Kelsea Ballerini defends ex Morgan Evans after fans shout obscenities about him during concert

Ballerini and Evans divorced in 2022 after 5 years of marriage; she is currently dating ‘Outer Banks’ star Chase Stokes

Ballerini wore a sparkly silver dress at the CMA Awards, while Stokes wore a black suit.

Kelsea Ballerini has moved on from her relationship with her ex-husband Morgan Evans, and she wants her fans to do the same.

Last Friday, the 31-year-old country star stopped her concert at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, to chastise fans who were yelling obscenities about the 39-year-old Australian singer.

In a video shared on TikTok, Ballerini was seen performing her song “Penthouse,” which is widely believed to be about her relationship with Evans, whom she divorced in 2022 after five years of marriage.

Kelsea Ballerini called out fans who shouted obscenities about her ex-husband Morgan Evans. (Getty Images)

Many concert-goers were heard singing along with Ballerini as she belted out the lyrics, “It hurts putting s— in a box / And now we don’t talk / And it stings rolling up the welcome mat / Knowing you got half.”

After singing “you got half,” Ballerini halted her performance to scold fans who apparently called out “F— you, Morgan” during the pause in the song.

“Guys, we have to stop saying that,” the five-time Grammy Award nominee said as she smiled slightly and shook her head.

“Seriously, we’re three years past it, everything’s fine now,” she continued. “I sing the song for you now, it’s not about me anymore, please.”

“All right, for everyone that’s moving forward with their life, yubi, will you sing this with me?” Ballerini said as the crowd cheered, and she resumed singing.

Ballerini filed for divorce from Evans in August 2022 after five years of marriage. (John Shearer)

In the comments section, several TikTok users noted that some fans have taken to slamming Evans with the same profanity whenever Ballerini performs the song at her concerts.

“For everyone who doesn’t know — people say ‘F You Morgan’ during the pause. She has asked multiple times for people to stop. She is healed and wants to move on,” one fan explained.

Several fans expressed their concern that Ballerini might stop performing “Penthouse” at her shows if fans keep insulting Evans during the song. The “Peter Pan” hitmaker is currently on a nationwide tour in support of her 2024 album “Patterns.”

“Seriously, we’re three years past it, everything’s fine now.”

— Kelsea Ballerini

“She’s going to change the set and take this out guys and then I’ll be soooo sad,” one TikTok user wrote.

“I see her in April, and I swear if I don’t get to scream this with her because people ruin it by saying ‘f u morgan’… I’m going to be UPSETTTT,” another fan added.

Ballerini is currently in a relationship with “Outer Banks” star Chase Stokes. (Emma McIntyre)

“Penthouse” was featured on Ballerini’s EP “Rolling Up the Welcome Mat,” which was seemingly inspired by her divorce. The singer released the EP as a surprise drop on Valentine’s Day in 2023.

Ballerini, who is currently in a relationship with “Outer Banks” star Chase Stokes, previously made changes to the “Penthouse” lyrics as she has moved on from the end of her marriage.

Stokes and Ballerini, who reportedly began dating in December 2022, first sparked romance rumors in January 2023. The pair made their first major public appearance together on the CMT Awards red carpet in April of that year.

Ballerini tweaked the lyrics of “Penthouse” in May 2023. (Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty Images)

In the original version of the song, Ballerini sings the lyrics, “I kissed someone new last night / But now I don’t know where you’re sleeping, baby / We got along real nice, until I wanted out, now I know you hate me.”

However, she swapped the verses in May 2023, changing the lyrics to “I kissed someone new last night / And now I don’t care where you’re sleeping, baby.”

Ballerini first debuted the new lyrics during a concert while touring with Kenny Chesney. A week later, she posted a TikTok video of herself that was taken during her performance of “Penthouse.”

“‘Penthouse (the healed version).’ I think I’m gonna keep the lyric swap, yeah?” she wrote.

