Season 2 • Episode 13
LatestCucina DeLucca silent partner Paulie doesn't stay quiet for very long after distant cousin Lorenzo arrives from Italy to help in the kitchen and ends up making drastic changes to the restaurant's menu and ambiance; a laid-up Jackie thinks she's witnessed a murder.
Lydia DeLucca is a New Jersey bartender who wants more out of her life than just marriage and kids. So she breaks off her engagement, and heads to college. This doesn’t make her ex-boyfriend Lou happy, who thinks she is wasting her time getting an education. Her family is none too supportive either. Her mother, Dolly, thinks marriage would be better since she thinks Lydia can’t take care of herself. Her dad, Frank, cares more about the New York Giants than Lydia’s psych term paper. But that’s life…
Acting
Ellen Burstyn and Paul Sorvino as the world's most exhausting parents
Writing
Diane Ruggiero's authentic Jersey dialogue, pre-'Veronica Mars' sharpness
Production
Unapologetically working-class aesthetic, no glamorization
Creator
Diane Ruggiero
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Creator Diane Ruggiero later wrote for 'Veronica Mars' and 'iZombie' — you can feel the same snappy, marginalized-women energy here.
The show was cancelled after two seasons, allegedly for being 'too ethnic' for network TV in 2001 — a case study in how working-class Italian-American stories got sidelined for wealthier, whiter fare.
US
