[…] ScriptPhD wrote a thorough review of Three Rivers, based on the premiere episode, Place of Life. They conclude the article on a very positive note: Despite these minor quibbles, the ScriptPhD is delighted to see a television show entertain, educate, and strive to embed consciousness towards, and give a compassionate face to, organ donation. It is highly likely that this television show will save thousands of lives simply by telling these stories and motivating viewers to become donors and talk about it with their extended families and friends, and that is a priceless dividend for art transcending life. […]

John– thank you SO much for the feedback. I was moved to tears by the Angel Foundation website. So glad we can give a voice to such a worthy organization.

Rrsafety– thank you! I agree wholeheartedly.

Laurie– I appreciate the follow and have followed you back :-). I contacted the CBS publicity people for the show to let them know that we are here to help promote this show and its powerful message.

Jennifer– THANK YOU for telling me about the broken links. They are fixed and ready to go!

Thanks for the detailed review of the show! I enjoyed reading your review. I don’t think the super-high tech (and rather showy) equipment detracts from the show, it just makes it feel like the show takes place several years into the future.

FYI – the links to the inspiring stories and video mentioned in the last paragraph are no longer working. I’d love to see what you’re linking to.

Jovana, kudos on an innovative idea and great analysis of Three Rivers. I watched it with interest and agree, they got a lot of it right. Of course, there were a few stretches, but after all, it’s TV and has to be wrapped up in an hour! I was a little put off with Ryan having no medical background, and thought that was pretty farfetched. Of course, he did come up with the motorcycle police to save the day. Keep up the good work, I just followed you on Twitter so I can read your updates!
@Lauriereece

Good job, ScriptPhD… I think you hit the nail on the head with most of your comments. What is best about 3rvrs is attention to the donor’s story as well as the recipient’s story. If the writer’s can weave those stories together and create engaging recurring characters, I think they might have a good chance of making a decent show.

Thanks so much for this review. My board members and I approached the upcoming premier with cautious optimismm and I was very happy about how the pilot went. I agree that it is important to show not only the miracles that happen just as they need to (my friend Terrel was told he had less than a week to get a heart and got one in 4 days) but the long waits and frustrations that also go into being on the waiting list. Both of these are important parts of understanding organ donation.
I was thrilled to see that you listed My Angel Foundation as a resource. Ted Cochran, the founder of MAF, is a good man and a terrific leader for us all to follow in pursuit of our goals to end the need for a waiting list. I appreciate that people are starting to realize that. Thank you.

Hi Tenaya! Thanks for this wonderful comment — makes my whole day. Working with and getting feedback from people such as yourself, working at the interface of Hollywood and science/medicine, is why we do what we do 🙂 So fascinating to get a little purview into how you analyze the show’s scripts. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Please don’t hesitate to stay in touch and let me know if ScriptPhD.com can be of help or a voice in any way for this incredibly important cause.

I will also throw a permanent link to Donate Life on our sidebar blogroll. Cheers!

Thank you for this review. I am the person with Donate Life who has the opportunity to read the scripts. I look for one thing in particular, would a scene harm the public’s perception of organ/tissue donation to the extent that it could stop them from signing up to be a donor. Many of the episodes involve patients who receive organs quickly, which can/does occur especially for hearts and livers. But all too often the wait is long and hard. Kuol will be waiting for quite some time and hopefully show the audience the difficulty of the wait.

Thanks so much for your lovely reply! I was also impressed with how seriously the show is taking the message and also hope that it translates into lives saved and donors reached.

Really thoughtful analysis on your part and can’t tell you how much it means to me to have it come from an actual transplant patient!

Nice article. As a transplant patient, I too am intrigued by Three Rivers and its potential. I agree that the most annoying aspect is the availability of an organ just at the moment someone’s life hangs in the balance (e.g., the teenage cancer patient in last night’s episode who got a new set of lungs at the eleventh hour, even in spite of a police investigation). But still Three Rivers handles this better than, say, House– in which organ procurement happens pretty much on call, including when the doctor is wrong about the necessity of it.

I hope that Three Rivers will go on to do more about the before and after lives of transplant patients. It got close last night, when a five-year dialysis patient wept in disbelief at the prospect of finally getting back his life. I was right there with him! Now the after-transplant life? The lung recipient wanting to meet her donor’s mother immediately seemed like melodrama to me. More realistic imho was an episode of Without a Trace last year in which a heart recipient experienced a lot of distress grappling with the ten-year average life of a transplanted organ.

But this notwithstanding, any form of pop culture that touches viewers in a way that allows them to see the reality of transplantation– and the good it does– is on the right track. The show, on CBS prime time, is likely to reach an older demo, perhaps missing many potential donors, but let’s hope the message gets to all the right people anyway.

And Pittsburgh — awesome choice of setting!