[SO SAD] The Voice Coach season 27 Kelsea Ballerini STOPS SHOW after spotting young fan’s HEARTBREAKING SIGN

Country music star stops show after spotting young fan’s heartbreaking sign

Noah Kahan, left, and Kelsea Ballerini perform during the 58th Annual CMA Awards on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)George Walker IV/Invision/AP

Kelsea Ballerini is getting some big-time pats on the back, and deservedly so, for the way she handled a young fan at a recent show who had been getting bullied at school.

The boy, named Jacob, held up a sign at school that read, “I get bullied at school because I am a boy and love you.”

Smart working, Jacob, because there was no way Ballerini was going to skip over that. Video shared to TikTok shows her stopping her show to give Jacob a nice pep talk.

“I promise you also the person that’s saying mean things, it’s coming from a place of insecurity,’ she said while kneeling down on the stage to speak with him. “They don’t know what they don’t like about themselves so they’re projecting it onto you. It’s a big word, I know. I’ve been in so much therapy. But it doesn’t make it fair and it doesn’t make it right, and I’m really sorry that anyone’s ever said anything mean to you. It’s not OK.

“But you’re OK,” she added. “You’re more than OK.”

She then asked him if he was having a good time, and if he wanted to take a selfie with her, while the crowd chanted his name.

“These are all your friends,” she said. “Don’t forget that. We got you. We have him right?”

It was an awesome moment from the 31-year-old star and fans were quick to let her know they appreciated it.

Kelsea Ballerini Shares Sweet Message for Young Fan Battling Cancer

Kelsea Ballerini reached out to a young fan battling cancer who turns to one of the country star’s songs as her anthem. See how “The Voice” coach went above and beyond with a generous offer.

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Mom Hopes Kelsea Ballerini Sees Her TikTok Video

One of Ballerini’s fans, a young woman named Avery, has been battling cancer since November. Her mom, Megan, has been providing updates about Avery’s health journey on TikTok.

In a February TikTok video that included the text “Just out here shooting my shot,” Megan explained, “I’ve never done anything like this before, but I’m going to do it. This message is for Kelsea Ballerini.”

She went on to say that her daughter Avery “is a rock star” who has “crushed treatment so far.” Megan also explained that they have turned to Ballerini’s song “This Time Last Year” as a powerful personal anthem.

“She’s stayed so positive this whole time,” Megan said of her daughter. She noted that she loves how Ballerini interacts with fans, so figured she’d throw out a request to the country singer.

“And I thought, how baller would it be if Kelsea Ballerini just said, like, ‘Hey,’” Megan said. “I don’t know. No pressure. I know you’re busy, but if you want to … “

Megan noted that she and Avery hoped to attend Ballerini’s Kansas City concert in April if Avery is feeling well enough.

The country singer responded with a message to Megan and her family. She wrote in the comments section: “Hi beautiful friend. Sending you and your girls so much light and love and strength, and having the team reach out to set you up for kansas city, if our girl is feeling good enough.”

Megan responded, “I have no words!!! You are AMAZINGGGGGGG!!! Thank you so much!!! ♥️😭♥️😭♥️🥰😭♥️🥰😭♥️”

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Fans Celebrated Kelsea Ballerini’s Message

Ballerini’s message to Avery was so kind and generous. Megan shared another video that showed them reacting to the singer’s comment, noting in the caption: “Thank you. You’re amazing. We love you!!!!!!”

Fans weren’t surprised that Ballerini reached out to the family. They shared comments about how the singer always celebrates her fans, with one person writing, “Me running to the comments bc I KNEW she would take care of your girl!!! ❤️😭.”

Another responded, “What a beautiful human Kelsea is!!!”

In response to one fan who wrote, “I knew our girl would take care of your girl 💕,” Megan shared, “She sure did 🥰🥰 I was just hoping to surprise her with a shoutout in the comments! Getting to tell her we get to go to the show … core memory 🥰🥰.”

Everything ‘Saved by the Bell’ Cast Have Said About Their Kids Watching Classic 1990s Sitcom

Paul Drinkwater/NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection

Saved by the Bell has super-fans of all ages but the children of some of its cast members may not be among them.

