| Three Rivers | |
|---|---|
intertitle |
|
| Genre | Medical drama |
| Developed by | Carol Barbee |
| Written by | Carol Barbee |
| Starring | Alex O'Loughlin Katherine Moennig Daniel Henney Justina Machado Christopher Hanke Amber Clayton Alfre Woodard |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Carol Barbee David Amann Ted Gold |
| Production company(s) | CBS Paramount Network TV |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original run | October 4, 2009 – July 3, 2010 |
Three Rivers is a medical drama, which premiered on CBS on October 4, 2009 and aired Sundays at 9 pm Eastern Time/Pacific Time. The series was set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at a fictional hospital specializing in transplants, with Alex O'Loughlin starring as a famous transplant surgeon.[1][2][3] On November 30, 2009, it was announced that CBS had pulled Three Rivers from the schedule, with no plans to return it.[4] On January 9, 2010, CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler confirmed that the series had been officially cancelled.[5] On May 22, 2010, CBS announced that Three Rivers would return on June 5 to burn off the remaining episodes.[6]
Contents |
Three Rivers goes inside the emotionally complex lives of organ donors, the recipients and the surgeons at the preeminent transplant hospital in the country, where every moment counts. However, dealing with donor families in their darkest hour and managing the fears and concerns of apprehensive recipients takes much more than just a sharp scalpel. Leading the elite team is Dr. Andy Yablonski, the highly-skilled workaholic lead organ transplant surgeon, whose good-natured personality and sarcastic wit makes him popular with his patients and colleagues. His co-workers include Dr. Miranda Foster, a surgical fellow with a rebellious streak and fiery temper who strives to live up to her deceased father's excellent surgical reputation; Dr. David Lee, a womanizing surgical resident who has broken as many hearts as he has replaced; Ryan Abbott, the inexperienced new transplant coordinator who arranges the intricately choreographed process of quickly and carefully transporting organs from donor to patient; Dr. Sophia Jordon, the dedicated head of surgery who has no patience for anyone who has not sacrificed as much as she has for the job; and Pam Acosta, Andy's no-nonsense operating assistant and best friend. In this high stakes arena, in which every case is a race against the clock, these tenacious surgeons and medical professionals are the last hope for their patients.
With the long running NBC drama ER coming to an end, CBS executives put out a call for a new medical show to fill the void. Carol Barbee was introduced via Curtis Hanson to a pitch by Steve Boman, a former transplant coordinator and Chicago newspaper reporter, for a drama about a transplant hospital.[7] Barbee decided to undertake the project telling it from three points of view of the donor, recipient, and doctor. The location for the show's setting in Pittsburgh was decided based on a determination that the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) was the world's leading transplant center with the coincidence that the dominant topographical feature of the city, the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers, would provide an allegory to the show's three points of view.[8] Barbee did her research for the show at The Cleveland Clinic with Dr. Gonzalo Gonzalez-Stawinski, who also tutored the show's lead star Alex O'Loughlin. Dr. Robert Kormos, co-director of heart transplantation at UPMC, also provided input. Transplant pioneer Thomas Starzl, who visited the set, is the inspiration for the fictional transplant pioneer who is revealed to be the father of character Dr. Miranda Foster.[8]
The pilot for the Pittsburgh-set medical drama was filmed in Western Pennsylvania in March and April 2009, using the closed Brownsville Tri-County Hospital and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center for hospital interior scenes.[9] Post-pilot recasting resulted in actors Julia Ormond and Joaquim de Almeida departing and Alfre Woodard and Amber Clayton joining the series.[10][11] Ultimately, the pilot was dropped and a new episode was shot for the television premiere. A high-tech, more visually appealing hospital set for the ER and ICU was built on soundstages 19 and 20 at Paramount Pictures where interior scenes have thereafter been produced, although location shooting still occurred in Pittsburgh for exterior shots.[8]
Below is the list of the main characters throughout the series: