Tony Shalhoub Is Back: “Monk” Star Teases New TV Mystery and Long-Awaited Cast Reunion

Tony Shalhoub, the Emmy-winning star of “Monk” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” is swapping detective work and stand-up circuits for sourdough starters in his new CNN travel-food docuseries “Breaking Bread,” which premiered 5 October at 9 p.m. ET/PT. In the eight-episode season Shalhoub criss-crosses New York City, São Paulo, Marseille and beyond, using local bread traditions as a lens for stories about immigration, identity and community. Each hour-long episode pairs the Lebanese-American actor with regional bakers, historians and chefs. In the opener, filmed in Queens and Brooklyn, Shalhoub learns how Yemeni flatbreads and Armenian matnakash became staples in New York’s boroughs, then helps assemble a cross-cultural pop-up feast on the High Line. Later stops include a samba-scored night market in São Paulo where pão de queijo meets Lebanese manoushe, and a Marseille boulangerie that melds North African spices with Provençal wheat. Shalhoub told Forbes that he was drawn to bread because “it’s the one food every culture claims, yet it’s also the way cultures feed each other.” He added that the series aims to highlight how “migration, not isolation, makes flavors flourish.” Beyond culinary wanderlust, “Breaking Bread” arrives at a moment when viewers crave feel-good programming with substance. CNN’s format mixes lush food cinematography with social-history vignettes and Shalhoub’s signature warmth. Early reviews praise his conversational hosting style, noting how he steps back to let bakers—many of them women and recent immigrants—tell their own stories of resilience and entrepreneurship. SEO keywords: Tony Shalhoub, Breaking Bread, CNN food travel series, bread documentary, global bread culture, premiere October 2025. Upcoming episodes tease a visit to a centuries-old Egyptian communal oven in Cairo, a sourdough science lesson in San Francisco and a finale set in Shalhoub’s native Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he re-creates his mother’s khubz for a neighborhood block party. New episodes air Sundays on CNN and stream the next day on Max, giving fans multiple platforms to follow Shalhoub’s carb-filled journey. For longtime followers who discovered the actor through “Monk” or “Maisel,” “Breaking Bread” reveals a personal side: Shalhoub speaks Arabic on camera for the first time and reflects on his family’s emigration from Lebanon in the 1950s. That intimacy, combined with the universal appeal of a warm loaf pulled from the oven, positions the show as fall TV’s most comforting—and conversation-starting—new arrival.