''Malibu Country'' is an American
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
that ran on
ABC from November 2, 2012, to March 22, 2013. The series was created by
David A. Stewart
David Allan Stewart (born 9 September 1952) is an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for Eurythmics, his successful professional partnership with Annie Lennox. Sometimes credited as David A. Stewart, he won Best British ...
and marks
Reba McEntire's return to series television, following up her previous sitcom ''
Reba'' (2001–2007).
McEntire stars as Reba MacKenzie, who recently discovered her
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
star-husband has been cheating on her, and the two divorce. As part of the divorce settlement, she moves to a house her ex-husband owns in
Malibu, California
Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malib ...
and attempts to restart her music career while also starting a new chapter in her family's lives. ''Malibu Countrys producer Kevin Abbott is a former ''Reba'' producer, and McEntire serves as an executive producer for the series.
On April 23, 2013, it was announced that Nastaran Dibai, who took over as writer and producer after Abbott left in October 2012, had departed as well from the show.
On May 10, 2013, ABC cancelled the series after one season.
Overview
After finding that her husband has been cheating on her, Reba MacKenzie and her family move from
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
, to
Malibu, California
Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malib ...
, in an attempt to restart her music career and start a new chapter in their lives.
Cast and characters
Main cast
*
Reba as Reba Gallagher (née MacKenzie), a mother of two kids, and a former country music sensation trying to get her foot back in the door
*
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing off-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the varie ...
as Lillie Mae MacKenzie, Reba's no-nonsense mother
*
Sara Rue
Sara Rue (born January 26, 1979) is an American actress. She is known for her performances as Carmen Ferrara on ''Popular'', as Claude Casey on ''Less than Perfect'', and as the Attorney General in ''Idiocracy''. In 2011, she hosted The CW realit ...
as Kim Sallinger, Reba's hug-too-freely, share-too-much, upbeat neighbor
*
Justin Prentice as Cash Gallagher, Reba's teenage son
* Juliette Angelo as June Gallagher, Reba's teenage daughter
*
Jai Rodriguez
Jai Rodriguez is an American actor and musician best known as the culture guide on the Bravo network's Emmy-winning American reality television program ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy''. He has also co-authored a book with the other ''Queer ...
as Geoffrey, a record label assistant Reba turns to for help getting her career back on track
Recurring cast
*
Jeffrey Nordling
Jeffrey Richard Nordling (born March 11, 1962) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jake Manning in ''Once and Again'', Larry Moss in '' 24'', Nick Bolen in ''Desperate Housewives'', and Gordon Klein in '' Big Little Lies'', as wel ...
as Bobby Gallagher, a country music star and Reba's ex-husband
* Hudson Thames as Sage, Kim's teenage step-son and June's boyfriend
*
Larry Wilmore
Elister Larry WilmoreThe name Elister L. Wilmore is given at This matches the birth date and birthplace for "Larry Wilmore" at (born October 30, 1961) is an American comedian, writer, producer, and actor. He served as the "Senior Black Corresp ...
as Mr. Clark, Cash and June's school principal
*
James Patrick Stuart
James Patrick Stuart is an American actor, currently portraying Valentin Cassadine on the daytime soap opera ''General Hospital'', for which he received three consecutive Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Dram ...
as Mr. Bata, the head of the record company where Geoffrey works
Guest stars
*
Travie McCoy
Travis Lazarus "Travie" McCoy (born August 5, 1981) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is the co-founder and former lead vocalist of the rap rock band Gym Class Heroes, in addition to having a solo career. McCoy became involved w ...
as himself ("Shell Games")
*
Steven Weber
Steven Robert Weber (born March 4, 1961) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Brian Hackett on the television series ''Wings'' which aired from April 1990 to May 1997 on NBC, as Sam Blue in '' Once and Again'', and ...
as Pete Mason ("Bro Code")
*
Heather Dubrow
Heather Paige Dubrow (née Kent; born January 5, 1969) is an American actress and television personality. Heather portrayed Lydia DeLucca in the television series '' That's Life'' in 2000 and starred on the reality television series ''The Real H ...
