THE town of Southampton has helped kill a “real world”-type Internet series about a summer share in the Hamptons.The producers of HamptonsTV.com’s “27 East” shut down the cyberseries after the Southampton beach house, located north of the village of Quogue, was investigated for possible violations of town codes.
“Suspending the show indefinitely seemed like the decent, intelligent thing to do,” said Jonathan Braun, CEO of Medium4, the company behind the site.
“The last thing we want to do is create a problem with the village,” he says.
The series followed the weekend lives of 30 Manhattan yuppies, including investment bankers and lawyers, who head to the Hamptons house every other weekend.
While many summer sharers escape to Long Island to chill out, producer Jonathan Paley, 26, who works in the advertising business, wanted to capture party culture.
Two episodes had been uploaded for video streaming, but were taken down this week.
In the first, the renters unload mattresses from a Ryder truck in preparation for the big summer.
In the second, “Memorable Memorial Day,” the gang, getting ready to go out to a nightclub, are dancing and drinking.
When Quogue Mayor Thelma Georgeson received an
e-mail about “27 East,” she cruised onto the ‘Net and checked out the party-pad site.
She hated the site’s depiction of her town.
“People prize their quiet and privacy,” she told The Post. “People don’t like people like that coming here to disturb their peace.”
Georgeson said there was girl strutting around in a bathing suit, saying over and over, “I want to have sex.”
“It was stupid,” she says. She was disturbed enough to ask the Quogue Village Police to investigate the whereabouts of the party house.
When police discovered the offenders were actually in Southampton, she passed the information to that town’s officials.
Aside from possible overcrowding violations, the tenants could face charges for breaking parking, litter and noise laws, Steve Franco, Southampton chief code enforcement officer, told the Southampton Press.
While Braun understands the town’s grief – he’s been coming to the Hamptons for more than 20 years – he thought there was a slight overreaction to the Web-isodes, saying they’re what one might see on MTV or HBO’s “Sex and the City.”
“It’s typical New York singles going out to the Hamptons, joking around and having fun,” he says. “It’s much ado about nothing.”
Braun, whose site, StreamingUSA.com, video streams content from other places, such as South Beach, Hawaii and Los Angeles, decided to can the show, so as not to jeopardize future Hamptons projects.
“The last thing you want to do is make people upset with what’s supposed to be a fun, feel-good kind of channel,” he says.