Three Rivers

For anyone liking to watch gymnastics on TV, check out this week’s Three Rivers. Can’t help but notice that her uniform is the same as that of Haley Graham in Stick It (in a different color of course). Of course there’s a big spill that, like with Payson, is not directly related to the actual gymnastics but maybe be at least partially related to the drugs the gymnasts was taking.

What this show is still lacking is heart. The back story for the characters is Miranda’s dad basically ran the hospital and the chief of staff was secretly in love with him. Other than that, we basically know who is nice and who isn’t and that is about all.

I would like to say that this (and Trauma) are shows that prey on people’s fears and stereotypes. Like this week both a gymnastics and a carnival accident. Another commonality between Trauma and this show is that I keep having a hard time telling them apart. I’ll be watching Trauma and thinking “so which one will be getting a transplant?” or watching Three Rivers and thinking “where are the helicopters?” Certainly not the point you want to be at after almost two months (or even after just the first week).

It’s weird to see Katherine Moenning in such a non sex-oriented role. She’s still likable even if not the ruined commitment-phobic character so many have come to know her as in the L Word.

I also hate the color thing they do when they go to commercials and it’s supposed to be dramatic. It’s just…over the top. And who is that blond girl that Andy keeps flirting with? Because so far she has the best back story of them all and I don’t remember seeing her until now. Maybe for like a second but I certainly didn’t realize she was actually a doctor.

I know how much I’m complaining about the show. And yet I keep on watching. Almost like I keep hoping that something more/better will happen. It looks like both shows will be canceled before we ever get a chance to see.

Three Rivers

Once again, a pilot. There’s something extremely exciting about trying out a new pilot that isn’t there even for shows I know I love. This is a hospital show, specifically, one about a transplant hospital which is somewhat unique. Grey’s had that triple transplant episode that Bailey engineered and I think ER had one or two, but as far as I know, there has yet to be a show revolving solely around them. Whether or not this will actually add (or detract) from the show is another question, but it does give it a hook. From the descriptions I’ve read, each episode is told from the perspective of the doctor, the patient, and the person donating the organ. This is another instance of “what does that mean practically?”

Well so far, we started with a construction accident. The guy who died is the one who will be donating a heart to the a pregnant woman who has a condition brought on by her pregnancy. So not so much on the donor end of things and more on the patient side. Until the daughter thinks maybe he can still be saved and that the doctors aren’t taking care of things in the hopes that she can donate organs. As far as the doctor side of things, we learn something about Miranda (her father built the hospital but was never home and she acted out to get his attention). She gives the kid a poor pep talk where she probably could have given a better one…But it still convinces him to talk which leads to solving his case. A case which doesn’t involve a transplant of any kind so it seems out of place but I suppose the hospital doesn’t solely treat transplants.

There is some insight into the ethical issues revolving around transplants–convincing families to donate organs, choosing between one patient and another (give the mother a new heart and have the baby premature or wait and hope for a new heart later), putting an organ into a damaged patient, etc. It could be interesting to learn more about that.

The cinematography is a little off. Odd moments for closeups, strange ways to transition into commercials…

Also, for those who like Shane McCutcheon from the L Word, she’s one of the doctors on the show, which seems kind of weird but there she is.

Well, this is another one of those shows where I am not sure how I feel about it. It isn’t as clever as shows like Grey’s Anatomy where the cases relate to the doctors’ lives (well one case did, the other didn’t). We didn’t learn very much about the characters. But this is the kind of thing that could just be a first episode “get us into the world thing” and will change.