Chad Griffith

Gabby and Bri

As this week's cover story explains in arduous detail, sisters Brianna and Gabriella DeBartoli were effectively the original JWoww and Snooki, two Staten Island siblings involved with the Jersey Shore precursor Bridge & Tunnel. For reasons unknown, MTV execs let Jersey Shore swallow Staten Island whole, shelving the prototype a month before the show was supposed to air, and without explanation, leaving the girls and eight other primary cast members in the lurch. Why they did this remains a mystery, especially since these girls are infinitely quotable.

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Chad Griffith

Bridge & Tunnel's star sisters: Brianna and Gabriella DeBartoli

In this week's Village Voice cover story, we introduce you to Gabriella and Brianna DeBartoli, the would-be Staten Island stars of Bridge & Tunnel, a 12-episode reality show that MTV spent millions shooting, but inexplicably shelved at the eleventh hour. After B&T survived three years in development, the only extant clip is the show's super-trailer, a deliberately sensational last-ditch attempt to distract executive attention away from the cuca-flashing phenomenon Jersey Shore. The video didn't rescue Bridge & Tunnel from broadcast oblivion, but it did present a far more entertaining version of young outer-borough living than, say, Lifetime's Brighton Beach version of Jersey Shore, Russian Dolls.

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Via Racked.

​Dear Universe,

Thank you for the kind news that Racked reported just now: that this morning on American Idol spokescreature Ryan Seacrest's radio show, Whitney Port of The City confirmed that the show is basically over. In case you didn't know it, The City was a bad fake reality show about New York City that encourages people who will only lower the lowest common denominator of New Yorkers to move here. Now if you could please end:

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