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

[darkstarrising]

I see big differences between this and the rest of the series....it's more realistic, more focussed on the people, less into the techno toys...in short, I like it, but I'll hold off til it's done.

Be back in a bit.

[librarian_7]

I liked this A LOT better than the do-over. I think a series done like this, might have at least finished out a full season.

Ah well...

Lucky

[cassysj]

I really liked this episode much more. Why didn't they use this as the pilot?

I was so caught up in the lung storyline.....

[nutmegger911]

I absolutely loved this pilot. That scene with the mother got me all teary.

[r1015bill]

I'm in agreement that this was a far superior episode of TR than what they ended up using. I found the bride/basketball player story much more compelling. I thought the husband and mother were wonderful actors! Miranda was totally intense. Andy seemed to be a real person instead of a hero on a pedestal. (Did anyone else think they might have been setting up "something" between Andy and Miranda which I think would have been far more interesting and volatile ?)

But we didn't get a lot about David or Ryan which is okay because we could learn more about them in future episodes. What does this tell us? That by adding Alfre Woodard, Amber Clayton and nearly regular Kuol, THERE WERE TOO MANY CHARACTERS.

I did miss the Sponge Bob comment- it was probably made to that woman that Alfre Woodard replaced so couldn't be used. Andy could have been a bit more smarta$$ to show off Alex's talents.

I was totally happy that they didn't have all those stupid colored titles!!

Who on earth watered down the original idea into the nothingness we saw last fall?

[jmc]

Why in holy he!! didn't they use 'tight scrubs' as the first episode? When I saw the first ep they did use, I could not understand what Alex saw in the role or why CBS would put it on their prime time schedule. Tonight's episode was actually good and Andy was a real person not a two-dimensional wimp. He was decisive as a surgeon must be. You can be caring and decisive at the same time. The way he always backed down and didn't stand for anything always drove me crazy. Too bad they didn't have faith in their original vision and tweaked this show into oblivion before they even ran the first episode. And I loved that it looked like a real hospital for a change not a media center.

[wpgrace]

Other than that, Mrs. Lincolns, how did you like the play??

I agree that the storytelling was superior in this version... tho I will also point out that this isn't precisely the original pilot. They have tweaked it so that it actually kinda fits in to the story where we left off in November. Some lines are changed and redubbed by the actors and you can see where they've used special effects to cut characters out of the picture or place characters into the picture, that differed from the way the pilot was originally shot.

They didn't include the Spongebob line because we've already seen that interchange... this is no longer Ryan's first day. You may notice that when they meet Dr. Yorn in the SC operating room, Miranda already knows him and David mentions to Ryan, "West Virginia"... they are referring to her altercation with him there in an earlier ep. And in the original pilot, there were 2 other characters played by actors who got cut from the show, one of whom was replaced by Alfre. So there were just as many actors in this version, but we didn't see them tonite, as they cut and pasted this story to fit in with the flow of the show so far.

In fact, I find that fascinating. Instead of taking the cheapest, easiest way out, and just showing the pilot, they DID edit it so that it flows with the first 8 eps they aired last fall. They actually ARE trying to make the remainder of 3R work for the audience. I'm surprise, grateful, and impressed. I think CBS really is serious about not screwing with Alex this time 'round.

[Lilly]

Wow, grace. I had no idea. Obviously. I'm going to have to re-watch when there are no distractions (husband and son yakking ) in the room.

[r1015bill]

I'm confused. If it's meant to fit in at this point in time, why is it episode #100 instead of #109 - or even #108.5. Being episode 100 implies that it comes first.

[nutmegger911]

I wondered what caused the weirdness in one spot. Thanks Grace.

[wpgrace]

Alex clearly shot some new scenes too... you can tell his hair differs from scene to scene. And on a couple occasions, they have superimposed him into the scene. The scene of the doctors' meeting with the cool computer screen... in the original version of this pilot, it was a different room and we saw Andy from the left. But in the real show, they reoriented this room and so they reshot the scene here... so we're seeing Andy from the right.
(We've all seen the original version of that scene... it was in the old promos).

Where they can, they have changed the cool green colors of the original hospital to the warmer tones of the big set they built to shoot the show.

And notice there are no administrators in this ep now. Cos they fired Julia Ormond and that other guy Almeida or some such thing... so they cut the two of them out of this version of the episode. And since Alfre wasn't in the show yet, she isn't on this ep anywhere. So they had an admin-free week at 3R.

And of course they shortened the ending balcony scene, because much of that dialogue was already shown earlier in the fall in the Ryan's First Day ep.

I am now off to watch it again... if I see any other attempts to weave this old pilot into the fabric of the show as it ran, I'll come back.

And rbill... the other eps were already shot and numbered. We'll see 109 thru 112 in the next couple weeks. But when they decided to burn off those 4 eps, for some lovely reason, they also decided to add this one, the original pilot, into the mix. So where do they put it?? They edited it in all these ways so that it sorta fits in here... they will pick up all the stories they left hanging, Andy's stuff and Kuol's, next week with the real ep 9. But this one, the original pilot, which would be ep 100, they reconfigured to fit it into the middle of the run, since they didn't use it at the beginning.

