Three Rivers - news, links, discussion - part 11 *SPOILERS*

[wpgrace]

Well, honey, since they are advertising "series finale" I hope they actually made some effort to provide the finale part... meaning that they wrapped up the story arcs in SOME fashion. Not counting on it, given what the writing crew and show runner here have delivered so far. But hoping Kuol gets his heart, Andy has some path for his life, and that we aren't left with any annoying unresolved issues with the other doctors.

Not holding my breath on any of that... but hoping.

[redwinter101]

I realize that this will get several pieces of virtual rotten fruit and vegetables thrown in my direction, but I will admit that while I watched TR for Alex, I never understood how or why they could get so many things so wrong and miss so many opportunities.

jen, we have 11 threads about Three Rivers saying pretty much the same thing. No-one's thrown anything yet.

I enjoyed the episode - the pacing was good and ITA the donor storyline wasn't missed at all. They gave us enough time to be interested in the patients and care about what happened to them. Loved the Luc/Andy stuff and the interaction among the doctors.

I'm off to hunt for next week's promo...

Red

[redwinter101]

And here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msrj0BU-mT4

Red

[wpgrace]

We need to hold a wake...

[librarian_7]

I have to admit, I particularly liked that snarky line at the end...Dr. Andy is not always just sweetness and light.

Lucky

[allegrita]

Siiiigh. I think we should have a TR-watching party next week... and yeah, I liked that line too, Lucky.

[redwinter101]

Not that it matters a jot now, but last night's numbers were better:

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/06/27/tv ... ight/55430



Red

[aolver]

I loved the final scene between Luc and Andy, and the "long enough to meet me" line. I liked this episode. I even liked the story with Dr. Lee speaking Korean. And Luc would have been a great character in past episodes.

[r1015bill]

I was going to climb up on my soap box and say "Too many characters" again.

But I find that I'm fully detached from TR now. It is just a BAD show, period. It deserved to be cancelled for a whole host of reasons which we have already discussed. The most important is, of course, "too many characters".

The only thing I want to know now is whether Kuol survives. Then I am entirely ready to never see Dr. Andy again.

[wpgrace]

You really MUST stop holding back, rbill... tell us what you really think.

I think you are mostly right... there were a lot of characters. A show could make do with so many regulars, tho, IF they focussed upon those regulars each week... tho likely taking turns regarding which were the featured movers and shakers in that week's story. The problem with 3R is that it DID have so many characters (some of whom might have been really interesting, had we gotten to know them... ), but also had so many guest stars, so many complications in their medical stories, and so many side stories beyond the main one... all in each and every episode. And they insisted on giving us some back story to the guest stars... like we cared. And the med stories were not told in order to develop the characters... the med stories were told in order to tell a medical story. So they were not usually very interesting unless you're into that kind of thing, in which case some of the poetic license they took probably drove you crazy.

But you're right, honey. If they were gonna do all that, then they needed fewer doctors and nurses and organ transplant coordinators.

I WILL miss Andy tho. He was one of those characters who, had they ever bothered to really develop him and reveal his back story, might have been quite entertaining to watch. And not just because he was pretty.

[Lilly]

But most especially, this:

I WILL miss Andy tho. He was one of those characters who, had they ever bothered to really develop him and reveal his back story, might have been quite entertaining to watch. And not just because he was pretty.

[darkstarrising]

While noble in its intent, 3R was done in by basic math.

The show's approach was to present stories about organ donation from the three points of view; that of the doctors, the donors and the recipients. So, right off the rip, we have three 'subplots' in any given episode. So far, ok.

We have five doctors (Andy, Miranda, David, Sophia and to a lesser extent Lisa), one nurse (Pam) and one really annoying whatever he was (Ryan). So with three subplots, and seven recurring characters, it would be a stretch to throw all of the medical staff on one donor / recipient story per week. (they'd be tripping over each other, literally).

Solution? Have two or three donor / recipient stories per episode, thereby spreading out the medical staff, making it seem more realistic.

Problem? With three stories, each with three POVs, leads to nine separate 'segments' in any given episode. Each episode lasts approximately 40 minutes. On average, that's roughly 4.5 minutes for any given segment in an episode and that's just not enough time for in depth character development.

Hindsight is great, and that's all I can speak from. Having seen the show, it would have been better to reduce the subplots to no more than two for any given episode, periodically having only one subplot. The donor's stories are important, don't get me wrong, but in-depth coverage of the donor didn't need to occur in every episode. Last night's episode worked well without it.

*dsr now gets off her soapbox and thinks about getting some sleep*

[r1015bill]

grace - I guess when I detach, I DETACH!

He was one of those characters who, had they ever bothered to really develop him and reveal his back story, might have been quite entertaining to watch. And not just because he was pretty.

I do agree with you, Grace. Andy could have been very entertaining, interesting, or heartwarming. But for whatever reason, he fell flat. We never got what made him tick so I find it hard to care that we won't see him again.

But you are right, Andy is pretty. I love the little clip of Andy dancing and hopefully we'll get a little clip of the eye roll from some of our video experts. I also love still shots.

While noble in its intent, 3R was done in by basic math.

dsr - Excellent analysis! Let me adjust your soapbox for you!

[wpgrace]

Oh God... you two are awesome!!!
Done in by the math! Moonlight Math was fishy, but intriguing and alluring somehow, and it still worked....

3R Math was just... ew... math... (more Alex eye-roll smiley... Y'all know I'm now obsessed by that, right? )

[Lucy]

While noble in its intent, 3R was done in by basic math.

The show's approach was to present stories about organ donation from the three points of view; that of the doctors, the donors and the recipients. So, right off the rip, we have three 'subplots' in any given episode. So far, ok.

We have five doctors (Andy, Miranda, David, Sophia and to a lesser extent Lisa), one nurse (Pam) and one really annoying whatever he was (Ryan). So with three subplots, and seven recurring characters, it would be a stretch to throw all of the medical staff on one donor / recipient story per week. (they'd be tripping over each other, literally).

Solution? Have two or three donor / recipient stories per episode, thereby spreading out the medical staff, making it seem more realistic.

Problem? With three stories, each with three POVs, leads to nine separate 'segments' in any given episode. Each episode lasts approximately 40 minutes. On average, that's roughly 4.5 minutes for any given segment in an episode and that's just not enough time for in depth character development.

Hindsight is great, and that's all I can speak from. Having seen the show, it would have been better to reduce the subplots to no more than two for any given episode, periodically having only one subplot. The donor's stories are important, don't get me wrong, but in-depth coverage of the donor didn't need to occur in every episode. Last night's episode worked well without it.

*dsr now gets off her soapbox and thinks about getting some sleep*

BINGO, give the good woman an all expense paid trip the Pittsburgh, they have great chocolate covered pretzels.