Emeril (partially lost sitcom TV series; 2001)

A promotional photo of the cast.

Status: Partially Lost

Emeril is a 2001 sitcom that starred the famed chef Emeril Lagasse as himself and aired on NBC for seven episodes between September 25 to November 11, 2001.^[1]

The show revolved around the chef moving back to his fictional sitcom family. It was the final major starring role for Robert Ulrich, who died of cancer just a few months later. The show was scheduled to air its premiere on September 11, 2001, but was postponed for news coverage on 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center.

Only seven episodes were ever aired, though eleven were completed. The remaining four episodes (including the original pilot) have never aired and the latter two (i.e. "The Retreat" and "My Grandmother's Cornbread") have, to public knowledge, never popped up in any private collections whatsoever. What is especially strange is that even the seven aired episodes themselves are quite impossible to find (online or elsewhere). Being a series from the 2000s, it is unlikely that nobody recorded the series, but for some reason nobody seems to want to share it. Online reviewer, Rowdy C (creator of TV Trash) has this as one of his most requested shows to review. He has responded by saying he'd love to do a review of the show, if he could find any copies of it.

Nine of the eleven filmed episodes of the Emeril sitcom, including two that were never even aired, have emerged! Big, big thanks go out to collector Vinnie Rattolle who has been kind enough to upload his personal copies to YouTube for all to see; special mention to Shoutbox user shitasticularthesquel for originally bringing the uploads to our attention. While two additionally filmed, unaired episodes (ie. Episodes 10 and 11, "The Retreat" and "My Grandmother's Cornbread", respectively) have yet to see the light of day, this is an outstanding development nonetheless, considering that not a single episode was publicly available until now. Thanks again, Vinnie!