The classic sitcom shaped what many 1990s kids wanted from their high school experience, so there were surely some rude awakenings when freshmen discovered their school didn’t have its own burger joint run by an amateur magician. The majority probably didn’t have the ability to freeze time during moments of teenage awkwardness either. Nevertheless, Saved by the Bell has entertained kids … and their parents … and maybe now their grandparents … for more than 35 years with its Bayside High School love triangles, goofy one-liners and, yes, of course, the “very special episodes.”

Keep scrolling to find out how the children of Saved by the Bell‘s cast reacted to their parents’ teen superstardom:

Mark-Paul Gosselaar

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Santa’s Secret Workshop 2017

Gosselaar, who played heartthrob Zack Morris, has admitted a few times that his two older children with first wife, Lisa Ann Russell, son Michael and daughter Ava, have never been interested in Saved by the Bell.

“The older ones watched it, [and] you know, they were not impressed,” Gosselaar revealed during an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show in February 2025.

As for his two younger children with wife Catriona McGinn, 11-year-old son Dekker and 10-year-old Lachlyn seem to prefer cartoons to their dad’s Bayside hijinks.

“My younger ones, I think they watched a little bit and then they were like, ‘What else is out there?’ And so they are watching all the other Nickelodeon shows or the new stuff that’s out there,” he explained to host Kelly Clarkson. “There are new shows that are more like what they’re going through.”

In 2019, Gosselaar admitted that part of his children’s ambivalence to Saved by the Bell is because it’s not bite-sized content like they are used to.

“Honestly, my kids are ‘screenagers’ — if it isn’t something they can watch in five minutes, they don’t,” he told People.

Tiffani Thiessen

Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

Thiessen played the quintessential high school cheerleader Kelly Kapowski for four years (though she was mysteriously missing during those episodes with biker Tori Scott). In real life, she’s now a parent to daughter Harper Renn and son Holt with husband Brady Smith.

During a reunion with costar Mario Lopez on Access Daily in 2022, Thiessen confirmed that Harper had binge-watched every episode of Saved by the Bell.

“She loved it. She goes, ‘It’s not as good as the shows now, mom.’ I was like, ‘You’re right! The program is a little different’,” she recalled. “But she got through it, and she wanted to watch the entire thing. She watched every season, the Hawaiian movie [Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style], the wedding [Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas], all of it!”

Thiessen was less enthusiastic for her teenager to rewatch Beverly Hills, 90210, in which she raised hell as temptress Valerie Malone.

“Not yet,” Thiessen declared. “She’s only 12. A little bit later!”

Mario Lopez

Michael Tullberg/Getty Images

The A.C. Slater actor admitted in his Access Daily chat with former costar Thiessen that he had trouble getting his children – daughter Gia, and sons Dominic and Santino– to watch any of Saved by the Bell.

In a 2018 interview with Us Weekly, Lopez confessed that his children “weren’t tripping on” Saved by the Bell when they all sat down to watch an episode.

“I don’t think they’re into it,” he lamented.

Lopez reunited with Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, Gosselaar and Thiessen for a Saved by the Bell sequel show for Peacock in 2020, which was apparently more appealing for his kids because it also featured a cast of younger characters.

“They’re definitely going to check it out,” he told E! Online in 2020. “They don’t really watch the old version but my daughter said they’re going to give this one a chance, so we’ll see.”

Elizabeth Berkley Lauren

Courtesy of Elizabeth Berkley/Instagram

Berkley Lauren, who played academic overachiever Jessie Spano, was so excited for the chance to take her then-8-year-old son Sky to the set of Peacock’s Saved by the Bell sequel show.

“Sky came to set and he got to have a clapboard and say action,” Berkley Lauren told People at the time. “For him to get to really witness what I’ve worked for, and what I do, has brought a lot of joy.”

The Showgirls star acknowledged how special it was to share her Saved by the Bell experience with Sky since she’d previously stepped away from acting to raise him.

“When he was born, I didn’t feel that pull to work,” she remembered. “I felt pulled to him. This is the first thing I’ve said yes to and it was the perfect time in our family.”

