Reba McEntire says the Fried Green Tomatoes TV reboot is as dead as Frank Bennett. Nearly a year to the day that she announced the show was in the works, the country superstar said it’s not going forward.
The show seemed like a sure thing. Reba McEntire was going to star and produce it along with TV icon Norman Lear. But despite all it had going for it, NBC passed.
“It just kinda went away, unfortunately,” Reba McEntire told the Taste of Country Podcast. “We were right in there in the running, and they passed on it.”
The show was going to pick up years where the book and movie end. McEntire was to play Idgie Threadgoode after she returned to Georgia and the Whistle Stop Cafe. Variety reported at the time that Threadgoode would face “a changed town, estranged daughter, faltering cafe, and a life-changing secret.”
But while the show isn’t moving forward, McEntire is. She’s recently finished shooting a Lifetime movie called Christmas in Tune that airs on Nov. 26. John Schneider, of Dukes of Hazzard fame, will co-star.
McEntire is no stranger to Hollywood politics. She starred in the hit CW show Reba which aired for six seasons. But she said she still picked up something from the collapse of Fried Green Tomatoes.
“What I’ve learned from Fried Green Tomatoes is you’d better have lots of balls in the air and plates spinning because you never know which one is going to go through,” McEntire told the podcast. “Yeah, we’re working on a lot of different projects. Hopefully, fingers crossed, one of them will go through.”
Second Season of Reba McEntire Podcast Starts Next Week
While Reba McEntire won’t be starring in Fried Green Tomatoes or hosting the CMA Awards, fans will soon get a lot more of the country music legend. She recently announced that season two of her podcast, “Living and Learning with Reba McEntire,” will begin airing on Monday, Oct. 25.
She recently released a trailer for the upcoming season of her Spotify show.
This season, McEntire and her friend and co-host Melissa Peterman, dive into some serious topics including reincarnation, cancel culture, and healthy living. And expect to hear from major stars. She teased Lady A and Trisha Yearwood in the trailer, along with a chat with her boyfriend, actor Rex Linn.
He explains how he wooed the legendary singer while they were apart during COVID-19.
“I sent you food during quarantine,” Linn says in the trailer. “I was trying to figure out how to connect with you, other than us three hours a day talking with one another — which was great.”
The first season of the podcast included discussions with Thomas Rhett and Lauren Atkins, Glennon Doyle, Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Kristin Chenoweth.
