Christopher Rich appeared in a recent episode of NBC’s Happy’s Place, reuniting with Reba co-stars Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman nearly two decades after their time together on the WB/CW sitcom. Rich, who suffered a stroke in 2018, shared that McEntire and Peterman played a key role in his decision to return to television.
“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 said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
He described the challenges of recovery and how McEntire and Peterman encouraged him to return. “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.
Rich credited McEntire with helping him feel ready to act again. “I needed some place where I could feel safe to try and trot this broken body out again, and they made the place,” he said. “I’m gonna get to the finish line. I may have to limp across it, but I’m getting there.”
In the episode Sisters Ink, Rich played Maverick, a tattoo artist who surprises McEntire’s character Bobbie during a visit to a parlor. The storyline follows Bobbie as she considers getting a tattoo alongside her sister Isabella, played by Belissa Escobedo.
Earlier this season, Steve Howey, another Reba alum, also appeared on Happy’s Place. McEntire’s sitcom Reba, which ran for six seasons from 2001 to 2007, featured Rich as Brock, the ex-husband of McEntire’s character. Peterman played his new wife Barbra Jean, while Howey portrayed Van Montgomery, the high school boyfriend and later husband of Reba’s daughter.
