Bridge & Tunnel (partially found unreleased MTV reality show; 2010)
Bridge & Tunnel was a reality series produced by MTV, following sisters Brianna and Gabriella DeBartoli from Staten Island, New York. Set to release fall of 2010, it was cancelled shortly before release due to being too similar to then-currently airing series Jersey Shore.
Production
Bridge & Tunnel began planning in 2008 as a documentary-style reality show about the youth of New York, before narrowing its scope to Staten Island. A pilot was put together and sold to MTV in the fall. 12 episodes were commissioned and production began in January 2009, and the show had been fully filmed and edited by October of the same year. It was set to release on the 26th of October 2010, but after the surprise overnight success of a similar show titled Jersey Shore, there were doubts about whether MTV would go ahead with their plans to air the show. It was confirmed on the 22nd of September, just over a month before the planned release, that it had been shelved.
Availability
The day after the announcement of cancellation, Perez Hilton would leak the trailer to his website, but that leak and its mirrors of it have since been taken down. In August 2022, one of the two stars of the show Brianna DeBartoli would share the trailer in an Instagram story, which as of this article's writing (November 2023) is viewable as a story highlight on her page. The pilot episode is known to have been shown to journalists covering the show's cancellation within a few years after, but that episode and the rest of the series remains unreleased.
Note: Clips from the show can be found on Brianna DeBartoli's Instagram reels.
External Links
- https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17966456215556007 - Brianna's upload of the trailer
References
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTlTPq4fHhA (relevant section 58:27 - 1:02:37)
- https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17966456215556007/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20121109150532/http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-07-27/news/mtv-bridge-tunnel-original-jersey-shore/
- https://jezebel.com/bridge-tunnel-mtvs-jersey-shore-that-never-was-5825257
- https://www.businessinsider.com/bridge-and-tunnel-village-voice-mtv-jersey-shore-2011-7