Three Rivers: One Set Visit, Two Takes

Two recently published Three Rivers articles originate from this summer’s TCA press tour set visit. Although they cover the same topic, they are totally different in nature, so that makes for compelling reading!

The Northwestern writes that “New medical drama ‘Three Rivers’ has different look to it than ‘ER’”. The article lets Carol Barbee, the show’s creator and executive producer, introduce the show and the cast members are also presented:

“’ER’ was going off the air,” Barbee said. “So there was room on the landscape and CBS was looking for a medical show.”

NBC ended up with two of them – “Trauma” on Mondays, “Mercy” on Wednesdays; now CBS adds “Three Rivers” on Sundays.

Barbee and others visited the nation’s busiest hospital for heart transplants, in Cleveland. “I spent a lot of time (with) “Gonzo” Gonzales, who is the surgeon my character is based on,” O’Loughlin said.

But they also visited the busiest hospital for overall transplants, in Pittsburgh. The title emerged.

Pittsburgh has three rivers merging. Barbee sees each hour of the show as blending three worlds – the donor’s, the recipient’s and the hospital’s. “It’s about how … you never know what’s going to happen, and the lives that get brought together,” she said.

She cast O’Loughlin, a CBS favorite. After being a vampire detective in “Moonlight,” he now had to say medical words with confidence. “You study and read a lot and practice,” he said – promptly demonstrating with the phrase “hypotrophic myopathy.”

Read more at The Northwestern.

The second set visit write-up comes from The Inside Reel and has the rather cumbersome title of “Rivers & Spanish Fly: CBS Studio Day Set Visits: Three Rivers & NCIS: Los Angeles – TCA Summer Press Tour 09 – Feature”. The article  provides a stimulating look at the creative process of Three Rivers and the author makes a provocative comparison between Alex O’Loughlin’s new show and his previous show, “the underrated cult CBS  series Moonlight“:

Listening to the perspective of someone who had seen the performances in the form of Mike 3D, there seems to be a nice balance between Alex and the two girls in Justina [Machado] & Kate [Moennig], not unlike, in a certain way, the relationship between him and two other girls in a certain “Moonlight” series worked. Kathryn is the dark, serious girl who shows her vulnerabilty and strength that is undeniably alluring but also a little less attainable. Justina by comparison always tries to get Alex’s character to go out and enjoy a real life. You balance this with high octane scenes and there is possibilty. My question was how to make it cinematic without getting too gruesome.

Read the full article at The Inside Reel. With the premiere date of October 4th approaching rapidly, more articles are expected to appear.

Tags: three rivers, carol barbee, alex o’lachlan, alex o’loughlin, andy yablonski, cbs

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