

★ The series finale of Reba ended with a family photo just like episode 1- Pilot and the same in season five "Reba's Heart". This marks the only time that Reba ended back to back seasons using the family photo of season one.

★ Barbra Jean in one episode states all her past relationships. Ironically, they were all doctors too.

★ The title of the shows theme song ("I'm a Survivor") was referenced several times by the characters. For example, in a season 2 episode when Barbra Jean is taking care of Reba's household while Reba is working, at one point she is seen singing the words "''I'm a survivor''" while vacuuming. Also, in the season 5 finale after Van and Cheyenne learn that Reba may have to have surgery, Van says, "She'll be okay; ''she's a survivor.''"

★ Reba's singing career has been referenced several times: in one episode she tells Brock "Sometimes our lives don't turn the way we planned; I always thought I'd be a singer". Also references to some of her hit songs are made: in one season 5 episode Van mentions how fancy she is and she replies "Well, Fancy is my name", referring to her hit song ''Fancy''.

Goofs

★ In the episode "Here We Go Again," many flashbacks are shown. Brock flashes back to all the times Reba was rough, but one of the flashbacks is to a dream of Reba's, which would have been impossible for Brock to have experienced.

★ In the episode "Here We Go Again," many flashbacks are rewound. Cheyenne flashes back to times in which Van was being stupid. However, one of the flashbacks was in a later episode, so it was technically impossible for Cheyenne to recall that memory.

★ In the season 6 episode "She's With The Band," when Van apologizes to Cheyenne for arguing over choosing furniture for their new house, he says "he was never mistaken for a gay". However in a season 3 episode when Van offers football lessons for an auction, he thinks the person who won is gay, and in return ends up being mistaken for a gay man himself.

★ In the episode "The Story of a Divorce", Reba, Cheyenne, Lori Ann, and Brock all acknowledge that Reba was dating a man named Parker Reynolds, when she met Brock, and decided to dump Parker to date and later marry Brock. However in the episode "Terry Holloway," flashbacks show Reba was dating a man named Terry Holloway (and for quite some time as he was planning to propose to her) when she and Brock got engaged.

★ In "It Ain't Over Until The Redhead Sings", Reba has a flashback when Cheyenne was in kindergarten and they showed the house they lived in. But in another episode, it showed Kyra at the age of about 8 when they moved in the house. Which means it's impossible that Cheyenne was in kindergarten when they lived in the house.

★ In "She's Leaving Home, Bye, Bye" Reba has a flashback of hiring Barbra Jean as Brock's dental assistant before Jake was born, but in an earlier episode Reba is furious to find a photo of Brock and Barbra Jean in Hawaii that was taken two summers ago because Brock had said he had only known Barbra Jean for a year. Thus making Reba hiring Barbra Jean over six years ago impossible.

★ In the episode "Sweet Child O' Mine" Reba states to Cheyenne that the last time Kyra cried was on her 5th birthday, however, in the episode "Story of a Divorce" Kyra cries because she's upset about Reba and Brock's divorce, in season 1, when Kyra's 12.

Awards

★ 'Emmy Awards'

★
★ 2006 - Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series - Bryan Hays for "The Goodbye Guy" 'Nominated'

★
★ 2005 - Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series - Brian Hays for "Flowers for Van" 'Nominated'

★ 'Golden Globe Awards'

★
★ 2004 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy - Reba McEntire 'Nominated'

★ 'People's Choice Awards'

★
★ 2002 - Favorite Female Performer in a New Television Series - Reba McEntire 'Won'

★ 'Family Television Awards'

★
★ 2005 - Best Actress - Reba McEntire 'Won'

DVD releases

Seasons 1-4 have currently been released by Fox Home Entertainment. Rumors have circulated saying that due to poor sales of seasons 1-4, seasons 5-6 may not be released, and that the show possibly was put on the canceled DVD released list.
DVD releases dates for the USA:

'Cover Art'
'Title'	'Season One'	'Season Two'	'Season Three'	'Season Four'	'Season Five'	'Season Six'
(Region 1)	December 14, 2004	December 13, 2005	April 25, 2006	November 14, 2006	TBA	TBA
'Episodes'	22 Episodes	24 Episodes	22 Episodes	22 Episodes	22 Episodes	13 Episodes
'Discs'	3-Disc Set	3-Disc Set	3-Disc Set	3-Disc Set	3-Disc Set	2-Disc Set
'Box Color'	Orange	Green	Blue	Pink	TBA	TBA
'Format'	NTSC	NTSC	NTSC	NTSC	NTSC	NTSC
'Website'	Season 1 DVD Website	Season 2 DVD Website	Season 3 DVD Website	Season 4 DVD Website

Series end

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, during the network's TCA Press Tour, it was revealed that the series had been canceled, with no "back nine" on order.^[5] Fans reeled at the news, and cast reaction of disappointment began. Confusion grew near the February 18 finale about the series' future. Following the initial airing of the episode "She's With the Band" one week before the finale, CW promos and videos on the network website were released, clearly labeled "Series Finale." However, just days afterward, the CW website changed all text and graphics to read "Season Finale," though video clips and on-air promos remain unchanged.
The finale garnered 4.44 million viewers in its final half hour. Rumors continued to float on the CW's message boards (but Reba fans said they want the show back) 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 may option to create a Van/Cheyenne spinoff series.^[6] It was soon announced that Garcia and Howey had each been signed to new shows for CBS and FOX respectively.^[7] Ironically, neither show was picked up for production.
An interview Reba McEntire gave as part of the press coverage of her upcoming duets album revealed that the show is not being shopped around and that the series was indeed finished. In an interview with ''Variety Magazine'' May 29, 2007, 20th Century Fox TV president Gary Newman said that he 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. ^[8]