The classic Saved by the Bell is available to stream now on Prime Video and Apple TV+, while the 2020 version is available on Peacock.

Last Man Standing’s Nancy Travis Doesn’t Want to Be Tim Allen’s ‘Shifting Gears’ Wife: ‘Too Meta’ (Exclusive)

Nancy Travis and Tim Allen. Michael Becker / FOX

After playing Tim Allen‘s wife for nearly 10 years on Last Man Standing, Nancy Travis was excited to try something new when they reunited on ABC’s Shifting Gears.

During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Travis broke down her guest appearance on Shifting Gears, which airs Wednesday, February 12.

“I got a call that there was a part that they wanted me for and I love that they created this relationship with the role of Charlotte. She is not this cliché of a wife or a girlfriend,” Travis, 63, teased. “[Instead it is] like two ships passing in the night [with Charlotte and Matt]. They really affect the trajectory of each other’s lives —probably more so for Matt.”

Travis enjoyed getting to share the screen with Allen, 71, again, adding, “Charlotte is a catalyst for him. It was fun to play the role of someone who has a shared experience with Tim’s character, which is true in real life. We shared the experience of making Last Man Standing and at the same time my Shifting Gears character is a stranger — just somebody that Matt meets who can inform his life.”

The Shifting Gears reunion marks the first time Allen and Travis will share the screen since ABC’s Last Man Standing. On the sitcom, which aired from 2011 to 2021, Allen and Travis played a fictional couple: Mike and Vanessa Baxter.

After Last Man Standing came to an end, Allen returned to the comedy space with Shifting Gears, which premiered last month. The show follows Allen’s character, a widower, as he reconnects with his estranged daughter, Riley (Kat Dennings). Wednesday’s episode is Valentine’s Day-themed, as Allen’s character Matt bonds with Charlotte, whom he meets while visiting his late wife’s grave.

Michael Becker/FOX

“It was great not to play the wife [this time]. It was great. It was really fun to be able to just come in and have a whole wealth of knowledge and rapport working with Tim. In terms of comedic rhythm, knowing how to set up a joke and how to tell a story together, it was great to be able to take that and apply it to Charlotte,” Travis noted. “You wonder how Nancy Travis is going to come back into this Shifting Gears world and I think it’s a unique and clever way that they’ve engineered this.”

Some Last Man Standing fans were hoping Travis could become Allen’s onscreen wife again after Us broke the news of her casting. Travis, however, isn’t sure she would want to recreate a dynamic that came about so effortlessly on Last Man Standing.

“I do enjoy working with him but I think that it’s fun to explore new and different relationships between characters. It is very meta —maybe too meta,” she told Us. “I really like what they created, which is a soulmate friend. Maybe it’s like the ghost of his ex-wife — Vanessa — who comes in the spirit of somebody else. But I like the nuances of what they created with this different relationship.”

Travis wouldn’t rule out another return to Shifting Gears though.

“Tim loves what he does and it’s almost like he’s the host of a party. But at the same time, he is very conscientious and really wants to tell whatever story it is in a very affecting way — comedically and emotionally and truthfully,” she explained. “So he’s a great scene partner in that way. Also everybody just has a really great time on set and it is like being at a party.”

While Travis is Allen’s first former costar to make an appearance, she told Us there was no pressure to appear alongside her former TV husband, adding, “I felt the opposite. I showed up and there was such an inviting and warm feeling being there. We just had a good time working together and everybody enjoyed watching us. It was just a very kind, fun and warm group.”

She concluded: “Even coming from the other actors that I hadn’t worked with before. I just felt like I was part of this show — even though I’m not. So that’s a testament to the people that are part of Shifting Gears — including showrunner Michelle Nader. … Kat Dennings was fantastic, by the way. I didn’t really have any scenes with her but just my interactions with her on the set. She’s just warm and funny and fantastic. It’s a lovely show.”

Shifting Gears airs on ABC Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Hulu.

