Three Rivers - news, links, discussion - part 10 *SPOILERS*

[francis]

I haven't seen the whole episode yet (the source would stop the vid in the middle), but have to say that this was absolutely perfect.
I am in awe for Mandy Patinkin. I knew a good friend with ALS, so it makes me a bit uncomfortable and teary eyed to see Victor. I moved to another town when my friend was in his last stages so I missed a lot, but he was about as sick as Victor was when I last saw him. Mandy got it exactly right. The pattern of speech, the way he held his hands, the wheezing, the stare, it was like watching my friend - except he was about 20 years younger, he was 31 when he died.
I'm gonna watch the rest as soon as I can. I'm totally opposed to ending a life, but with this kind of desease I just think the one who has to go through this should have a choice. It depends on the situation, and I can understand his daughter too.

[MoonShadow]

This episode knocked it out of the ball park. What a show,

[Josefismysire]

CBS to swap 'Three Rivers,' 'Cold Case'

Three rivers phone CBS is going to re-arrange Sunday night next week.

As a little experiment, the network is going to swap "Three Rivers" and "Cold Case" to see if either show is improved by the change.

The one-time scheduling switch comes as rumors circulate that CBS is contemplating an additional script order for "Three Rivers" (two) and possibly additional episodes (five). The network may be waiting for nationals to come in tomorrow for Sunday's episode (which hit a season high in the preliminary ratings) before making a decision.

As noted in that ratings post, "Rivers" tends to get blamed for the performance of "Case," which rose last year when it had a better lead-in from "Without a Trace." CBS probably figures they'll give "Case" the stronger "Amazing Race" lead in and push "Rivers" to where there's less competition at 10 p.m. and see what happens. Worth a shot.

http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/11/cbs-to-s ... case-.html

[allegrita]

I think this might be a good thing. I guess we'll find out next week, huh??

[darkstarrising]

thanks JIMS....I think this is actually good news in that CBS is willing to experiment a bit with time slots as a step to give 3R a better chance of survival rather than just let it die in place. Maybe I'm being optimistic or naive, but I think the network has a lot invested in the show and in Alex in particular, so that they're willing to allow the show's audience to develop.....

Did I understand the article to mean that additional episodes (either 2 or 5) could be ordered this week (if the numbers for last night are deemed good enough)? That would be a relief to all, cast, crew and fans alike who are stressed over the fate of the show.

[jmc]

Trying it out in a different timeslot does sound hopeful. Keeping my fingers-crossed.

[aolver]

Getting it away from Desperate Housewives can only be a good thing.

[cassysj]

Let's just hope they really promote the time change. I think it needs to get away from Amazing Race. I love that show but it's completely the wrong lead-in.

[wpgrace]

Well, I don't imagine changing the time will seriously hurt. I get the sense that most of us watching this show are ML or Alex fans. And God knows we've proved we'll pretty much hang in for anything. So maybe we'll get a few curious bystanders from ABC if we're on later? But I agree Carol, if they'd promote it alot, it would help the chances.

[HotMicks]

Wow! They certainly made an impression this week. I'm so glad more people (viewers) got to see it. Hopefully they come back next week!

Writing sure does make a difference, doesn't it? I was totally immersed in the story. Mandy P. was just amazing at the acting - as Francis confirmed. While I cried like a baby as they wheeled Victor down the hallway at the end, I think my favorite scene was when Kuol made him laugh because those are the little moments I was talking about that reveal character. And this is an episode that finally took advantage of the life-and-death stakes of medicine to make the viewers think (instead of spoon-feeding us the moral lesson). I thought the way they handled the ethical dilemma was just right. They let the characters disagree in way that compelled the viewer to think about his/her own views on the matter. It wasn't preachy at all. Like the daughter, for example. In previous episodes, this would be really black-and-white. She would be painted as one-dimensionally bad for calling her lawyer (anyone remember the lawyer in the previous episode... they didn't really try to make her sympathetic at all). So this week with the daughter, however, even though she went off the deep end there a bit in the middle when she called her lawyer, they let us see her pain at losing her dad and that helped to make her sympathetic. I think most of existence exists (yeah, redundant) in the "grey areas" and very few people in history are (nearly) all-good or all-bad, so this kind of character is more realistic to me ... people struggling to live by whatever moral code (good, bad or some of both) that they have adopted to guide their own lives. If the bad guy is so all-bad that there's little redeeming about him, I'm not interested at all... and vice versa, as many have mentioned here about Alex's character being so one-dimensionally good. It's not as interesting as someone trying to do what they think is right (good or bad) and having to wrestle with not living up to their own expectations, or (more likely) having someone else point it out to them.

I'm so happy they were able to show the potential of this show - especially at this critical juncture. I sure hope they hire this guy to write more episodes ... or put him on staff. He knows how to do drama without cliche. And how to pace it. And how to set up a plot twist without being so obvious about it.

Still just so happy this one was soooo good - must let it out - excuse me in advance:

[redwinter101]

Here's the extended version of the promo for next week's episode. Andy's troubled past. FINALLY:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQDZwXXt04Q

Red

[darkstarrising]

thanks red. from the one at the end of last week's episode, you only got a feeling for the patients and not of Andy's past...

hmmm.... wonder who 'Michael' is?

[wpgrace]

Oh yay! Finally!

[Phoenix]

Just caught up with ep 7, (and howled through most of it).

[wpgrace]

Just caught up with ep 7, (and howled through most of it).

Ah! That was you I was hearing... there there Phee...
Even Andy can't fix everything I guess...