Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy has been canceled by CNN after two seasons.
“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 Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday’s edition of NBC’s The Tonight Show. “But yes, I have plans to do season three and more.”
Arguably CNN’s most popular and critically-acclaimed series since Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, Searching for Italy has become a casualty to the network’s new policy of winding down its CNN Original Series and Films offerings. Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery is aiming to reduce its massive debt load, and many of these programs can be expensive to make, particularly for a news network.
The CNN Original Series and Films 2023 slate the network announced earlier this week was already in the pipeline before the decision to cut down original programming was made.
CNN is also no longer collaborating with third-party production companies on programming, and CNN produced Searching for Italy with Raw UK.
Earlier this year, the first half of Season 2 of was pushed back from March to May, due to CNN’s breaking news coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The four-episode second half of season two Sunday, October 9, and wrapped at the end of the month.
Searching for Italy was the CNN’s first travel food series since the shocking death of Anthony Bourdain in June 2018. Over two seasons, the award-winning actor took viewers on a culinary tour of the home of his forefathers—from the creamy carbonara of Rome, to the delicious pasta alla Norma in Sicily, the saffron-infused risotto in Milan, and the crispy tenderness of bistecca alla fiorentina, rich pesto alla Genovese in Liguria, the airy focaccia Barese in Puglia—and sharp pecorino shepherd’s cheese in Sardinia. Tucci also made a special visit to Calabria, the region where his grandparents were born, to learn what has changed since he last visited as a 12 year-old boy.
Searching For Italy debuted in February 2021 and went on to win the 2021 and 2022 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series. The series was s executive produced by Tucci, Shauna Minoprio, Robin O’Sullivan and Eve Kay for Raw UK—and Amy Entelis, Lyle Gamm, and Jon Adler for CNN Original Series.
Previous episodes of Searching for Italy, alongside other CNN Originals, are still currently available on a dedicated CNN Originals hub on Discovery+.
Variety was first to report, and TVNewser later confirmed, with CNN telling us 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 Program. We want to thank the Stanley Tucci for his dream partnership. 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.”