John P. Filo/ CBS; Cliff Lipson/CBS; GEORGE HOLZ/CBS

Talk about taking your role to heart.

After learning all about the world of organ donation to prepare for their roles on Three Rivers, CBS’ new medical drama based in the leading transplant hospital in the country, some of the show’s stars made some key lifestyle changes.

“Usually [organ damage is] from a lifestyle,” explained Alex O’Loughlin (Dr. Andy Yablonski) at today’s Television Critics Association press tour. “And it’s from doing the things that we do from time to time like smoking and drinking and eating bad stuff. And a sick heart and the smell of a sick organ, dude, there’s nothing like it to turn you off a burger and fries. I’ll take a salad and a water tonight.”

As for Katherine Moennig (Dr. Miranda Foster), the experience has made her brush up on her dental health. (You’ll laugh at that in a second.) “We found out that heart disease is mainly caused by bad teeth,” said The L Word star. “That can cause terrible heart disease. So the second we wrapped, I ran to the dentist.” 

“We all started brushing,” joked Daniel Henney (Dr. David Lee), who was not an organ donor before signing up for the show. “It’s completely changed everything about the way I think about it.” Alfre Woodard, too, was not an organ donor prior to getting the gig as Dr. Sophia Jordan. “I never thought about it,” she said.

Christopher J. Hanke (Ryan Abbott), on the other hand, admitted that he doesn’t even know if he is a donor or not, but that’s about to change. “I just moved to California, and I am going to get a driver’s license for the State of California,” he said, “and you will be dang sure that I’m going to check that box to be an organ donor. And also it’s like a great way to live green, I guess.”

Live green. Donate an organ.

Three Rivers debuts on CBS Oct. 4 at 9 p.m.

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Also see: The Three Rivers Set  & Alex O’Loughlin in Pittsburgh on August 17

The series is about organ transplants seen through the points of view of the doctors, donors and recipients.

Woodard, a four-time Emmy winner, will play Sophia Jordan, head of surgery at Three Rivers Hospital. The role was recast after being played by Ormond in the pilot.

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CBS Announces Fall Premiere Dates. With two exceptions, CBS will launch its fall lineup during the week of Sept. 21. Three Rivers is one of those exceptions. It will debut on Sunday, October 4th 2009 at 9:00 PM.

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Barbee had never visited Pittsburgh but when an assistant drew up a list of the top transplant cities in the world, UPMC was No. 1. UCLA was No. 2.

“Do we want to set it in L.A.? Not really,” Barbee said. When she broached the notion of setting with Hanson he leapt at the idea of Pittsburgh, calling it a cool city with “great, old architecture” but also a place that’s reinventing itself. “I thought that was perfect because the show is so much about second chances and reinventing your life.”

Hanson was eager to tell Barbee all about the city’s bridges and in the process mentioned the three rivers, which meshed perfectly with Barbee’s idea to tell stories from three points of view.

“I thought, that’s it!” Barbee said.

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According to a source close to the project, CBS wants the pilot to have a “warmer” look and will essentially build a hospital on the Paramount lot. Production on the original pilot was limited to certain areas of the working hospital in which it was filmed, and executives hope this change will help expand the universe of the show.

To that end, Barbee also is looking to add recurring characters — specialists and a social worker — who will pop in and out of episodes. One of them will probably become a love interest for Dr. Andy Yablonski, a highly skilled workaholic organ transplant surgeon, played by Alex O’Loughlin (”Moonlight”). The role of Dr. Sophia Jordan, head of surgery, which was played by Julia Ormond, will be recast.

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LOS ANGELES, June 9 /PRNewswire/ — When does a television pilot receive an award before it even airs? When it is that good.

On June 13, Donate Life Hollywood will honor CBS-TV’s new fall show “Three Rivers” with its first annual Inspire Award. Bestowed by the organ and tissue donation and transplant community, it will be presented at an awards dinner hosted at the Directors Guild of America as the culmination of the daylong Donate Life Film Festival. “Three Rivers” is a medical drama that goes inside the emotionally complex lives of organ donors, recipients and the surgeons at a preeminent transplant hospital.

The pilot episode of “Three Rivers” met and exceeded the Donate Life Hollywood criteria of portraying organ donation and transplantation in a way that was dramatic, showed viewers an accurate portrayal of the donation/transplant process, and left viewers feeling that organ donation is a good thing.

“Carol Barbee, who penned the pilot episode of ‘Three Rivers,’ went above and beyond to create a show that is dramatic, yet accurate,” said Donate Life Hollywood campaign director Tenaya Wallace. “We arranged for Carol to see an actual organ procurement through the Southern California organ procurement organization, OneLegacy. She witnessed how OneLegacy sensitively approaches donor families, requests the transplant list from UNOS, places the organs for transplant based on this list and coordinates transplant teams to perform the recovery of the organs. Carol did her homework and the result is a dramatic donation and transplant story that shows viewers how this process really works.”

“CBS recognizes that transplant stories are ripe with human drama,” said Carol Barbee. “I am excited about bringing these incredible stories to life.”

Organ and tissue donation is not always so well-presented on television. A study recently conducted by researchers at Purdue University shows that misleading and inaccurate information in dramatic television programming causes many people to shy away from choosing to be a donor.

Donate Life Hollywood is part of the national Donate Life movement and serves as a liaison between the organ and tissue community and the entertainment industry with the mission of seeing more accurate and inspiring organ donation storylines on television and in film. www.donatelifehollywood.org

Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gives us a deeper look into Three Rivers.

Doctors on “Three Rivers” don’t wear traditional scrubs, opting instead for a Smurf-colored ensemble that looks a bit like a “Star Trek” uniform, more textured and thicker material than traditional scrubs.

Pittsburgh looks great in the show, although exterior shots are few and mostly confined to views from the convention center, including shots of the Three Sisters bridges over the Allegheny at night and during the day. Even some of those may be lost.

Check out the article for details.