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

[r1015bill]

Or those donuts from the first broadcast episode!

[Moonlightsonata]

For me even looking at Alex wasn't enough to warrant keeping last night's episode on my DVR. Sorry but almost all of cast seemed somewhat flat to me.

[francis]

I haven't even bothered to look up the latest episodes on the internet or tried to watch them somewhere, so that tells you how detached I already am. dsr, your analysis is spot on. If now someone could send that to Carol Barbee in case she wonders what went wrong - and maybe it would keep her from doing the same mistake on some other show she produces.

[allegrita]

Carol Barbee won't learn. I think she's a nice lady with her heart in the right place. She's probably even a decent writer. But a showrunner she's NOT.

I wanted to love the show, I really did. But a great cast and a potentially fascinating subject could not overcome the fundamental problem: she's not organized, she's not subtle, she's not a good leader, and she's lousy at math.

[wpgrace]

, Alle.

I think I wrote this before... but Barbee had another failed show this season too, right? On CW. That lasted about 2 eps and was yanked?
(Cos it didn't have Alex in it... as I believe that might have been 3R's fate, too, but Alex's peeps kept it on air and lobbied for the burn offs this summer.)

Did any of y'all ever watch Jericho? Cos that was her first show... I never saw that one, so dont' know if it was any good or not, or if her symptoms as described by Alle were apparent in that show too... I know that it had a cult following...

[redwinter101]

I think that was A Beautiful Life, Grace - some concept about models in LA, with Mischa Barton. I think even La Barbee realised that one was a stinker and did a pretty good job of distancing herself from it.

I did see a few episodes of Jericho (Lennie James ) because I thought the concept was interesting - it just didn't grab me.

Red

[wpgrace]

I think that was A Beautiful Life, Grace - some concept about models in LA, with Mischa Barton. I think even La Barbee realised that one was a stinker and did a pretty good job of distancing herself from it.

I did see a few episodes of Jericho (Lennie James ) because I thought the concept was interesting - it just didn't grab me.

Red

Is Mischa Barton the actress that has been in the tabloids cos she looks like she's bringing heroin-not-chic back and has been caught on tape babbling incoherently? Poor girl if that's her... Hollywood is really chewing up young actresses lately...

And I have no idea who Lennie James is... but did Jericho not grab you for some of the reasons that 3R failed to grab?? Or were its issues different?

[redwinter101]

Lennie is another of my little fan crushes (and he did have a brief guest appearance in TR - but you probably know him better from Human Target - he was Chance's former buddy, now foe).

Re Jericho, the characters didn't grab me, I'm afraid. The set-up had so much inherent tension that I couldn't believe they managed to make a show that was, to me, dull. So yeah, kinda the same.

Re Mischa and tabloids, 'fraid I have no idea.

Red

[wpgrace]

Hmmmm... that does sound like a(n unfortunate) pattern. She comes up with sorta cool concepts but then cannot make the magic happen...
Interesting here. She was the producer and show runner and sometime writer. The other writers didn't really do any better tho. So I guess that has to do with her direction and vision and perhaps with the way the shows were edited/over edited?? Cos weren't some of these people considered good writers for other series?

It will be interesting to see what happens with her career from here. She's had a couple of shots, herself, and I am truly not trying to be mean... I find it fascinating that she could take that set, those actors, and the concept and make it as stilted and cumbersome as she did... but she is kinda the show-killer here, IMO.


And let me say, I have ALWAYS claimed that I would watch Alex sit still and read the phone book. Ms. Barbee made me prove it. Which I did. And I still loved him and his character... so I win that bet, Carol Barbee.

Bring it on, CBS. Or bring Alex on... HOW many days now til September 20th???

[redwinter101]

And let me say, I have ALWAYS claimed that I would watch Alex sit still and read the phone book. Ms. Barbee made me prove it. Which I did. And I still loved him and his character... so I win that bet, Carol Barbee.

Bring it on, CBS. Or bring Alex on... HOW many days now til September 20th???

Grace, I am so there with you on the phone book reading.

84 days and counting...

Red

[wpgrace]

Cos then there's that Voice...

[cassysj]

Did any of y'all ever watch Jericho? Cos that was her first show... I never saw that one, so dont' know if it was any good or not, or if her symptoms as described by Alle were apparent in that show too... I know that it had a cult following...

I'm watching Jericho now on dvd. I was surprised when I saw Carol Barbee's name.

I'm only up to episode 8 but I'm enjoying it. That being said I'm enjoying the concept I'm not invested in any characters at all with the possible exception of Gerald McRaney's character Johnston. I agree with Red that I think it is a little dull in some parts especially when considering the premise of Nuclear War. One of the early episodes was very interesting in they were expecting a storm from Denver where there was a blast and everyone had to hunker down to avoid fallout.

The rain was the tension in the episode though not any of the characters. I'm waiting for more discs from Netflix so I'll have to see if it develops anymore.

[wpgrace]

I find this fascinating... she's got a pattern going apparently. Thanks, Carol.
I hope you DO enjoy the rest of the series...

[MoonMad]

FWIW, I loved Jericho's first season, which is the only one I watched. It was quickly taken off the air here in Oz, so I got the entire season out on DVD (probably a year later) and watched it from scratch and I loved it. It was totally character driven and heavily serialised. A slow building story from start to go. Totally the opposite to TR's, but with the same (unsurprising) conclusion - cancellation. In the case of Jericho, I think it was the serialisation that did it in, combined with the fact that it was so different to what a person would expect from a TV series about a global nuclear holocaust. There was no graphic depiction of what we have all been led to believe would occur after such a disaster, and I think the entire show was an anti-climax because of that. Everyone kept waiting for the horror to begin, but it only ever skimmed the surface of that when strangers came to town, or food was running short, or whatever.

Basically, it was a soap opera about a town in isolation, but it definitely had interesting and mysterious characters, especially Dawson who was totally ambiguous. You never knew if he was a goodie or a baddie. And Skeet's character was a little mysterious too, although you never doubted he was the hero of the story. And at least the characters were multi-dimensional. But they had the time to flesh them out on Jericho, because that was what the story was about. Unlike TR's which had the medical stories fleshed out at the expense of the characters. That was so wrong.

Of course, shows like Jericho struggle on network television because viewer numbers dwindle. It's just a sad fact that heavily serialised shows struggle for viewer attention week after week, especially on CBS. Hence the lack of them now on CBS. I don't think Jericho's failure could be laid at Barbee's door. I just think it's viewer attention span. They have too much to choose from.

[jmc]

Barbee was executive producer of the execrable Swingtown, too. I seem to remember hearing at that time that she was pals with La Tassler.