as Brooke ("Cold Shower")
*
Laura Bell Bundy
Laura Ashley Bell Bundy (born April 10, 1981) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for originating the Broadway roles of Amber Von Tussle in the musical version of '' Hairspray and'' Elle Woods in the musical version of ''Legall ...
as Shauna ("Adventures in Babysitting")
*
Tisha Campbell-Martin
Tisha Michelle Campbell (born October 13, 1968) is an American actress and singer. She made her screen debut appearing in the 1986 rock musical comedy film ''Little Shop of Horrors'', and later starred on the short-lived NBC musical comedy dram ...
as Rikki ("Bowling for Mama")
*
Owen Teague as Jack ("Oh Comedy")
*
Blake Shelton
Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...
as Blake MacKenzie ("Oh Brother")
*
Enrico Colantoni
Enrico Colantoni (born February 14, 1963) is a Canadian actor and director, best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom ''Just Shoot Me!'', Keith Mars on the television series ''Veronica Mars'', Louis Lutz on the short-lived sitcom ''H ...
as Leslie, Kim's husband ("Marriage, Malibu Style")
*
Stacy Keach
Walter Stacy Keach Jr. (born June 2, 1941) is an American actor and narrator. He has played mainly dramatic roles throughout his career, often in law enforcement or as a private detective. His most prominent role was as Mickey Spillane's fiction ...
as Brad, a date of Reba and Lillie Mae ("All You Single Ladies")
Episodes
Development and production
''Malibu Country'' was originally a series in development for ABC. The pilot episode was scheduled to shoot on April 17, 2012, at ABC Studios. McEntire was selected to play Reba McKenzie, a divorced mother of two who moves to
Malibu, California
Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malib ...
, to restart her music career.
It was announced on February 23, 2012, that
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing off-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the varie ...
would join the series, playing the role of McEntire's character's mother, Lillie Mae. On March 1, 2012,
Sara Rue
Sara Rue (born January 26, 1979) is an American actress. She is known for her performances as Carmen Ferrara on ''Popular'', as Claude Casey on ''Less than Perfect'', and as the Attorney General in ''Idiocracy''. In 2011, she hosted The CW realit ...
was added to the cast. She portrays Kim, a neighbor to Reba and Lillie, who is a very upbeat share-too-much, hug-too-freely trophy wife and neighbor with a teenage stepson who may or may not be gay. On March 8, 2012, Justin Prentice and Juliette Angelo were cast as Reba's teenage son and daughter, Cash and June respectively. On March 28, 2012,
Jai Rodriguez
Jai Rodriguez is an American actor and musician best known as the culture guide on the Bravo network's Emmy-winning American reality television program ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy''. He has also co-authored a book with the other ''Queer ...
was cast as Geoffrey, a record label assistant in town whom Reba contacts to restart her music career.
On May 11, 2012, ABC placed a series order for the comedy. The series premiered on Friday, November 2, 2012 at 8:30 p.m., following the season premiere of ''
Last Man Standing''. On November 12, 2012, ABC picked up an additional three scripts for ''Malibu Country''. It was announced on November 28, 2012, that
ABC increased the episode order for season one from thirteen to eighteen episodes.
Reception
Critical reception
The series has received mixed to negative reviews from critics. The series currently has a score of 41 out of 100 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, citing mixed or average reviews.
Ratings
The series premiere received 9.13 million viewers, and a 2.3 in the coveted 18–49 rating share, up 1 million viewers from its lead in, the season premiere of ''
Last Man Standing''. The premiere scored ABC's highest numbers in the half hour in almost five years.
As of November 27, 2012, the first season episode order has been expanded from 13 to 18, with ABC also announcing that ''Malibu Country'' is the highest-rated freshman comedy on television in the 2012 fall season with an average of 8.7 million viewers per episode.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malibu Country
2010s American sitcoms
2012 American television series debuts
2013 American television series endings
American Broadcasting Company original programming
English-language television shows
Television series by ABC Studios
Television shows set in Malibu, California
Television series created by David A. Stewart