Looks like ABC liked the pilot episode!

“Congrats to everyone associated with ‘Malibu Country’! We got picked up!!” Reba McEntire tweeted over the weekend, elated that her new sitcom will now officially run for at least one season. “We’re going to have so much fun! Can’t wait to get to work!”

ABC had already agreed to the pilot of the show, which stars the country legend as a divorced mom of three who moves from Nashville to Malibu, Calif., after discovering her rock-star husband was cheating on her. Reba’s character and her kids will have to adjust to the very different world of Malibu, where she’ll also try to resurrect her own music career.

“I miss the ‘Reba’ show so much, so it will be great to get back into the TV world again!” Reba posted on her website, referring to her self-titled sitcom that ran from 2001 – 2007 on the WB and CW networks.

Iconic actress Lily Tomlin will play Reba’s mother on the show. Other castmates include Sara Rue, Julietta Angelo, Justin Prentice, Jai Rodriguez and Owen Teague.

Reba will also act as an executive producer on “Malibu Country,” alongside her husband Narvel Blackstock and former “Reba” producer Kevin Abbott, along with Mindy Schultheis, Michael Hanel, Pam Williams and musician Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. It’s not yet known when the first episode will air.

Source: The Boot

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Reba McEntire is making a comeback as ABC has picked up the sitcom pilot, Malibu Country, written by and starring the country singer.

If picked up, the show would follow McEntire as she moves her children away from Nashville and her unfaithful husband, while trying to reignite her singing career in Malibu.

The Huffington Post reports that this would be McEntire’s first prominent TV role since her show Reba, which ended in 2007. Since then, she has made appearances in Better With You and Working Class.

Kevin Abbott is the writer on the project along with Narvel Blackstock, McEntire’s manager, Pam Williams and Dave Stewart from Laura Ziskin Productions’, and Mindy Schultheis and Michael Hanel from Acme Productions’.

Recently, McEntire was the victim of yet another online death hoax as reports surfaced saying the actress fell more than 100 feet to her death while filming a movie. McEntire took to her Twitter to inform her followers, “I am alive and kicking!!!,” reports E! Online.

The Academy of Country Music awards show producers must have thought that Blake Shelton hit a home run in 2011 with his first time co-hosting the Academy of Country Music Awards with Reba McEntire, because the duo will return to host the Academy of Country Music Awards this year.

The show will air on April 1, live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, 8 p.m. live ET/delayed PT, on CBS.

Meanwhile, Zac Brown Band will headline the second annual ACM Fan Jam at Mandalay Bay. Portions of that show will be interspersed with the awards show.

“I thought it was a wonderful idea when they came to me about it, because of his personality and his wit and hit humor,” Reba told Country Weekly of co-hosting the show for the first time with Blake last year. “You never know what he’s going to say. He will say somethings off the top of his head—sometimes off-color—but I think he’ll be on his best behavior. That’s going to be the added bonus for the audience because they love off-the-wall stuff.”

For his part, it’s clear that Blake adores his co-host. “I’m [learning] from arguably the best host any awards show has ever had,” he said to Country Weekly last year. “She’s a pro. There’s nothing that can rattle her, ever.”

Source: Country Weekly

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Reba McEntire is making sure plenty of families will be well fed in her native state of Oklahoma as the year draws to a close. The country icon learned of a food bank located in the town of Kiowa, where she attended school as a child, and wasted no time in donating a large sum of money to support the worthwhile cause.

While the ‘Somebody’s Chelsea’ singer refused to disclose the amount, a spokesperson for the food bank said it was a substantial gift — enough to provide 200,000 meals, or feed more than 2,300 families for one week.

“We are thankful for this generous donation from Reba McEntire,” executive director of the Regional Food Bank Rodney Bivens, shares (quote via News OK). “No child should ever have to go to bed with the pains of hunger in their stomach.”

The 56-year-old songbird is well-known for her charitable giving. She co-hosted a tornado relief concert in Oklahoma earlier this year with Blake Shelton, and also donated $100,000 to the Red Cross (where she serves on the National Celebrity Cabinet), following Nashville’s deadly floods last year. Reba says she is always eager to help when she can.

“To know that you can lend a hand and make someone’s life a little better, brings you back up to realize why you are on this earth in the first place,” she shares. “And that’s to learn how you can grow as a better person by giving and loving.”

Reba will spend several weeks at home before she heads overseas for a series of shows in England, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany. See her concert schedule here.

Source: The Boot