Why Sitcom Emily’s Reasons Why Not Was Cancelled After Only One Episode

Despite being given a major promotional push by its network, here’s why sitcom Emily’s Reasons Why Not only aired one episode before being cancelled. After making appearances in the likes of Twin Peaks and Six Degrees of Separation, Heather Graham’s breakthrough role came with 1997’s Boogie Nights. She later appeared in comedies like Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and had a well-received guest appearance on Scrubs, so it seemed like a natural fit that she would front a sitcom.

Emily’s Reasons Why Not is based on the novel of the same name by Carrie Gerlach Cecil. The title character is an editor who decides to turn her love life around by adopting a simple rule that if she can think of five good reasons to end a relationship then she will. ABC committed to the concept without even viewing the pilot, and it was being positioned as something of a Sex And The City successor.

Emily’s Reasons Why Not debuted in January 2006 and the first episode found Graham’s Emily suspicious she was dating a closeted gay man – only to eventually realize he was a Morman virgin saving himself for marriage. ABC gave heavy promotion to the series in the lead up to its premiere, but a combination of bad reviews for the first episode – especially for its use of gay stereotypes – and lackluster ratings led to ABC pulling the show and replacing its second episode slot with a rerun of The Bachelor.

Emily’s Reasons Why Not had already shot six episodes when ABC decided to pull the plug, but this abrupt decision proved a little embarrassing as articles about it were still being run despite the series being canned. While the first episode isn’t awful it does play like a blander version of Sex In The City and milks cliched sitcom situations without bringing much that’s fresh to the table.

The full season of Emily’s Reasons Why Not eventually hit DVD in 2012, but nowadays it’s mostly remembered for its blunt cancellation. The first season of most sitcoms involves finetuning to find what works and what doesn’t, so maybe it would have improved over time, but the network clearly wasn’t taking that chance. Heather Graham soon went on to appear in comedy hit The Hangover and in recent years appeared in Lifetime’s adaptation of controversial bestseller Flowers In The Attic. She’s next set to appear in CBS’ take on Stephen King’s post-apocalyptic epic The Stand.

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Padraig Cotter
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It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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