Critic Reviews

Three Rivers seems to trust the drama of its subject matter, the appeal of its characters and the talent of its cast enough to go gently into this Sunday night.

The cases are inventive, and the acting is low key. Entertainmentwise, the series is nothing special.

With run-of-the-mill storylines and likeable doctors, Three Rivers is neither adrenaline-pumping, like NBC's Trauma, nor genre-busting, like House. Instead, the show appears to be a friendly study in hard work and good manners.

This is a template as well-worn as "Marcus Welby, M.D.," albeit with greater visual style and an accelerated pace--as well as an underlying "pay it forward" message about organ donation.

These medical shows aren't brain surgery, but most of them are dead on arrival anyway. Three Rivers shows up at least with a healthy pulse.

As assembly-line products go, Three Rivers isn't half bad.

Three Rivers tries to work around the failings of its script through quick cuts and colored gels, but they're a vain attempt to build excitement where none exists.

It's not great, it's not awful. It's an adequate, conventional CBS-y medical drama about transplant surgeons set at Pittsburgh's fictional Three Rivers Regional Medical Center.

It's not a gratuitous failure and makes enough sense to see to the end.

At this point, everything about it feels generic.