A reality show about the New York subway and its workers has, like so many N trains, been delayed.
The series, commissioned by the A&E network, would follow an ensemble cast of train conductors, station agents and other subway workers as they handle track fires, angry customers and the grind of running the country’s biggest mass transit system.
But as with many of the authority’s major projects, the show is now facing a delay. Citing hard financial times, transit officials said they were halting work on the show, even though shooting had started last month for a 15-minute sample episode — the first step toward a pilot and potentially a full season.
The MTA thought such a show would help with public relations, as viewers would see the people behind the system and presumably be more tolerant of the MTA’s ills.
The concept for the show came from Ross Breitenbach, a veteran producer of reality television who supervised “The Simple Life 2” with Paris Hilton and “Sober House,” a VH1 series about celebrities in rehab.
Inspired by his children’s Thomas the Tank Engine toys, Mr. Breitenbach approached the transportation authority last year about an animated children’s show focused on the subway. But the conversation quickly shifted to something more vérité.
“The plan is to follow these guys wherever they go,” Mr. Breitenbach said. “The M.T.A. has been interested in letting us tell real stories, not a sanitized commercial.”
The idea of a documentary series also appealed to the authority’s marketing department, which had struggled to showcase the human side of an often-demonized system. Tight budgets have prevented in-house television projects in the past.
A&E set about casting for the untitled program by interviewing transit workers in Grand Central earlier this year.
A&E has tapped transit for reality programs in the past. Parking Wars looks at ticket agents in Philly, and Airline filmed Southwest Airlines employees.