Stanley Tucci's Beloved Italian Food Show Was Just Canceled By CNN
Stanley Tucci's adventures in Italy are officially finito. At least for now.
During his Dec. 14 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the beloved actor revealed that his Emmy Award-winning food and travel docuseries, Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, has been put on the chopping block.
"Unfortunately, CNN has canceled all of their original programming. So hopefully we'll end up on another streamer, network—we don't know," Tucci told Fallon. "But yes, I have plans to do season 3 and more."
Fallon joked, "So Searching for Italy is searching for a new network," to which Tucci responded, "It's not as appetizing."
The 14-episode docuseries followed Tucci as he traveled across Italy to uncover the country's regional cuisines. According to Vulture, the program's goal was to showcase all 20 of Italy's regions, with Tucci making his mark on 13 by the end of the second season.
The show's first season premiered in February 2021 and scored an Emmy for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series. The second season, which was released in May 2022, earned the same accolade.
In a statement, CNN called Searching for Italy "one of the most successful projects produced by CNN Original Series," adding, "We want to thank Stanley Tucci for his dream partnership on this series."
Reflecting on how his show has inspired people to travel and cook, Tucci told Fallon, "When the show came out, it was during the pandemic, during lockdown, so we had a captive audience, right? And people were desperate to get out, and they sort of lived vicariously through us."
News of the show's cancellation came shortly after CNN divulged that it will be scaling back on original television series and films from outside partners as a cost-cutting measure.
While Tucci's Searching for Italy been scrapped from CNN, the famous foodie isn't taking any time off from food-focused programming. In its statement, CNN also noted that Tucci will be serving as an executive producer on the upcoming Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico, which will premiere on the network in 2023.
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