‘Three Rivers’ returns to film in Pittsburgh – August 2009

Community Voices of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

17 August 2009

Written by Rob Owen

Now that the “Three Rivers” pilot that was shot in Pittsburgh in March and April is not airing as the first episode of the series, star Alex O’Loughlin and a small crew returned to town for a quick shoot Sunday morning at Bigbee Field in Mt. Washington.

The episode begins with a camera panning up from some flowers on the side of Bigbee Street to reveal a rugby team on a field below that overlooks Downtown Pittsburgh. After shooting the scene from a camera positioned on Bigbee Street, the crew moved equipment down to the field for close-ups.

During the transition time, O’Loughlin fans approached the star to get him to sign “Three Rivers” posters and photos they brought with them

Amy Villalba of Baltimore and Faye DiGiovanni of Philadelphia met on a “Moonlight” fan site — “Moonlight” was O’Loughlin’s previous CBS series where he played vampire Mick St. John — and became friends.

The pair figured out where the filming would take place and came prepared. Villalba credits her interest in O’Loughlin in saving her life. She scheduled a mammogram for a day she knew he’d appear on a morning news show, April 21, 2008.

“I would not have gone [for that exam] until fall,” Villalba said. After she watched O’Loughlin on TV, she had her exam and the cancer was caught early and is now gone.

Villalba and Digiovanni asked O’Loughlin why his “Three Rivers” character, Dr. Andy Yablonski, is playing rugby.

“It’s a little homage to my home country,” said the Australian native. “A little shout-out.”

O’Loughlin was less eager to greet four reporters who came out to interview him, putting us off for five hours and through several breaks in filming when he could have given interviews. He ended up giving a five-minute group interview following a one-on-one with CBS owned and operated KDKA-TV. (The script of KDKA’s report  ripped off a cutline in the Post-Gazette, right down to the language about the location of the fictional hospital in “Three Rivers.” No surprise, I suppose, since TV stations “borrow” from newspapers all the time.)

Diane Delmer, a 30-year resident of Bigbee Street, also watched production on the scene from the “Three Rivers” episode titled “Tick-Tock.” “We have the view and it’s not crazy like Grandview Avenue, except on [July] 4th,” Delmer said. “People find us then.”

She was a “Moonlight” fan, too. “We were so disappointed when they took that off the air. I’m here for Mick,” she said, referring to O’Loughlin by his “Moonlight” character’s name.

The production team spent from 8:30-to-11:30 a.m. Sunday filming the rugby scene, which opens the Oct. 4 series premiere. In the scene, Normal 0 O’Loughlin’s Dr. Andy Yablonski runs down the field in a scene that ends with a resentful rugby player shoving Yablonski and declaring, “You may work across the river now, but I know where you came from. Remember that!” The character Yablonski grew up in Mt. Washington and works as a transplant surgeon at the fictional Three Rivers Regional Medical Center, which in the show’s universe is situated on the North Shore roughly between Heinz Field and PNC Park

“I wanted to start with a large vista of the city so everyone knows immediately where we are located,” said director/co-producer Rob Bailey. “It’s a chance to meet Andy in his home neighborhood where he came from and hangs out in bars and spends a lot of his time back home.”

In addition to the rugby scene, “Three Rivers” also shot some additional scenes to insert in future episodes that depict Yablonski jogging through Mt. Washington streets and running up to the fence on Bigbee Field, as shown in this video:

 

My Thoughts

• I don’t recall this scene on the video, of Alex running, ever making it into the show. It would have been nice to see more of Dr Andy’s leg and his cute running shorts butt …… 😛 (and a pity the woman on the video blocked the view most of the time 😦 )

 

 

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Is it bad of me to have naughty thoughts about this angelic #AlexOLoughlin face?

And with this, happy Andy dreaming 🙂

#AlexOLoughlin Is a LifeSaver

Already in this short time I have received so many beautiful letters of support and gratitude from so many of you who have lost loved ones, and also shared the gift of life with others as a result of those tragedies.

— Alex O’Loughlin MySpace Blog, 30 November 2009

There is a term of endearment among the fan girls for Alex: He is a FLR (F/ckin Life Ruiner). Of course, this means that his good qualities have spoiled them for such a lot of stuff (mostly for other men) in real life.

Urban dictionary: Life Ruiner (noun):
someone who is unbelievably perfect; ruins your image on how most people are; makes you believe that most people are unworthy because there is someone like him/her around

For me, he has always been a lifesaver more than a life ruiner, because I actually don’t think he is “that” perfect. 😉

I want to move on to a subject close to my heart. One of saving lives. Some years ago my philosophy was, why offer my organs to somebody that did not take care of theirs in the first place? I have since then come a long way in revising my opinion and realising that many people are not to blame for their organs failing and even if they were, I believe in second chances.

