Edward Burns's "Bridge and Tunnel" is a real time traveler that will seem both familiar and alien to anyone who lived through the cusp of the 1970s and 1980s. For those born much later, it serves as a period piece that recreates those days faithfully and lovingly.
The new Epix channel series will begin on Jan. 24. Written by Mr. Burns, the story will be familiar to those who saw his early films. It features young adults trying to make their way in the big city but are pulled back to Long Island, their families, and their childhoods.
His first feature, "The Brothers McMullen," was a low-budget indie that crossed over into commercial success in 1995, three years after he'd graduated from college. The handsome young star of that film, he now plays a working-class father, rocking a classic dad bod complete with beer pooch, and wearing a chain around his neck that holds a bottle opener for his favorite all-day beverage.
The contemporary details are so exactingly recreated that it was surprising to realize that Mr. Burns's own college graduation was 12 years after the setting of the series. Then again, the story he tells is universal. Six friends on the edge of fulfilling their dreams cannot quite shake the grip of their hometown or each other.
It's the spring of 1980, and Jimmy Farrell (Sam Vartholomeos) has just graduated from the University of Hartford. He's back home for a few weeks before he leaves for Alaska to work as an assistant to a famous wildlife photographer. He and Jill (Caitlin Stasey), the girl not quite next door, broke up six months earlier after being a couple since seventh grade.
She has already graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology and is working for a famous designer in the city. She has an apartment there too, but it is never shown. The focus of the series is only on the time they spend on Long Island.
Called "Bridge and Tunnel" to her face by the snooty women in her office who grew up in Connecticut, Jill's experience gives the show its title. They also make fun of her accent, which leads to some hilarity when she complains to Jimmy about it. Her mother thinks she should improve her diction, but Jill and Jimmy don't see or hear the problem. Mr. Burns, who also never quite ditched his Valley Stream-by-way-of-Queens accent, probably doesn't either.
Jill and Jimmy revive their romance after his college graduation party, much to the consternation of all. The crux of the romantic dramedy is whether their reunion will threaten either of their fledgling careers.
Other friends, such as Stacey (Isabella Farrell) and Mikey (JanLuis Castellanos), are also rekindling their high school flames. He has just graduated with an accounting degree. She dropped out of college and now has an older boyfriend with whom she shares an apartment in the city. It takes only a few hours after Mikey's return for the two to fall back into old habits, her boyfriend none the wiser.
The other two friends from the block, Tammy (Gigi Zumbado) and Pags (Brian Muller), are somewhat tangential to the main romances. Pags has let Tammy know he could see them dating or at least hooking up, but she only has eyes for Mikey.
She's off to Columbia University's business school (wasn't everyone during that era?) in the fall, but for now is back working at the town diner to save up money. Pags is waiting to hear from Brooklyn Law, where he has been waitlisted. His intention is to become an entertainment lawyer.
Mr. Burns, who is now 52 and has children in their teens, has a house in East Hampton, but came from the working-class background he portrays here. The parents of these friends, who are not on screen much, still feel fully drawn, all with hints of their own backstories. On a house-painting job with his son, we learn that Jimmy's eye for photography was inherited from his dad. Apparently not having had a chance to pursue his own interest in the field, Mr. Burns's Artie (hmm, subtle) is determined that his son not give up on his dreams, only the ones that don't include settling down with Jill.
In other recent projects, Mr. Burns has dipped into the years surrounding this period, including the 10-episode "Public Morals," a series that ran on TNT in 2015, and "Summertime," a film set in 1983 that was to be released this summer before Covid hit.
The corded wall phones along with radically "new" cordless ones with super-long antennae, large television cabinets, and harvest-gold appliances all speak to what happens when a new decade hasn't quite rid itself of the hangover from the old one. There is talk of the Clash's "London Calling," released that year in America, and the omnipresent soundtrack includes Blondie's "One Way or Another," which was released in 1978 but stylistically belongs in the later decade. Yet the Steve Miller Band's "Jungle Love," which opens the series, and songs by Toto, Eddie Money, and many others seem more firmly anchored in the last years of the 1970s.
For those old enough to be sentient then -- Mr. Burns was 12 -- the series is a quantum leap back into the sights, fashions, rhythms, and even smells of the time. It's fun to watch the interaction among these lifelong friends who all live on the same block with houses so close together they could have conversations over the fence or from window to window.
Anyone too young to remember the era will wonder if the strange throwback technology and old gas-guzzling boat-like sedans are from another planet. At the same time, the high-waisted jeans, halters, one-shoulder necklines, and other trends have made recent comebacks.
At the end of the first four episodes, Mr. Burns has developed a classic story about growing up even when one already feels grown-up, and the choices that come to define us. Always drawn to a good love story, he gives us characters to care about with some true romantic tension between them.
