CBS has pulled Three Rivers starring Alex O’Loughlin from the lineup effective December 6th. In it’s place they’ll be airing repeats of Criminal Minds and NCIS: Los Angeles.
All 13 episodes of Three Rivers will be filmed but CBS is being mum on whether they’ll be airing the remaining episodes or not.
This despite pulling in just under 8 million viewers. I think <8 mil viewers isn’t bad considering that CBS has been snapping the show around in different time slots as football shoves the start time back to later than normal on some nights and then swapping hours with another show so that Three Rivers airs later.
Viewers like consistency and we didn’t get that with the air times.
Then should I go on about the first 2 episodes being swapped around in some daft-minded move that has the cast meeting for the first time in the 2nd episode to air?
This whole debacle has been handled with kid-gloves and Three Rivers has not really been given a fighting chance.
CBS can’t even fess up to say they’ve pulled Three Rivers, but instead have this odd, beat-around-the-bush press release:
CBS PROGRAM ADVISORY FOR SUNDAYS, EFFECTIVE DEC. 6
The following replaces previously announced Sunday programming, effective Dec. 6.
Sunday, Dec. 6
- 9:00-10:00 PM COLD CASE (New Time Period)
- 10:00-11:00 PM* NCIS: LOS ANGELES (Rebroadcast)
Sunday, Dec. 13
- 10:00-11:00 PM* CRIMINAL MINDS (Rebroadcast)
Sunday, Dec. 27
- 8:00-10:00 PM JESSE STONE: THIN ICE (Rebroadcast)
- 10:00-11:00 PM* COLD CASE (Rebroadcast)
*Replaces the drama series THREE RIVERS, which is on hiatus.
As an after-thought, they make it a footnote. When I first saw this release this morning, I didn’t even catch on in the first few minutes what the real announcement was.
Yes… Cold Case did draw in almost 2 million more viewers than Three Rivers did when they were swapped and that’s not good for Rivers, but there it is.
A CBS spokesman has been quoted to saying they haven’t pulled the plug yet, but if the spokesman follows suit to the formatting of the press release, they’ll be adding the bad news sometime down the road.
I wonder if CBS is playing it coy / safe? The last time they pulled an Alex O’Loughlin drama, the show was just ahead of the Vampire curve and they could have had a foothold in that demographic. Instead, they cancel the show and lock up O’Loughlin in a creative contract so he can’t go anywhere else but CBS for a few years.
And those few years are ending pretty soon. I hope there’s interest in his being a free agent and Alex finds work that will truly demonstrate his abilities.
I mean I like Three Rivers but I don’t think he’s had a real chance to shine in the show. He’s so low-keyed and soft-spoken that it was a bit of a let-down for me to watch him in the show.
Grr. That’s all I have to say. Grr.
(You may replace “grr” with any of your favorite expletives, but please, self-edit when commenting. I’m trying to stay family friendly here! More or less.)
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I believe that extremely gifted and charismatic Alex O’Loughlin deserves a leading role on a successful and long running crime drama on CBS, if he is still under contract with this network. Three Rivers and its fantastic cast did not get a fair chance to prove themselves and tell the inspiring characters’ stories with a difficult and unwanted Sunday night’s time slow, always getting delayed due to football overtime.