There are lots of fans that say the subject matter of Three Rivers was depressing and boring because of all the dying. For me it never was!

The fact of the matter is, that a lot of people die an untimely death. Not a lot of them die in a manner, that can keep their bodies working until their organs can be harvested. Even if you are a registered donor, only a small percentage of us actually can be a donor in the end. I would however like to know, that if I am dying in a manner viable for donation, that the option is there that somebody could use my organs for that second chance in life.

As Dr. Andy Yablonski, Alex portrays a brilliant doctor who once got a second chance to turn his own life around. He uses his talents to help people who need medical care, and to also have that second chance in life. I find it totally exhilarating and life-giving.

“I often catch myself saying things like.

“We’re actors! We’re not curing cancer or feeding the hungry”.”

— Alex O’Loughlin MySpace Blog, November 30, 2009

In my opinion, they couldn’t have asked for somebody better to play this role. For although they (CBS), totally screwed up the series in many ways, Alex with his success in other projects will always be promoting this cause. Along the way, the dedicated fans, that Alex attracts, will spread the word and the ripple effect of what he and this series started, will know no end……..

However short, the series did succeed to show so many different scenarios surrounding organ donation. The doubt with relatives about whether the loved one is really dead, all the different factors that need to be in place to do a successful transplant, the black market trading in organs and its pitfalls, the subject of live donors and so many more.

I just want to mention one episode that will always haunt me – Episode 7. In my opinion, one of the most thought-provoking episodes I have ever seen in any medical drama. And I also want to applaud Mandy Patinkin for his fantastic portrayal of “The Luckiest Man”.

(And just as a side note I hope when the final showdown between Steve and WoFat ever occur, they will cast Mandy, just to come and say – “You killed my father, prepare to die” 😉  )

The decisions around the deathbed of a loved one are never easy. Make it easy for them and register or at the least let them know how you feel about giving someone else a second chance.  And do yourself a favor, re-watch Three Rivers through the eyes of what it means on second chances and not of people dying.

It truly is “A Place of life” much rather than death for me! And Alex is breathtakingly beautiful throughout…..so that alone is worth watching.

(Allow me another side note on my total and utter surprise at Amber Clayton’s wonderful portrayal of Dr. Lisa Reed. She truly made her an authentic character to me)

To Alex, I just want to say, thank you for taking on this project that scared you at first.

Please don’t ever see or refer to Three Rivers as a failure in your career…..

This role, the guy I’m playing, is so important, that a part of me was like, you can’t do that, you can’t play that role, it’s too important, you’ll never know enough to be able to play that role. But they accepted me and it’s been such a privilege.

— Alex O’Loughlin E! Online, May 20, 2009

This is dedicated to all of Alex’s fans, around the world, that are involved with Organ Donation and promoting it. Alex might have given the cause the heart, but all your efforts will always give it arms and legs, to carry it forward!

Link to the Facebook page for Fans for Donate Life

You can also watch what Alex say about it here

Vote for the best of the best – Find Your Favorite #AlexOLoughlin Screen Kiss!

It´s time to cast your vote on our latest poll.

Here is some of  Alex’s on-screen kisses to choose from (sadly no real life material available).

Please vote for the moment of passion, your fantasy world loves best (well we know it´s hard to choose just one, when you probably took part in every single one of them).

1) Will and Mary Bryant:

Mary Bryant

By the time they shared this kiss, they had been locked up with lots of other inmates, in a ship´s hull for months. He had seen her giving birth and they had just married. No wonder there is such passion behind it!

2) Steve McGarrett and Catherine Rollins:

Hawaii Five-0

These two really look hungry……for each other that is.

3) Mick St John and Beth Turner

Moonlight

Just get a room and get it over with…pleeeeeeeeeeeeease!

4) Mick and  Coraline St John

Moonlight

The passion that blinded, consumed and haunted him……and drove her mad!

5) Jack and Pearl:

Oyster Farmer

At last we found the perfect spot……. 😀

6) Dr Andy Yablonski and Dr Lisa Reed:

Three Rivers

In your arms I will find comfort…..you are kissing all the pain away!

7) Stan and Zoe:

The Back-Up Plan

I know I will be your best kiss ever…..I just know it!

Alex O’Loughlin and the Ghosts of girlfriends past.