Tim Allen Shares RARE EMOTIONAL POST After SLAMMING For On-Set Behavior

Tim Allen Shares Rare Emotional Post About His ‘Profound Sense of Sadness

Tim Allen Slammed For On-Set Behavior

Tim Allen is serving as an example that even the biggest stars can have their down days.

On Wednesday, February 26, the actor opened up to his followers on X (formerly Twitter) to share his solemn thoughts.

“So many blessings in my life yet woke up with profound sense of sadness, no explanation just sat and felt sadness. To experience sad is necessary to experience happiness one imagine,” Allen, 71, wrote, seemingly encouraging others to embrace their feelings.

Tim Allen is seen on January 15, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. PG/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
Fans were quick to reply to the post, expressing their concern for Allen.

“You have helped so many find their way into laughter. I hope you find that for yourself very soon,” one fan shared.

A second fan added, “Sorry.🫂That’s a heavy feeling. I’ve been feeling that way too lately.”

“Watching Home Improvement and Last Man Standing always makes me happy,” a third commented.

Despite his candid acknowledgment of his emotional struggles, Allen has contributed to many successful projects over the years. His latest role is on ABC’s Shifting Gears – which premiered in January – comes after his beloved performance on Home Improvement from 1991 to 1999, and Last Man Standing from 2011 to 2021, with plenty of iconic movie roles in between.

In his new show, Allen plays Matt Parker, a character dealing with grief, family tension, and the world of custom car shops. “He’s more like me. I’m more of an artist. I was a design student and a philosopher and my standup comedy is really about messing with people in a good way,” Allen shared to Us Weekly in January about his character, emphasizing how the role is a departure from his past on-screen characters.

Fans can watch Allen in Shifting Gears on ABC Wednesday nights at 8/7c.

Kat Dennings Reveals a very SPECIAL about New Sitcom With Tim Allen, in which explores her character’s relationship with her on-screen father, played by Tim Allen

‘Hopefully We Get Many, Many Seasons’: Kat Dennings Says New Sitcom With Tim Allen Has Endless Potential

Image via ABC

Shifting Gears star Kat Dennings is hopeful the brand-new series will be around for a long time. The Thor and WandaVision actor believes the ABC sitcom, which explores her character’s relationship with her on-screen father, played by Tim Allen, has “endless potential.”

In Shifting Gears, Allen portrays Matt Parker, a widower and car restoration shop owner who reluctantly takes in his estranged daughter Riley and her two children. In an interview with Collider, Dennings discussed the dynamic between the pair and its endless potential for comedy. Matt and Riley’s viewpoints on most things are different, and the actor talked about finding a balance as we would in real life with relatives we may not agree with but still love. “That’s the goal. We want to convey this fun, natural, and relatable scenario without it being grating at all,” she said. “That’s a testament to the writing and the directing and knowing when to pull it back and how to play it and things like that.”

This maverick actor fleshed out Squid Game Season 2’s fan-favorite villain.

The 2 Broke Girls star continued, “Tim and I have such a fantastic relationship that we can really balance each other out in all these scenes, and we know what to do with them so that it’s still fun. Like you said, we all have a family member or a friend or somebody at work that we just cannot agree with, but we love them anyway. It’s like, ‘Let’s not start this conversation.’ We all have that. It is a very relatable situation and there’s just endless potential for comedy with that kind of thing. Hopefully, we get many, many seasons to do it. That’s what I hope.”

Tim and I have such a fantastic relationship.

Shifting Gears debuted on January 8 to not-so-great reviews, but the show will hopefully get time to find its feet. The series, which has frequent Denning collaborator Michelle Nader (2 Broke Girls, Dollface) as showrunner, also stars Daryl Mitchell as Stitch, Maxwell Simkins as Carter, Barrett Margolis as Georgia, and Jenna Elfman as Eve Drake.

Dexter fans better keep their eyes peeled when watching Original Sin.

Kat Dennings’ Riley Character

In another recent interview, Dennings discussed her Shifting Gears character Riley, and the upheaval in life. “She just shows up on his doorstep with her two kids,” she explained. “She’s getting a divorce, and her life is falling apart. She has no money, and she needs to stay with him. So it turns both their lives upside down. [The characters] have such different styles and completely different beliefs.”

