Subway reality TV show runs off the rails

A plan to film a reality TV show based on the day-to-day lives of train conductors, the MTA’s station agents and other subway employees has been postponed due to the MTA’s budget crunch, Michael Grynbaum reported in The Times today. The series was to focus on MTA employees as they “handle track fires, angry customers and the grind of running the country’s biggest mass transit system,” but with money tight, the authority has ceased work on a 15-minute pilot. “The plan is to follow these guys wherever they go,” producer Ross Breitenbach said. “The M.T.A. has been interested in letting us tell real stories, not a sanitized commercial.”

I’m not sure why outside production money can’t be used to cover the costs of this pilot, but I could see why the authority wouldn’t feel comfortable devoting hours to a TV show amidst a financial crisis. Still, the MTA had hoped to use this show to, in the words of Grynbaum, “showcase the human side of an often-demonized system.” Adding an element of personality to the vast anonymity of the subway system could go a long way toward making New Yorkers more sympathetic to the plights of the MTA and the cause of transit. Hopefully, when times are better, the MTA and A&E Networks can revisit this interesting project.