[darkstarrising]

Alex clearly shot some new scenes too... you can tell his hair differs from scene to scene. And on a couple occasions, they have superimposed him into the scene. The scene of the doctors' meeting with the cool computer screen... in the original version of this pilot, it was a different room and we saw Andy from the left. But in the real show, they reoriented this room and so they reshot the scene here... so we're seeing Andy from the right.
(We've all seen the original version of that scene... it was in the old promos).

Where they can, they have changed the cool green colors of the original hospital to the warmer tones of the big set they built to shoot the show.

And notice there are no administrators in this ep now. Cos they fired Julia Ormond and that other guy Almeida or some such thing... so they cut the two of them out of this version of the episode. And since Alfre wasn't in the show yet, she isn't on this ep anywhere. So they had an admin-free week at 3R.

And of course they shortened the ending balcony scene, because much of that dialogue was already shown earlier in the fall in the Ryan's First Day ep.

I am now off to watch it again... if I see any other attempts to weave this old pilot into the fabric of the show as it ran, I'll come back.

And rbill... the other eps were already shot and numbered. We'll see 109 thru 112 in the next couple weeks. But when they decided to burn off those 4 eps, for some lovely reason, they also decided to add this one, the original pilot, into the mix. So where do they put it?? They edited it in all these ways so that it sorta fits in here... they will pick up all the stories they left hanging, Andy's stuff and Kuol's, next week with the real ep 9. But this one, the original pilot, which would be ep 100, they reconfigured to fit it into the middle of the run, since they didn't use it at the beginning.

God, grace, you're brilliant!! and bless you, sweetie I thought I had lost my mind for a bit....I sat through the entire episode, yet didn't see the introduction of Ryan (we hired spongebob?). I thought maybe I blinked or something. Nor did I see the bit about "Andy doesn't fly out anymore" - maybe I blinked again.

But then, when they went to harvest the young woman's organs, there was the exchange between Miranda and the other doctor about West Virginia, and I recognized him as the doctor she clocked in one of the previous episodes. But if this was the pilot, how could that be?

After seeing this episode, I think the network got cold feet - the tone of this episode is understated in contrast to the first one we saw. Yes, there was still a bit of rushing about, but not the frenetic pace we saw in the series. They cut down on the time in the OR, again, which was appreciated as it gave more time to the story. I think the network feared it wasn't splashy or fast paced enough to keep the audience's attention.

I beg to differ.

I felt the mother's pain as she struggled with the death of her daughter, then her decision re:organ donation. Was she resistant to the organ harvest because she found it repugnant or was she doing so to spite the son-in-law she never liked? Maybe a little of both. The reconciliation between mother and SIL was touching as well.

The story of the basketball player was made even more poignant because of his backstory and the fact that playing basketball was all he thought he could do. Even here, we get a glimpse of Andy we didn't see until much later - that there had been a point in his life where he was at a cross-roads and got a second chance.....far more satisfying than Kuol touting Andy's academic achievements during the first episode Kuol was in.

Was there supposed to be something between Andy and Miranda? I don't know, but I do know that Miranda came across stronger here and we get a brief glimpse of her story as well - quoting what her father believed in. Having Andy check out here tats and looking guilty when he got caught makes me think there was something that might have developed.

I found it confusing that the showed the credits for the series including Alfre Woodard. Was there a reason they couldn't show the scenes with Julia Ormond or was the selective editing done simply to try and weave this episode into the current timeline?

I'm going to watch it again tomorrow, with grace's observations, I'll see if I find anything else.

[jmc]

In fact, I find that fascinating. Instead of taking the cheapest, easiest way out, and just showing the pilot, they DID edit it so that it flows with the first 8 eps they aired last fall. They actually ARE trying to make the remainder of 3R work for the audience. I'm surprise, grateful, and impressed. I think CBS really is serious about not screwing with Alex this time 'round.

Surprised, grateful & impressed - me, too!

[HotMicks]

I liked this one much better too. WTF is up with them always ruining things by committee? This was much more dramatic and not quite as syrupy. And all the acting seemed more natural. Even Spongebob toned it down a bit! I have to say, though, it's kind of weird to always be watching shows that aren't coming back . I like the "mini-series" idea above. Let's go with that. It's comforting. And apparently we are guaranteed H50 commercials for the duration - something else to look forward to! I wonder if they'll do an extended (ie, new!) preview of H50 at the end of the TR run (last episode)??

Oh, and btw, definitely should have gone with the tight scrubs. Definitely.

[librarian_7]

You know, regarding the infamous "tight scrubs" --I recall being pretty appalled at them in advance stills and so on, but honestly, they weren't nearly as tight as all that. No more so than a lot of Mick's henleys.

At the time, I thought it was a good call to ditch them, but really, this was not a superhero costume, it would have been fine if he had worn those sometimes, and his other type outfit at others.

Lucky