CNN has dropped a show, reportedly an inside favorite, after just two seasons amid their restructuring, purge, and whatever you want to call it. The victim here is Stanley Tucci who has confirmed that his hit food and travel show, ‘Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy,’ has been canceled. In his recent appearance on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ the 62-year-old actor said that “unfortunately, CNN has canceled all of their original programming.” “So hopefully we’ll end up on another streamer, network – we don’t know,” said Tucci. “But yes, I have plans to do season 3 and more,” he added.
This is what CNN said in a statement: “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy is one of the most successful projects produced by CNN Original Series, garnering two consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series. We want to thank Stanley Tucci for his dream partnership on this series.” “We look forward to collaborating on the upcoming Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico, for which he serves as an executive producer. Searching for Mexico will air on CNN in 2023,” the network added, as reported by People.
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As for the show itself, it follows Tucci exploring his Italian roots. It puts the spotlight on the many little-known delights of Italy’s diverse culinary culture. The first season premiered in 2001 with six episodes and quickly earned the praise of critics and viewers alike, and just months later nabbing an Emmy for outstanding hosted nonfiction series. The show was then renewed with a season two over a year later, on May 1, 2022.
Tucci explained in February 2022, that the series found success that he didn’t see coming. “It became this thing that I don’t think any of us really anticipated,” said Tucci at the time. “I was really flattered that CNN came to me and said, ‘Hey, do you have any ideas?’ And this was an idea I had for a very long time. And then they said, ‘Yeah, okay, we’ll make that,'” Tucci explained.
“It’s a great production company in London, and we started making it, and we made it. But did we expect it to become a big hit? Honestly, no,” he concluded. Tucci also reflected during his appearance on ‘The Tonight Show’ on how his CNN series inspired people to travel and cook.
“It’s wonderful. When the show came out…” said Tucci. “So we had a captive audience, right? People were desperate to get out, and they sort of lived vicariously through us,” he explained. If you are interested in watching the show, ‘Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy’ is currently streaming on Discovery+.