Cast members on hit sitcoms swear they are one big, happy family — then delete one another’s cellphone numbers halfway through the wrap party.
Not Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman. Nearly 16 years after “Reba” went off the air, the country music legend and the Twin Cities native remain tight. Their latest collaboration, “Reba McEntire’s The Hammer,” premiered Saturday on Lifetime and is also available for streaming through various services.
“If I texted her right now, she’d call me in two minutes,” Peterman said while she was visiting family in Minnesota for the holidays. “We’ve got each other’s back.”
Before becoming a sitcom regular, Peterman made her mark in Minneapolis through the Brave New Workshop and a long-running production of “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding.” She also played a chatty hooker in the 1996 movie “Fargo,” an opportunity that helped her make the decision to try her luck in Los Angeles.
By 2001, she was cast in “Reba” as Barbara Jean, the eager-to-please girlfriend of the title character’s ex. The show’s biggest laughs came from McEntire recoiling from Barbara Jean’s efforts to win her over.
In real life, they quickly bonded, so much so that McEntire asked her to be her opening act when she went on tour, an invitation that started Peterman’s standup career.
They also discovered they were good traveling companions. During joint family vacations, you can find the two playing backgammon or card games. They recently watched “The Godfather” together.
“We’re both very easygoing, except we both always need to know where lunch is and when,” said Peterman, who gave a heartwarming tribute on stage in 2018 when McEntire received a Kennedy Center Honor.
The two have continually popped up in each other’s projects, with McEntire guest-starring on several of Peterman’s sitcoms, including “Baby Daddy.” The two currently have recurring guest-starring roles on CBS’ “Young Sheldon,” although they have yet to share a scene together.
They have plenty of interaction in “The Hammer.” McEntire plays Kim Wheeler, a rural Nevada judge juggling several high-profile cases at once, including a murder in which her sister (Peterman) is a chief suspect.
“She (Kim) is quite the character,” McEntire said last year during a virtual news conference. “She’s a little-bitty gal. But what she does and how she stands up to people who have done other people wrong, she makes it all fair. You listen to her, and go, ‘Well, that makes sense. Why don’t more people do it like that?’ ”
When she’s not laying down the law, Wheeler spews out Reba-isms like “awesome, possum” and “I’m sweating like a whore in church.”
The reunion that everyone is hoping for is a reboot of “Reba.” Both stars have said they are open to the idea.
In the meantime, there’s “The Hammer.” If the ratings are solid, you can expect more,
“You know, it could have been a limited series. It could be a series. It could be movies, because Kim does have so many great stories to tell,” said McEntire, who also gets to act alongside real-life boyfriend Rex Linn, playing the judge’s possible love interest. “Melissa said several times, ‘Oh, my gosh, we could do this again.’ ”
