Source: TV Guide Magazine
Date: September 7-13, 2009

Now he can break your heart and give you a new one. After making millions swoon as Moonlight’s sexy vampire Mick St. John, Alex O’Loughlin checks back into TV as a transplant surgeon on Three Rivers. But will his fans bite?

O’Loughlin thinks so. “There are a million important stories to be told in this show,” he says. “It’s about something topical that not a lot of us know much about - organ-transplantion surgery.” And if that doesn’t grab you, here’s another reason to watch: O’Loughlin wears really tight scrubs.

Set in Pittsburgh, a city of three rivers, each episode’s story flows from three different points of view: donor, recipient, and medical crew. Althought the pilot was filmed in the Iron City, subsequent cast changes forced a reshoot in Los Angeles.

Julia Ormond (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), who played strong-willed chief of surgery Sophia Jordan in the original pilot, was replaced by Alfre Woodard (Desperate Housewives). “Julia was wonderful and we had a good experienced with her,” says Creator Carol Barbee, “but the character didn’t test well. I didn’t help that by how it was written. Sometimes the hardass doctor doesn’t test well. There was work that needed to be done on the character.” Woodard says Dr. Jordan is now “tough but likable – they don’t fear me. We’re like a team.”

Although O’Loughlin calls his role as Dr. Andy Yablonski “life-changing,” at first he had his doubts: “When I read the script I thought, ‘I don’t think I can do this. I don’t know enough. It’s going to require so much work and knowledge. Then he spoke to Dr. Gonzalo (“Gonzo”) Gonzalez-Stawinski of the Cleveland Clinic, a leading transplant surgeon and his character’s inspiration. “This guy is a saint/rock star,” says O’Loughlin. “He saves, like, three lives a day. He cares so deeply on an unconditional level for the well-being of other humans. This guy challenges me to do more of that.”

To prepare, O’Loughlin spent several hours in surgery by the doctor’s side. Costar Justina Machado (Six Feet Under) says he “dragged” her to Cleveland for a “Gonzo” procedure. “We were there for 12 hours,” says Machado, who plays Yablonski’s feisty nurse and confidant, Pam Acosta. “His eyes were red. I was like, ‘Alex, I gotta go.’ ”

While Yablonski is head of the team, each character in the ensemble “is going to step forward,” says Barbee. First among the supporting cast is Katherine Moennig (The L Word), who plays  Dr. Miranda Foster, a stubborn surgical  fellow with a complicated past. “She’s got so much chops and energy,” says O’Loughlin of Moennig. “The camera rolls and you better be ready.”

Daniel Henney – plucked from a popular romantic comedy in Korea – provides levity and sex appeal as Dr. David Lee, and Amber Clayton plays ER doctor Lisa Reed, whom Barbee calls a “force of nature.” A native Australian like O’Loughlin, the comely actress will also be a possible love interest for Yablonski. How does O’Loughlin feel about that? “I’ll show up!”