KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — East Tennesseans watching Reba McEntire's new NBC sitcom "Happy's Place" should keep a close eye on the screen, because there are a lot of Easter eggs referencing Knoxville and Tennessee sprinkled around.
The show is set in Knoxville and follows Reba's character, Bobbie, after she inherits her father's restaurant: Happy's Place.
As expected of a show set in Knoxville, you can find Tennessee Vols memorabilia all over the place. But there are also some subtler references for those keeping an eye out. Here are a few of the ones we spotted during the first episode:
Vols, Vols, and more Vols
Happy's Place is decked out with all sorts of Big Orange merch, including multiple signs, several mugs, helmets and a large lit-up Power T featured prominently in the background.
Also, we spotted a neat Vols serving tray with Smokey on it featured in the opening credits. The menus also sport a lovely Tennessee Vols theme:
References on Tap
At the start of the show, Reba's character serves up some "Tennessee Coffee," which she quickly clarifies is just a tall glass of whiskey. As she was pouring the drink, we spotted a familiar beer on tap: Yee-Haw.
Sure, Yee-Haw is technically more of a Johnson City reference since that's where the brewery got its start, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a tap in Knoxville without at least one Yee-Haw handle on it these days.
Deep Cuts
We kept our eyes peeled for references that would require a deeper understanding of Knoxville beyond the Vols. There were at least two: One hidden in the background, and one in plain sight during a couple of shots.
During a few shots, the character Takoda, played by Tokala Black Elk, could be spotted wearing a Rule High School t-shirt. The former Knoxville high school has been closed for more than three decades and was only recently demolished.
The other hard-to-spot reference was seen for just a few seconds in the background: an old newspaper clipping referencing the Blizzard of '93 in Knoxville. Whoever wrote that story might want to doublecheck the grammar in their headline next time: "Knoxville in blanketed white: 15 inches of snowfall breaks 33-year record."
The Blizzard of '93 dropped 15 inches of snow in Knoxville, breaking a single-day snowfall record set in 1960 at the time.
If you want to join the hunt for more Knoxville references, Happy's Place airs on NBC Fridays at 8 p.m. ET.