CNN cancels Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, one of its ‘most successful’ originals

CNN has scrapped one of its “most successful” original series, Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, as part of the network’s larger cutbacks.

The cancellation comes a few months after the release of the second season of the Oscar-nominated actor’s food show, where he travels across Italy in search of the country’s secrets and best regional cuisine.

On Wednesday night (14 December), during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Tucci informed the host that “unfortunately, CNN has cancelled all of their original programming”.

“So hopefully we’ll end up on another streamer, network, we don’t know,” The Lovely Bones star said. “But yes, I have plans to do season three and more.”

In October, CNN CEO Chris Licht said in a statement that they would be pulling back on original programming produced by outside production companies. A decision he said was “based, in large part, on the ever-increasing cost of commissioning third-party premium content”.

Despite the news, a source told The Hollywood Reporter that Tucci is still in the process of executive producing a spinoff series, Searching for Mexico, led by Desperate Housewives’ Eva Longoria, expected to debut on CNN in 2023.

In a recent statement, a CNN spokesperson wrote: “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 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.”