“But what’s fun about them is that she is his daughter, and they are exactly the same. So when they butt heads, it’s just very, very funny. Tim’s a really amazing actor, and I’ve told him this to his face, so I’m definitely happy to say it in print,” Dennings added.

Shifting Gears‘ debut episode is streaming on Hulu.

Source: Collider

Last Man Standing Reunion Revealed in New Image of Upcoming Shifting Gears Episode

Image via 20th Television

Another Last Man Standing reunion episode is in the works for Tim Allen’s new sitcom Shifting Gears. However, unlike the recently aired Valentine’s Day episode, the returning Last Man Standing alum was not a main cast member during the show’s nine-season run on ABC/Fox.

Per Screen Rant, in an upcoming episode of Shifting Gears, Allen will reunite with Jay Leno, who made recurring appearances in Last Man Standing as semi-retired auto technician Joe Leonard in the show’s final five seasons. However, Allen and Leno’s working relationship goes back even further than that, with Leno having made two guest appearances as himself on Allen’s first sitcom, Home Improvement, in the 1980s. Leno will appear in the March 12 episode of Shifting Gears, titled “Gummies,” as himself, with the storyline seeing the former Tonight Show bringing his car into Allen’s character’s car restoration shop, yubi, Parker Customs, for repair. Check out a first look image of Leno below.

The sitcom’s production designer explains why some changes to the set were necessary.

Image via ABC

Leno isn’t the first Last Man Standing alum to make a guest appearance on Shifting Gears. Nancy Travis, who appeared in all nine seasons of the ABC/Fox sitcom as Tim Allen’s character’s wife Vanessa Baxter, guest starred in the sixth episode, “Valentine’s.” In the episode, directed by frequent Allen collaborator John Pasquin, Travis played a widow named Charlotte who stumbles upon Matt (Allen’s Shifting Gears character) visiting his wife’s gravesite on Valentine’s Day.

After the episode aired, Travis spoke with TheWrap about working with Allen again. “I got to work with Tim again, not in the role of a wife or a girlfriend, but as a stranger who shares a similar past and is a catalyst for him moving forward after the death of his wife in the show,” she said. “It was a very, very interesting character, and I was really excited to jump in and do these scenes with Tim.”

Shifting Gears Has Been a Ratings Hit for ABC

Created by Julie Thacker Scully and Mike Scully, Shifting Gears stars Allen as Matt Parker, a widower who runs an auto shop, and Kat Dennings as his estranged daughter, Riley Parker. The series revolves around Matt reluctantly taking in Riley and her two children after she returns home, as well as day-to-day auto shop life. Seann William Scott, Daryl Chill Mitchell, Maxwell Simkins, and Barrett Margolis are also part of the show’s main cast.

Shifting Gears star Kat Dennings fondly remembers Bob Saget, who once played her father in a sitcom on TV.

While his film career as a leading man was short-lived, Allen has remained a constant draw on television, with Home Improvement and Last Man Standing lasting eight and nine seasons, respectively. Shifting Gears has the potential to run just as long, especially if it maintains the ratings it’s currently getting. The series premiere of Shifting Gears set an audience record for ABC with its subsequent viewership on streaming, drawing almost 17 million viewers across ABC, Hulu, Hulu on Disney+, and digital platforms. This makes Shifting Gears the strongest series debut for ABC since the Roseanne spinoff series, The Conners, premiered in 2018.

“Gummies,” the ninth episode of Shifting Gears, guest starring Jay Leno, airs on ABC on Mar. 12.

Source: Screen Rant

Every ‘Reba’ Sitcom Alum Who Has Since Appeared on Reba McEntire’s NBC Series ‘Happy’s Place’

The WB/Andrew Eccles; NBCUniversal

Happy’s Place has enjoyed keeping it in the TV family by casting numerous stars from Reba McEntire‘s past sitcom Reba.