I think I owe you dinner

Steve McGarrett, Hawaii Five-0 – Episode 5 (Nalowale)

Spoiler Alert. Please be aware that if you haven’t seen all of Alex’s wonderful work , there might be some spoilers here or it might even get you curious enough to see them all.

It has been a while now since we heard that Catherine, played by Michelle Borth, is going to be a more permanent member of the cast of H5-0. Up until now we have only seen her in five episodes of the series.
She is, for the most part, a well-loved character that pops in and out of Steve’s life as it is needed in the story. We don’t know how the writers are going to incorporate her on a more permanent basis in the story, but most of us hope for the best.
Any love/lust interests in television shows are kind of doomed. They either don’t last long or they are very volatile. I suspect it is not going to be too different with these two love birds when she is around so much.

But let’s have a look at other love interests that Alex has encountered in the roles he has portrayed.

His biggest “lover” role, thus far, has been Stan in the romantic comedy The Back-Up Plan. Here he is a very noble character, that gets involved with a woman on the day she got artificially inseminated. They kind of like each other and just after they made love for the first time, she reveals her pregnancy to him. He decides to stick around and they continue to build their relationship, during those sometimes “difficult” months of pregnancy. Most people who have known each other for years already, struggle to adjust, so for two people just starting to build a relationship it can turn out to be a “comedy”.

Who cannot help but to fall in love with the wonderful Dr Andy Yablonski in Three Rivers? The man is basically a saint that is being rejected by his police-officer wife and they are separated. She doesn’t want to have his babies?!

Dr Liza Reed falls in the same category as Andy, somebody with a calling as a doctor and that can be classified as a saint. They are a match made in heaven.
Who knows what would have happened with their relationship if the series had continued.

In Moonlight Alex plays a vampire, Mick St John, turned to a life of doom he didn’t want, by the love of his life. His wife Coraline kind of betrays him by giving him “eternal” life without his consent, after they got married and he had proclaimed that he will love her forever. After 33 years of marriage he eventually “kills” her.

Then enters Beth, the woman he saved as a girl. As a grownup she fascinates him and he can’t help falling in love with her. A love that he does not want to pursue for many reasons. Not only the fact that she is human and he is a vampire but also that he has been watching over her since she has been four years old. When they actually meet for the “first” time she is very much involved with another man and Mick is a man of honour with old school values. Another big guess is as to how this relationship would have developed ………

I need a big excuse to somehow incorporate the kissing scene from the movie The Holiday. We can only guess as to what these two lovebirds (known as The Kissing Couple) story was……but it is still cute to watch and I am sure their happiness lasted for ever and ever……

The Invisible did not show us too much of the relationship between car thief and school girl. We can only imagine that things got hot between these two. They both carried the weight of their past and their present lifestyles with them……not good quality relationship material at all. No wonder they killed each other in the end.

FEED, this movie would most probably tip the scale to the side of bizarre relationships. First there is Michael’s wife Mrs Carter, who turns a blind eye to the life her husband lives. She is a religious woman who made herself believe that her husband was serving these women with good deeds (Feeding them while naked and without his wedding ring – service indeed!)

Then we have the feeder-gainer loves in Michael’s life. On some level they fill a warped need in his life. I have already  called them replacements for his mother, but they definitely also play a part in his weird love/lust life.

And then he went and married a pistol in Mary Bryant – the words of Will Bryant as spoken by Alex. This is the interesting tale of Will and Mary Bryant, that meet each other on the ship that transported convicts from Britton to Australia in the 1700’s. I was never really sure, if Will was just one of the many men that Mary used, to get what she needed in life. In the end it seems as if their love for each other was real and they gave each other comfort and hope in a time of great distress.

In Oyster Farmer we have Jack and Pearl. Oh the trials and tribulations of young love. My thanks to the writer/ director of Oyster Farmer that gave us the raw talent of Alex to last for ever. For me Alex was Jack! From their very first meeting you can see that Jack and Pearl kind of like each other.

But then there is always doubt in Jack’s mind. Is Pearl earning some extra income with her body or did she steal his stolen money? That is until he discovered the truth…….

This bring us back to present day and the prospects of Cath and Steve and what lies ahead for them. Alex Steve and Michelle  Catherine are a very well matched couple. Will we be treated with some nice moments between these two? Most of the times when they are together they provide some nice viewing moments for us fan girls.

Goodbye Sweetie…….we’re looking forward to some good times!

Goodbye girls……

For more info on what Michelle herself had to say about her character, you can read what Officer808 found out in Part 1 and Part 2

This is once again dedicated to Justine…..Happy Birthday, dear! We know that the biggest role he has ever played is the lover in your world of fantasy, but we unfortunately have no footage or detail of it to show on here….