History Series / Reba

* Plating the trope straight, Brock drops the title of the epsiode "Lock and Loaded" [[spoiler: regarding having his vasectomy reversed.]]

* {{Expy}}: A snarky couple with three children: A ditzy blonde who married a doofus, a snarky middle child who seems to be the only verbal equal to the snarky matriarch, and a young son who everyone seems to forget about. It's not an exact expy of ''Roseanne,'' but it seemed to be a case of what might have happened should Roseanne and Dan get divorced. Both shows even tread similar ground, such as the parents cracking down especially hard on the younger child to after the eldest daughter grew up too fast.

* {{Expy}}: A snarky couple with three children: A ditzy blonde who married a doofus, a snarky middle child who seems to be the only verbal equal to the snarky matriarch, and a young son who everyone seems to forget about. It's not an exact expy of ''Roseanne,'' but it seemed to be a case of what might have happened should Roseanne and Dan get divorced.

* FiveTemperamentEnsemble: Reba (leukine), Barbara Jean (melancholic), Brock (phlegmatic), Cheyanne and Van (sanguine), Kyra (choleric).

** A little earlier in the episode, when Lori Ann is going through her contact to find a guy for Reba.

* LethalChef: Cheyenne. Barbra Jean tries to teach her in one episode, and it backfires horribly; while [[DrowningMySorrows drowning her sorrows]] at her complete failure, she mentions how she taught her niece how to cook lasagna when she was ''six years old'' and worked at a church summer camp where she taught blind kids to cook, and she still couldn't make any progress with Cheyenne. [[FridgeBrilliance She could have been lying while drunk and was only fed up with Cheyenne's progress, though]].

* TheCastShowoff: Surprisingly averted for a sitcom based around one of country music's most famous stars - Reba did sing, but it was rarely a big production. (On the other hand, she did sing [[DoItYourselfThemeTune the theme song]] and some of the soundtrack.) Scarlet Pomers is also a decent musician but her band is mostly offscreen, and the time she's seen doing something musical, she's just strumming her guitar and making snarking comments
* CelebrityStar / StuntCasting: Done twice: once with Dolly Parton and the other time with Kelly Clarkson. Both also appear as [[SpecialGuest special guests]].
** Overlapping with CastingGag. Twice during the show, Cheyenne and Van's marriage was tested by another woman. The first time was Kate, a business associate of Van's that Cheyenne was insanely jealous of. The second was a woman named Bridgit, who was a former classmate of theirs (and enemy of Cheyenne) who made a pass at Van to torment Cheyenne. Both characters were played by Sarah Shahi, who is now Steve Howey's wife (although they were only dating/engaged at the time.)

* CoughSnarkCough: Van does it once to Cheyenne by saying "* cough* baloney!", leading to an argument betwixt them.

A simple DomCom set in Houston, Texas, and starring Music/RebaMcEntire.

* ButtMonkey / ChewToy: Brock, Van, and Barbra Jean.

* TheDitz: Cheyenne, Van, and Barbara Jean.

* IntergenerationalFriendship: Reba and Barbra Jean (10 year age gap) and Brock and Van (26 year age gap).

* FiveTemperamentEnsemble: Reba (leukine), Barbara Jean (melancholic), Brock (phlegmatic), Cheyanne and Van (sanguine), Kyra (choleric).

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Saying "a-double-s" instead of "ass" and substituting "bitch" with "the b-word".
** Probably the reasons they stopped using Barbra Jean's initials. In the first season, any time someone called her [[DoubleEntendre BJ]], there would be a short pause so the untold joke of a woman named BJ having an affair with a married man could land. After the show took a slight turn for the more [[LighterAndSofter light-hearted and goofy]], she wasn't called BJ nearly as much.

* HollywoodAtheist: Van, in the episode "And God Created Van" stops attending church and after being pressed, he admits that he no longer believes in God. It's later revealed that Van is actually angry at God due to his spinal stenosis ending his football career. Reba is forced to admit that she went through a similar crisis of faith during the divorce.

* LethalChef: Cheyenne. Barbara Jean tries to teach her in one episode, and it backfires horribly; while [[DrowningMySorrows drowning her sorrows]] at her complete failure, she mentions how she taught her niece how to cook lasagna when she was ''six years old'' and worked at a church summer camp where she taught blind kids to cook, and she still couldn't make any progress with Cheyenne. [[FridgeBrilliance She could have been lying while drunk and was only fed up with Cheyenne's progress, though]].

* [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse What Happened To The Dog]]: Broq, a small dog Barbra Jean adopts, shows up in several episodes, only to become a case of ChuckCunninghamSyndrome.

* SlasherSmile: Van's "winning smile" is incredibly creepy, and he's completely oblivious to that fact.

-->'''Lori Ann''': Let's see. Married, married, dead, gay, gay, gay.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first season was noticeably different from the rest of the series. Van was more dumb than crazy. Barbra Jean was also a huge Jesus Freak, alongside her other neuroses. Cheyenne was more AlphaBitch than Ditz. Brock wasn't nearly as vain. Reba was much more the OnlySaneMan instead of a control freak. Also, the fact that the show took place in Houston was a much bigger plot point, as the Hart family tried to navigate through Cheyenne's pregnancy around ultra-conservative neighbors, school principals, etc. Much like ''Married... With Children'', the show kind of Flanderized into more of a live-action cartoon, and was funnier for it.

** Surprisingly, Brock doesn't deal with with sexist comments. His chauvinistic father-in-law told one offensive joke too many and it led to Brock telling him off.

** Surprisingly, Brock doesn't deal with with sexist comments. His chauvinistic father-in-law told one offensive joke too many and it led to a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech]].
** Barbra Jean loathes being called "Blondzilla".

** Surprisingly, Brock doesn't deal with with sexist comments. His chauvinistic father-in-law told one offensive joke too many and it led to a [[ReasonYouSuck]] speech.

** Barbra Jean has one, though it only happens in one episode: "Yoo hoo! I'm here! And [[RealitySubtext I'm thin!]]"

* HairTriggerTemper: Cheyenne being referred as the smart one in high school and having lost a beauty contest.

** HairTriggerTemper: Cheyenne being referred as the smart one in high school and having lost a beauty contest.

* LethalChef: Cheyenne. Barbara Jean tries to teach her in one episode, and it backfires horribly; while [[DrowningMySorrows drowning her sorrows]] at her complete failure, she mentions how she taught her niece how to cook lasagna when she was ''six years old'' and worked at a church summer camp where she taught blind kids to cook, and she still couldn't make any progress with Cheyenne.

* [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse What Happened To The Dog]]: Broq, a small dog Barbra Jean adopts, shows up in several episodes, only to become a case of [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]].

* ScrewedByTheNetwork:
** ''Reba'' was the highest rated show on the WB, but when it merged with UPN to form CW, they were going for a different demographic, and it wasn't sure if the show would make it through the merge. Due to financial penalties (see UnCancelled below), {{The CW}} ordered 13 episodes for a sixth season.
** Despite a promising performance in its sixth season (the show was the highest rated sitcom on the new network and increased the ratings from the shows previously slotted there), the show was cancelled since it was felt that it didn't hit the right demographics.
** And such moves seemed to have not gone unnoticed, if the following exchange was of any indication:
-->'''Van''': If you take away loyalty and ethics from business, do you know what you got?
-->'''Reba''': [[TakeThat Television network?]]