Reba, which aired from 2001 to 2007, starred McEntire, Melissa Peterman, Christopher Rich, JoAnna Garcia Swisher and Steve Howey. Nearly two decades later, McEntire and Peterman reunited with former Reba executive producer Kevin Abbott on Happy’s Place.

Top 5 best dressed celebrities at the 2025 Academy Awards.

 

 

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“We are new characters. It’s a new time and it’s different. But those core things that you loved about it are there. It does feel really different [though],” Peterman exclusively told Us Weekly in October 2024. “As far as trying to harness the things that [Reba fans] love — like the chemistry that we have — that is there no matter what. We’re just new characters. And Barbra Jean [from Reba] was forced on Reba because she married her ex-husband. Gabby is there because she’s her friend.”

Peterman applauded Happy’s Place for finding a way to “keep the magic” without copying the same sitcom structure.

“The other big difference is real life family and the reality of blended families,” she noted. “Happy’s Place is all about finding family at work, and Belissa [Escobedo’s] character is also finding a family that she didn’t know existed and figuring that out. You’ll feel that same warm feeling but you’re gonna it’s new.”

Her costar Howey felt the same way when he joined for a potential multi-episode arc. “Kevin had this idea for this character ahead of time. And then he was like, ‘What if Howey would do it? That would be really great to get a reunion going.’ I fit the character description, so he gave me a call,” Howey recalled to Us two months later. “The planets just aligned on this one.”

He continued: “Now after 20 some years, I can bring different experiences to the characters that I play. Also the character relationships — because Happy’s Place is a new thing — are different. Yes, it’s Reba and Melissa, but the characters are different. Bobbie is a lot different than Reba. Gabby is a lot different than Barbara Jean, and Danny’s obviously different.”

Whoopi Goldberg Wants to Host ‘Wheel of Fortune’ & Ken Jennings Chimes In

The View/ABC

Whoopi Goldberg has thrown her hat into the ring for the new host of Wheel of Fortune following Pat Sajak‘s upcoming retirement.

Sajak made the announcement on Monday, June 12, revealing that he’ll be retiring at the end of the upcoming 41st season. This means the search for a new host is on, with names like Ryan Seacrest and Maggie Sajak (Pat’s daughter) already floating around as potential successors.

Goldberg made her intentions clear on Tuesday’s (June 13) episode of The View, when Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings joined the panel to share his thoughts on the Wheel of Fortune situation.

“Another legendary game show host, Pat Sajak, just announced that he’s going to be retiring from Wheel of Fortune at the end of next season. What’s your reaction to the news, and any ideas on who should replace him?” Alyssa Farah Griffin asked Jennings.

“Well, Pat’s a legend. Over 40 years and the price of a vowel has not gone up one penny. No one controls inflation like Pat Sajak,” the Jeopardy! G.O.A.T. joked.

“But that’s an interesting question,” he continued. “Jeopardy had its own succession crisis. Hopefully, Wheel has got an envelope somewhere that says, ‘What to do when Pat packs it in.’”

While Jennings was answering, Goldberg could be heard in the background saying, “I want the job.”

“Whoopi wants that job,” Joy Behar told Jennings, with Goldberg herself confirming, saying, “I want that job. I think it would be lots of fun.”

Jennings seemed on board with the idea, quipping, “Well, there you go, we figured it out.”

Behar then took things a step further, suggesting, “Sara [Haines] and I could be Vanna White. We’ll take turns walking back and forth and pointing to the letters.”

As Jennings mentioned, he is familiar with the struggles of an iconic game show looking for a new host. Following the death of legendary host Alex Trebek in 2020, Jeopardy! went on a long journey to find his replacement. The 2020-2021 Jeopardy! season saw a rotating line-up of guest hosts, with the show’s producer Mike Richards (who also exec-produced Wheel) eventually landing the gig.

However, Richards was dropped after one week when sexist comments he’d made on a 2013 podcast came to light. He was also fired as executive producer of both Jeopardy! and Wheel.

Ultimately, Jennings and The Big Bang Theory‘s Mayim Bialik were announced as permanent Jeopardy! hosts in 2022.

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