To little surprise, CBS has pulled Three Rivers from the Sunday night schedule, effective immediately. Will the show be back? Has it been cancelled?
Three Rivers follows a group of dedicated doctors and medical staffers who help those in need of organ transplants. The series stars Alex O’Loughlin, Katherine Moennig, Daniel Henney, Justina Machado, Christopher Hanke, Amber Clayton, and Alfre Woodard.
The medical drama got off to a slow start in the ratings back in early October. Unfortunately, the numbers only got worse as the weeks wore on and it became a likely candidate for early cancellation.
To CBS’ credit, the network has been patient with the series and has kept it on the air. Two weeks ago, the network tried switching timeslots with Cold Case. While the veteran crime drama benefited from the time change and attracted more viewers, Three Rivers did not.
Three Rivers has now been pulled from the Sunday night schedule. As expected, Cold Case will slip into the earlier timeslot and repeats of various crime dramas will take over at 10pm.
A CBS spokesperson has said that Three Rivers’ fate has not yet been decided but the network has not ordered any additional installments beyond the initial 13 episodes.
Eight episodes of the drama have been aired, leaving five on the shelf. CBS will likely burn them off either on Saturdays or during the summer months but, unless the execs have a major change of heart, Three Rivers is essentially cancelled.
What do you think? What went wrong with Three Rivers? Is Sunday night football to blame for the show’s failure to attract more viewers or was the show flawed?
Image courtesy CBS.
adding to another comment. Not sure how the Friday night shows are but this could have been something to put on Friday nights with the lacking ratings that the show Numbers has had. Or to switch it and as I said before put it as the lead in for Criminal Minds on Wednesday.
Three Rivers again has been a victim of the night and time slot that it was thrown into. Not to mention it was debuted after all of the other CBS shows had already debuted as well.
the thing that gets me is that this show was doomed from the beginning. CBS cannot have a show successful on Sunday nights because of having to show later at this point of the year with all of the overruns of the football games. That has been the case for a few years now. Had it been put on say Friday night then i believe the show would have been picked up the entire season already. Or even throw it on Wednesday night in place of Gary Unmarried and New Adventures. Hopefully they at least show the last five episodes… Read more »
I agree with KellyD. Putting it opposite football is just unfair…BAD timing. And yes, we need to know more about the characters as people, to like and care about them even more. Alex is the star, so we should be getting to know him the most. I hope you can find another spot for the show sooner than next summer, since that’s a really long time to wait.
I agree, the show started airing duing football season. Maybe if it was put at another time slot it would do better. I also think the show was jsut getting started. I would love to know what happens to Quam. Summer is too long to know what happens!
I wish you would reconsider the cancellation of Three Rivers…..I think it was one of the best shows on TV. It had a great message about organ donation. People need to become familiar with organ donation so they are not afraid to do it. This show made that happen, it is a mistake to cancel it!!
I also say move it to another day. My DVR didn’t pick it up the day they s witched time slots with cold Case. Had more people realized the switch, maybe more vierwers would have tuned in. Sports seem to mess up my Sunday and has delayed as much as an hour before. Before canceling something on sunday at all, try in on another night first.
This is a very good show. It is a little difficult to find, though. It comes on on Sunday sometime around or after 9 p.m. I have my dvr set to record it and I only get it maybe 1 out of 3 or 4 times. Maybe it is football’s fault and if so, change Three Rivers time. It needs to be regular and not so spotty. Such a terrific show deserves a chance to shine.
DO NOT CANCEL ! its my favorite show right now and i would be heart broken. I just think that not a lot of people know about it and with football always running late and it being a sunday people need to go to bed for work the next day. I say just move it to another day and the ratings would probably go up.
I am shocked that this amazing show has been cancelled. It is definitely my favorite TV show at the moment.
The show is beautifully written and the actors are superb.
Why is this cancelled?
What ashame.
Three Rivers is a fantastic show and CBS blew it by pitting it against football, the World Series, the AMAs. They even aired the wrong episode as the premiere! It seemed like they tried to set it up to fail. I just don’t get it – first Moonlight now this. Alex O’Loughlin is a true star and deserves to be treated like one.
When are studio execs going to realize that a transplant drama will never EVER succeed. The subject matter is too gross and macabre for the average viewer. This is the 3rd almost identical show to be canceled. I wonder how many more they will make till they get it.
Why do they keep doing this to quality shows? Three Rivers meant a lot to more people than they know. Try Saturday nights. It is a bad night for TV in general and would give people something to look forward to. How could they do this after such great shows?
CBS, you need to rethink this. Or maybe another network will pick it up, pleeeease.
The problem is simple: terrible writing from Carol Barbee, sappy stories and utter lack of character development. As one reviewer pointed out, you can’t bond to characters you don’t know anything about. Alex is an amazingly talented actor but Barbee didn’t give him anything to work with. I wanted to love this show the way I did Moonlight but it was impossible. I hope Alex dumps CBS and moves on to something worthy of him.
You hit the nail right on the head! Who do you think should be FIRED for cancelling the VAMPIRE show? You know, the one with the interesting characters, unending story potential, and the character “Mick St. John” – brooding, dark, sexy, complex. Much better than Dr. Andy Bland.
As much as I love Alex O, and tried to like this show, it is just sucks.
What a waste of an amazing talent.
I wonder how much in ad and sponsor revenues were lost by dropping Moonlight right before the Twilight Vampire Craze………
I really get tired of all the good shows getting cancelled. I mean every time you find a show that you like all the stars and show they pull it. I just don’t get it. I also think one of the problems is that it’s on Sunday nights after football. It is always is going over which makes it later coming on. Put it on a night where it will start on time. Should do the same for Cold Case
The cast was excellent and the premis was good. Alex can rock a lead role but I think the problem was that they got so invested in telling the stories of the transplant recipients and donors that they never told the stories of the main characters. What did we know about the main characters? Alex’s character had some shady past and some estranged wife but no juicy details about either. The main lady in charge was in love with a previous transplant doctor that is now deceased and his daughter works there and is all jacked up about her relationship… Read more »
Please DO NOT cancell Three Rivers. Yes, I know you already have, but please do not cancel permanently. Maybe it needs more creative advertising. It’s my favorite new show and I know others that feel the same. Even with it’s short span it will be missed by more people than you know.