"Reba" airings

Seasons 1-5 of ''Reba'' can currently be seen on Lifetime Television from 6-7 PM and 8-9PM every Monday-Friday. Sometimes there are reruns of Limetime original shows in the 8pm slot. The first five seasons are also shown on The CW Daytime every Monday-Friday from 4-5 PM ET. ''Reba'' reruns of Season 6 returned to The CW on June 17th at 7pm EST. This was due to encore airings of The CW's new show Hidden Palms averaging under one million viewers.[1] However, those repeats stopped. The last airing was on July 29th. "Reba" also airs daily on CMT in Canada at 9ET/10PST.

Ratings for the 6th season

''Reba'' was averaging 3,630,000 viewers since the beginning of its sixth season[2], making it the seventh most watched show and the most watched sitcom on The CW. The new Reba episodes vary as being either sixth or seventh most watched program on the network and within the last few weeks, ranking as high as #3 for the week.^[9]
To date, no other program has had higher viewer turnout for repeat airing than ''Reba''. As a result of the lackluster ratings for encores of the summer drama Hidden Palms, repeats of Reba have returned to the CW schedule after being absent for three months and are the most watched program of the night.

Episode	Premiere Date	Rating
''Let's Get Physical''	November 19, 2006	'3.69'
''Just Business''	November 19, 2006	'4.34'
''Trading Spaces''	November 26, 2006	'3.89'
''Roll With It''	December 3, 2006	'3.40'
''The Break-Up''	December 10, 2006	'3.91'
''Sweet Child O' Mine''	December 17, 2006	'3.47'
''Locked and Loaded''	January 7, 2007	'3.06'[10]
''As We Forgive Those...''	January 14, 2007	'3.50'[11]
''Bullets Over Brock''	January 21, 2007	'3.32'[12]
''Cheyenne's Rival''	January 28, 2007	'3.53'[13]
''She's With The Band''	February 11, 2007	'3.24'[14]
''The Housewarming''	February 18, 2007	'3.40'[15]
''The Kids Are Alright''	February 18, 2007	'4.44'[15]

International

Country	Broadcasting	TV Network(s)
Australia	Season 3 Shown Monday, Tuesday and Thursday on FOX8 at 4:30pm	FOX8
Austria	Monday - Friday at 3:30pm	ORF
Belgium	Sundays at 2:30pm	VTM
Spain	Season 2 Shown Mondays From September 06 - May 07	Kanaal 2
Latin America	Season 5 Shown on Sundays	Fox Latin America, The CW
Canada	CMT Canada: Weekdays at 9pm & Weekends 9/9:30, The CW: Sundays at 7pm, OMNI TV at 7:00 weekdays,	CMT Canada, The CW, Global, OMNI TV, CH
Ireland	Season 6 was being shown on weekday mornings at 8.20 until early July 2007	RTÉ One
Saudi Arabia and Arab World	Saturday at 19:30	''Showtime Arabia Paramount Comedy Channel and Paramount Comedy Channel +2 (Subtitled)''
South Africa	Friday at 18:30	''[M-Net]''
Finland	Friday late night	MTV3
Thailand	Currently rerun	True Series
The Netherlands	Saturday and Sunday at 16:02	RTL 4
Greece	Every day at 19:00	Makedonia TV
Norway	Seasons 1-4 every day at 10:20 am	TV3
Sweden	Last episode aired August 3, no re-runs planned	TV4
Turkey	Everyday 11.00PM	ComedyMax
Denmark	Monday-Friday at 2.30PM	TV 2 Zulu

See also

Reba McEntire

References

1. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002538533
2. http://www.deadlinehollywood.com/205
3. http://cw11.trb.com/entertainment/network/special1/
4. Season Program Rankings, from 09/18/06 through 01/14/07
5. CBS Pulls 'Armed & Famous,' The CW Confirms 'Reba' End The Futon Critic, January 26, 2007
6. Reba: Is the CW Sitcom canceled for Sure? TV Series Finale, January 24, 2007
7. Reba: Van & Cheyenne Spin-off Update TV Series Finale, March 15, 2007
8. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117965959.html?categoryid=2583&cs=1&nid=2565
9. http://www.abcmedianet.com/pressrel/dispDNR.html?id=121206_07
10. http://www.abcmedianet.com/pressrel/dispDNR.html?id=010907_03
11. http://entertainmentnow.wordpress.com/2007/01/15/broadcast-tv-ratings-for-sunday-january-14-2007/
12. http://entertainmentnow.wordpress.com/2007/01/22/broadcast-tv-ratings-for-sunday-january-21-2007/
13. http://entertainmentnow.wordpress.com/2007/01/29/broadcast-tv-ratings-for-sunday-january-28-2007/
14. http://entertainmentnow.wordpress.com/2007/02/12/broadcast-tv-ratings-for-sunday-february-11-2007/
15. http://entertainmentnow.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/broadcast-tv-ratings-for-sunday-february-18-2007/
16. http://entertainmentnow.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/broadcast-tv-ratings-for-sunday-february-18-2007/

External links

★

★

★ Lifetime's Reba Webpage

★ TV Series Finale - details of cancellation and possible spin-off