In the pilot episode, Reba Hart discovers that her husband is leaving her for his pregnant mistress and that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant as well. Original airdate, October 5, 2001.
Tropes:
- Aborted Arc: Part of the first season involved the Harts going to court-ordered therapy after a knock-down drag-out fight at divorce court. This all but disappeared after just a few episodes, until much later in the show.
- Adopted to the House: Van to the Hart house after his parents disown him following his getting Cheyenne pregnant.
- Affectionate Nickname: Van calls Reba "Mrs. H" and Brock "Mr. H" or "Coach".
- A Mistake Is Born:
- At the start of the series, both couples, Brock and Barbara Jean and Van and Cheyenne, have unexpected pregnancies. They both get married to rectify their mistakes, but it causes more problems for Brock and Barbara Jean eventually.
- Artistic License – Biology: Reba tells Cheyenne and Van that you can get pregnant most days of the month. This is incorrect. Sperm can be mobile for up to five days, but once ovulation happens, the egg is only viable for about 24 hours. Therefore pregnancy can only happen if sex happens up to 4 days before, the day of, or the day after ovulation.
- Artistic License – Law: Underage Van is able to marry Cheyenne without permission or support from either of his parents.
- Big Eater: Invoked by Reba as she asks the pregnant Cheyenne to eat some more. Cheyenne tells her that this will be her fourth grilled cheese sandwich. Later, Van is snacking on the wedding hors d'oeuvres.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- When Reba is chastising Van and Cheyenne for being pregnant at 17, Brock thinks she is yelling at him because of his unplanned pregnancy.
- When Jake wants to ask his mom a question, Reba braces herself thinking it is about the divorce. Jake asks her if his friend Brent could come over to the house and play, much to Reba's surprise and relief.
- Blatant Lies: Brock denying that he loves Van like a son due to the idea of his daughter marrying "a punk". Reba calls him out on it.
- Bittersweet Ending: Brock and Reba's marriage is ending due to his infidelity, but Van and Cheyenne have a happy successful wedding ceremony. Van's parents will not come to the wedding and have kicked him out of the house, but on the bright side, he managed to arrange a honeymoon with Cheyenne at his uncle's beach house in Galveston.
- Big "OMG!": Reba, when she learns that her husband Brock got his mistress pregnant and that her daughter Cheyenne is pregnant too.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: When Reba tells Brock to move back in the house and handle his mid-life crisis by buying a red Corvette, taking up bungee jumping or pierce something. Whatever it takes.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: Brock is against Cheyenne marrying Van despite Van being his valuable quarterback for his football team.
- Disaster Dominoes: On the wedding day, Cheyenne is upset that Brock hasn't arrived yet. Reba starts to lose it when she burns some of the food. Brock arrives with Barbra Jean. Cheyenne and Van get into an argument because Van plans to play football on their wedding night. Things are thrown and Barbra Jean falls into the cake.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: This is the only episode where Cheyenne has a slight Texan accent. The second episode to the end of the series she has no accent.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Reba has one when Brock tells Reba he has to leave her and marry Barbara Jean:
- Brock: Reba, I have to marry her.Reba: Oh please! Have to? The only reason you'd have to marry her is if you gone off and— (Brock lowers his gaze guilty) Oh my God!
- Happily Married: Van and Cheyenne by the episode's end.
- Hollywood Mid-Life Crisis: Brock is implied by his then-wife Reba to be going through one. It's also be what led to him having an affair with his younger dental hygienist Barbara Jean.
- Hypocrite:
- Brock refuses to go to his own daughter Cheyenne's wedding as he sees getting married while pregnant as "an embarrassment". Despite the fact that Brock is also marrying his pregnant mistress for the same reasons. Reba is quick to call him out on his hypocrisy and tells him to bring ice.
Brock: I can't believe you want to celebrate this... embarrassment!Reba: (smugly) Well, what are you and "BJ" planning?Brock: I don't know. Something with doves.Reba: (shoots him a look)Brock: Oh! But that's different!- Barbara Jean is also hypocritical as she sees Van and Cheyenne getting married as "two wrongs that don't make a right in the eyes of our Lord".
