Reba is a television series starring country singer Reba McIntire. In season one Reba finds herself recently divorced, a mother of three, and in the middle of a dysfunctional family. Reba's ex-husband Brock left her for his twenty-something assistant. Her seventeen year old daughter is pregnant and married her high school sweetheart, and they're living under her roof. To make matters worse, Brock and his new wife Barbara-Jean is a permanent fixture in Reba's life. Together they make a perfect dysfunctional family perfect for television. For more details about this series please refer to my reviews of season one and season two.

The first thing I noticed about season three was a change in the Barbara-Jean character. In season one, she was annoying and the jokes from her sometimes felt a little forced. In season two there was a shift in the annoyance level and the humor was more real. Now in season three, the annoyance factor is almost gone and Barbara-Jean comes off as a truly funny character. She is still goofy and over-the-top, but in a very likeable and bearable manner. Barbara-Jean is a much more well-rounded character and it really adds something to the show.

The season three stories pick up where season two left off. Kyra has decided to move in with Brock and Barbara-Jean, who just bought a house three doors down. Reba is still trying to keep a cool head about the situation and handles it well at first. Eventually she loses her cool and it develops an uneasy tension with Brock and Barbara-Jean, which turns into some fun situations to watch. The characters all handle Kyra's moving out in a different and silly way from happy to sad to I don't care. It is a fun way to start the season.

Continuing on, the season three stories include some silly parenting episodes with Reba, Brock, and Barbara-Jean trying to raise a Kyra, a young teenager now in high school as she copes with the opposite sex, drugs, homework, and too many parents. The fun episodes about parenting include "Spies Like Reba" where Barbara-Jean convinces that invading Kyra's privacy is a good thing and it leads to the three parents spying on Kyra, or "The United Front" with the three parents trying to make up dating rules for the overly cynical Kyra. My favorite episode of season three, "Calling the Pot Brock", is another great one about the trio of parents trying to set Kyra straight. In this episode the focus is about drugs and kids, which leads to fun revelation when Brock admits to Barbara-Jean he has smoked marijuana, as well as Van freaking out that Cheyenne has tried it too. It's a blast.

Another thing we see throughout this season is the continuance of Reba and Barbara-Jean's relationship developing into true friendship. Part of what makes their relationship so funny (besides they are very incompatible and goofy) is the oddity of their entire situation, Barbara-Jean being the other woman. It is still heartwarming and nice to see the two slowly bond closer and closer. The pure hatred and dislike Reba had in season one has become more like friendly banter.

Of course not everything between Barbara-Jean and Reba is daffodils and roses. There are some complications introduced in this season that turns everything upside down. This season sees a strong touch of drama when Brock begins to realize he is unhappy with his life. He decides to sell his practice and become a professional golf player. This major change leads into many other problems as Brock starts therapy and realizes all of the big mistakes he has made in his life. This storyline is dramatic, but the cast still manages to get in a few good laughs when dealing with it.

Other big stories revolving career changes involve the young married couple Van and Cheyenne planning out their future. Van drops out of the University of Houston to play semi-pro arena football and Cheyenne picks a college major, dentistry.

Overall this season sees a lot of big changes for the cast and each situation they find themselves in always turns out to be a lot of laughs. I really enjoyed how hilarious the cast was and I have to say this is the best season yet.

Episode Guide
1. She's Leaving Home, Bye, Bye
2. War and Peace
3. The Best and the Blondest
4. Spies Like Reba
5. Calling the Pot Brock
6. Encounters
7. The Ghost and Mrs. Hart
8. The Cat's Meow
9. Regarding Henry
10. The Great Race
11. All Growed Up
12. The United Front
13. To Tell the Truth
14. Brock's Mulligan
15. The Shirt Off My Back
16. Sister Act
17. Fight or Flight
18. The Big Fix-Up
19. The Good Girl
20. Happy Pills
21. Girls' Night Out
22. Core Focus

The DVD
The packaging for Reba: The Complete Third Season is a cardboard box that houses three slim DVD cases. The DVDs are dual-sided single layered discs. The first two DVDs and side A of the third disc each have four episodes, with side B of the third disc containing the very last two episodes.

Video:
The video is given in 1.33:1 ratio full frame color. The picture is the most impressive aspect of this DVD release, as it is very clean and crisp. There are no noticeable compression artifacts and colors tend to be very rich.

Audio:
The audio in this DVD release is given in two languages, English and Spanish. For both languages the audio is in the same format, 2.0 Dolby digital stereo surround. The majority of the audio in this release is dialogue driven, which sounds very good with no noticeable distortions. It comes off flat and takes very little advantage of the multiple channels.

Extras:
The extras included in this season set include five audio commentaries and two featurettes. The episodes include "Spies Like Reba" with Reba McEntire, Melissa Peterman, and Kevin Abbott, "To Tell the Truth" with Melissa Peterman, Christopher Rich, Joanna Garcia, and Steve Howey, "Fight or Flight" with Melissa Peterman, Christopher Rich, Joanna Garcia, and Steve Howey, "Happy Pills" with Melissa Peterman, Christopher Rich, Joanna Garcia, and Steve Howey, and "Core Focus" with Melissa Peterman, Kevin Abbott, and Matt Berry. The commentaries are a mix of goofy and informational. If you enjoyed the season episodes, then you should get a kick of out of listening to the commentaries.

"Matters Of the Hart Featurette" is a discussion with cast and crew talking about the details of season three, as well as reflection on past seasons. This includes commentary from actors Steve Howey, Joanna Garcia, Mitch Holleman, Christopher Rich, Melissa Peterman, and Reba Mcentire, and executive producer Michael Hanel. The other featurette is "Melissa's Backstage Diary". In this short featurette Melissa takes us backstage to talk to the crew behind Reba. The people Melissa interviews talk about their job function and what it means to the show. Both featurettes run seconds shy of seventeen and a half minutes.

Final Thoughts:
Like season two, I really enjoyed season three more than season one. The content was all around better with the cast being hilarious together as they go through the ins and outs of life. The stories used in this season were also quite good with a dab of drama to keep you hooked. In the end, if you enjoy a good sitcom, then Reba's dysfunctional family is plenty of fun.