Christopher Rich Explains How ‘Reba’ Co-Stars “Got Me Back” Onscreen After Stroke For ‘Happy’s Place’

Melissa Peterman talks to Reba McEntire and Christopher Rich in a tattoo parlor in a still from 'Happy's Place'.
Melissa Peterman as Gabby, Reba McEntire as Bobbie and Christopher Rich as Maverick in ‘Happy’s Place’ Casey Durkin/NBC

Last week’s episode of NBC‘s Happy’s Place graced Reba fans with another onscreen reunion.

After suffering a stroke in 2018, Christopher Rich explained how Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman convinced him to return for their current sitcom nearly two decades after starring with them on McEntire’s self-titled WB/CW series.

“I mean, I’ve basically taken the last decade off. And if anybody was going to drag me out of the dark corner of the closet, it would be the redhead,” Rich told Entertainment Tonight.

“I feel so bizarre recovering from the stroke thing that I didn’t even want to go out of my house for a lot of the time. But, they’ve got me back out. They would invite me to parties and reunion things,” he said, adding: “But I needed some place where I could feel safe to try and trot this broken body out again, and they made the place.”

Praising McEntire for getting him “back in the race,” Rich said, “I’m gonna get to the finish line. I may have to limp across it, but I’m getting there.”

Scarlett Pomers, Steve Howey, JoAnna Garcia, Mitch Holleman, Reba McEntire, Christopher Rich and Melissa Peterman in ‘Reba’ (Fox Television/Courtesy Everett Collection) Everett Collection

In ‘Sisters Ink’, last week’s episode of Happy’s Place, Isabella (Belissa Escobedo) convinces her sister Bobbie (McEntire) to get a matching tattoo with her to commemorate six months since coming into each other’s lives. At the parlor, they meet tattoo artist Maverick (Rich), whose disability takes Bobbie by surprise.

Earlier this season, McEntire’s Reba onscreen son-in-law Steve Howey also appeared on Happy’s Place.

McEntire previously played the titular “single mom who works too hard” in her eponymous sitcom Reba, which ran for six seasons from 2001 to 2007 on The WB and The CW. Peterman played Reba’s ex-husband’s new wife Barbra Jean, while Howey played her daughter’s high school boyfriend and eventual husband Van Montgomery.