''Emily's Reasons Why Not'' is a

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

starring

Heather Graham Heather Joan Graham (born January 29, 1970) is an American actress. After appearing in television commercials, her first starring role in a feature film came with the teen comedy '' License to Drive'' (1988), followed by the critically acclaime ...

. The show, which was based on the novel of the same name by

Carrie Gerlach Carrie Gerlach Cecil is an American writer, television show producer, public speaker, and businessperson. She wrote the novel on which the television show ''Emily's Reasons Why Not'' was based. Early life and education Carrie Gerlach grew up in ...

, published in August 2004, was canceled by its broadcaster,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, after a single airing on January 9, 2006. The story revolves around Emily Sanders, a successful career woman in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

who has been unsuccessful

dating Dating is a stage of romantic relationships in which two individuals engage in an activity together, most often with the intention of evaluating each other's suitability as a partner in a future intimate relationship. It falls into the categor ...

. She seeks help from a

therapist Therapist is a person who offers any kinds of therapy A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. As a rule, each therapy has indi ...

who recommends that Emily make a list of ten reasons why each of her dating relationships has failed. The series premise centered on Emily (Graham), an editor of self-help books who is unable to find success in romance. In the premiere episode she ends a bad relationship and adopts a new rule for her romances: if she can list five reasons to break up with a guy, then she does so. Emily gets help from her friends, among them Josh, whose character is strongly based on gay stereotypes. The show was widely considered a less risqué copycat of ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United Stat ...

''.

First episode

In the first episode, she is convinced that the man she was dating was

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

when he was actually a devout

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into severa ...

practicing

chastity Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains either from sexual activity considered immoral or any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for example when ma ...

before marriage. His open

virginity Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

is presented through gay stereotypes, and his preferred sport, Brazilian jiu-jitsu is described as "the gayest sport there is" by Emily's former boyfriend.

Critical reception

It was reported that ABC committed to the show before seeing a script. Despite heavy promotion by both

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainme ...

and ABC, and a viewing average of 6.2 million viewers, the show was pulled after the first episode due to negative reception; production was stopped after filming six episodes. ABC was said to have spent millions on promotion, including airtime, billboards and radio ads, and considered ''Emily'' to be the "linchpin" of the network's post- football Monday-night schedule. The promotion was so heavy and the cancellation so abrupt that some magazines found themselves carrying cover stories about a canceled show. After viewing it, ABC's entertainment president suggested that they considered the show lackluster and unlikely to improve. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' attributed the cancellation in part to the extremely unappealing nature of the main character and the portrayal by Graham. In 2006, all six episodes of the show aired on Spain's pay-TV channel Cosmopolitan under the title Cinco razones (para no salir contigo) ("Five Reasons (to not go out with you)"), on Sony Entertainment Television (Latin America), on

ORF1 ORF 1 (''ORF eins'') is an Austrian public television channel owned by ORF. It was the first television channel in Austria, started in 1955. ORF 1 is one of four public TV channels in Austria. It is funded by a mixture of advertising revenue an ...

in Austria, and on

POP TV Pop TV is a Slovenian generalist television channel operated by Pro Plus d.o.o., a subsidiary of Central European Media Enterprises (CME), which is in turn owned by Czech investment company PPF. News programs POP TV's current news programmin ...

in Slovenia. It also aired on the cable/satellite channel

FOX Life Fox Life is an international pay television network, launched by the Fox Networks Group in 2004. The network has been discontinued in several markets over time, except for the Middle East, Bulgaria, Portugal, the Balkans, India and Greece. The ...

, in Japan in 2007, titled in Japanese as .

Cast

* Emily Sanders (

) * Reilly Harvey (

Nadia Dajani Nadia Dajani (born December 26, 1965) is an American actress. She hosts the baseball comedy web series ''Caught Off Base with Nadia''. Early life and education Dajani was born in Los Angeles, California on December 26, 1965. She grew up the youn ...

) * Midas O'Shay (

James Patrick Stuart James Patrick Stuart is an American actor, currently portraying Valentin Cassadine on the daytime soap opera ''General Hospital'', for which he received three consecutive Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Dram ...

) * Josh (

Khary Payton Khary Payton (born May 16, 1972) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as King Ezekiel on the horror drama series '' The Walking Dead'' and Dr. Terrell Jackson on the soap opera ''General Hospital'', as well as voicing Cyborg across va ...

) * Glitter Cho (

Smith Cho Smith Cho is an American actress and realtor of Korean descent. She has appeared in movies, on television and in commercials. Career Acting Cho has appeared in such movies as ''Bad Boys II'', ''Norbit'', '' Fired Up'', and ''Blades of Glory'', a ...

)

Episodes

Home media

''Emily's Reasons Why Not – The Complete Series'' was released on DVD on May 1, 2012. All six episodes produced were included in the set.

References

External links

* * {{Metacritic television
Washington Post article
in which the programming chief at ABC discusses why the show was canceled and why it got as far as it did. 2006 American television series debuts 2006 American television series endings 2000s American single-camera sitcoms American Broadcasting Company original programming Television shows based on American novels Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television shows set in Los Angeles