- I Have No Son!: Van's parents will not come to the wedding and have kicked him out of the house.
- Ikea Erotica: Reba complains that she gave her kids the sex talk and even drew pictures with blue and pink arrows.
- I'll Kill You!: Cheyenne yells this to Jake after he slips that she's pregnant at 17. This leading to the entire Hart family in a big dysfunctional family tumble in the psychiatrist's office.
- Irony: Barbara Jean being a religious woman devoted to Jesus, but that didn't stop her from having an affair with with a married man and getting pregnant out of wedlock.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Reba catches Van hiding under Cheyenne's bed and assumes this has happened. Cheyenne defends him, saying that they were only just talking.
- Loose Lips: Jake slips that Cheyenne is pregnant because he found her pregnancy test in the trash.
- Man Bites Man: 7-year-old Jake bit the court reporter. He didn't think anybody was looking.
- Mid Life Crisis Car: Reba sarcastically suggests that Brock should buy a red Corvette to deal with his mid-life crisis.
- Miss Conception: Van and Cheyenne thought she couldn't get pregnant if they only had sex one day a month. Van believes one could have sex 30 times in a month and only get pregnant once. Justified due to their stupidity. Reba decides to spell it out for them.Reba: You can get pregnant the first time you have sex, most days of the month, standing up, sitting down, and in a hotel hot tub. (glances at Brock)
- Noodle Incident: While in court the entire family got into what the judge described as a brawl. All that's known is that Jake bit the court reporter.
- No Pregger Sex: Alluded to at the end when Van brags about his and Cheyenne's honeymoon plans involving protection. This shocks Reba.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: Van and Cheyenne are grossed out when they learn that her parents Reba and Brock apparently concieved one of their children in a hotel hot tub.
- Rage Breaking Point: Reba finally loses it, shouting at everyone and giving the unfaithful Brock a big "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Reba delivers one to Brock before leaving in tears.Van: (to Brock) This is a wedding and you're ruining it! You ruined everything! (near tears, voice breaking) We were supposed to grow old together!
- Rule of Three: Reba telling all her kids "Have I told you you're my favorite?".
- Sex Equals Love: Why Cheyenne and Van had their first time. Reba laughs at the idea until Cheyenne reminds her that she was the one who taught her not to have sex unless she were in love.
- Shotgun Wedding: Brock reveals that he will not be moving back home because he has to marry his dental hygienist/assistant Barbra Jean because she was pregnant.
- Skewed Priorities:
- Cheyenne and Van get into an argument because Van plans to play football on their wedding night.
- Brock is more concerned about Van playing for the football game than have Van attend his honeymoon. Brock is also embarrassed by the idea of his daughter's shotgun wedding.
- Take a Third Option: When deciding the custody arrangements of which parent the Hart kids want to live with.Cheyenne: I want to go with Dad.Jake: I wanna stay with Mom.Kyra: Is boot camp an option?
- Un-person: Reba advises Kyra not to address future stepmom Barbara Jean as anything friendly.Reba: You're not suppose to call her anything. When you see her at the local Wal-Mart, just point to her and say, "There's the woman who stole my daddy!"
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Jake's friend Brent warns the Hart family that he throws up if he eats olives. Reba advises him not to eat any but Jake says he already did. Cue the disgusted looks on Van and Cheyenne's faces and Reba asking Jake to follow Brent around with a bucket.
- Wham Line: When the family starts arguing over the patriarch's infidelity, Jake lets slip of his older sister's teen pregnancy.
- Jake: What?Cheyenne: Daddy, how could you!?Jake: What?Kyra: Barbra Jean's pregnant!Jake: I thought Cheyenne was pregnant!Brock: What?Cheyenne: Shut up, Jake!Kyra: Back off. He's just a stupid kid!Jake: I'm not stupid! She left the pregnancy test in the trash can!Reba: Oh my God!Cheyenne: I am gonna kill you!
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Kyra who is 12 but is well educated about sex and birth control thanks to her mom. When Reba asks what is the appropriate age for a young lady to be sexually active, Kyra answers "40".
