On TV: Three Rivers

This summer at the the Television Critics Association event for Three Rivers, the cast and creator Carol Barbee were aflutter with excitement for their new CBS medical drama. They had recently upgraded to an expensive hi-tech hospital set on the Paramount lot, attracted Alfre Woodfred as a supporting character and re-shot their admittedly terrible pilot. Barbee repeatedly thanked CBS for backing them while redeveloping the series, a process that including cutting characters altogether and redesigning the format of each episode. Critics were given an exclusive tour of the set by the lead actors and producers, as if to say, "See how much better this looks?" Unfortunately for CBS, while the pilot that will air this Sunday does look better, it still sounds just like the original.

Three Rivers focuses exclusively on the organ transplant branch of the fictional Pittsburgh Three Rivers Regional Hospital, which is reputed to be the best in the country. Like Criminal Intent, each episode begins with the incidents that lead to the next hour's investigation, or in this series, the next hour's surgery. In the series opener, we watch a construction worker fall several stories from a beam and a perspiring young spelling bee contestant lose his bloodied lunch mid-competition. Two accidents, seemingly random, that may or may not tie up by the end of the hour.

The handsome lead doctor at Three Rivers is Dr. Andy Yablonski, played by Alex O'Loughlin. He is the kind of fictional transplant surgeon that can stop his day to listen to the story of an uninsured walk-in (and this is the kind of show that will capture this entire interaction in jumpy close-ups) who spent his life in refugee camp and now needs a heart transplant. And then will take the case and tell administration to "just deal with" those pesky insurance issues. Yablonski's cautiously unhinged female counterpart is Dr. Miranda Foster, played by Katherine Moennig who resembles Kristen Stewart in her hunched body language and deep, monotone delivery.

The hi-tech set, walls full of interactive plasma screens and elaborate mood lighting make you feel as though you're watching the med division aboard the Starship Enterprise rather than an actual facility for medical care. This science fiction feeling isn't lightened by the characters, who don't seem to have much personal background, chemistry or sense of humor (unless delivering dialogue with a mouthful of donut is funny). Sure there is some action inside the operating rooms, but everything moves awfully slowly around Three Rivers, and even slower for the viewers.