Television Series, FOX, 9 PM Mondays
Rating (after five episodes): 3 out of 5 Stars
In the FOX Channel’s newest genre entry, John Amsterdam (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is a cop who happens to be immortal. You see, way back in 1642 when he first came to the New World as a Dutch soldier, he saved a Native American girl’s life and she in turn placed an enchantment upon him that would cause him to live forever until he finally found his true love (not quite certain if this is considered a reward or punishment for his actions). Now we check in on him during the present day as he solves crime (with an uncanny knowledge and wisdom beyond his apparent years) and relives flashbacks to earlier days.
What’s that you say? Been there, done that? On multiple occasions? Yep, that’s exactly what I thought while watching the premiere and that’s why I almost gave up on this one halfway through the first episode. At first, it seemed like a mish-mash of clichés thrown together by network executive types to fill up a few hours on the schedule. Can’t you just hear the conversation:
Executive 1: We need to come up with a new show. How about a crime show? The other networks are raking in the viewers with those, so we need one of our own. But we need to have a twist to it.
Executive 2: Let’s make it a love story, too. That will pump up the female viewers.
Executive 3: Hey, and how about this: Let’s make the lead character immortal. That’ll get those sci fi geeks watching as well and maybe they will finally cut us some slack for cancelling Firefly.
Executive 1: Well this can’t miss. A cop show, a love story, and geeks to boot. What other sci fi show do we have running now that we can cancel to make room on the schedule.
Or something like that.
The fact is that New Amsterdam revisits a lot of familiar territory, but believe it or not, it actually manages to put a bit of a fresh spin on old concepts. True, each episodes’ flashbacks make you nostalgic for The Highlander series, but they do expand on the story on this modern day cop who has lived over 400 hundred years. And the criminal investigations seem to put a sufficient spin on the typical crime story plots (though since I am not a fan of that genre, I am not the best judge). And the love story arc has weaved enough twists and turns so far to keep it interesting.
Coster-Waldau as Amsterdam is the series biggest asset at this point. He has a definite charm and charisma that draws the viewers in to each episode. And Stephen Henderson is the perfect foil as Amsterdam’s 65 year old tell-it-like-it-is son. Of course we have to have the head-strong, sharp-tongued female partner to Amsterdam, and Zuleikha Robinson pulls this off quite well without descending too far into crime show stereotypes. And lastly, Alexie Gilmore generates a sufficient amount of steam as John Amsterdam’s newest love interest who just may be the one to allow him to grow old like a normal person.
So despite all the pitfalls, New Amsterdam manages to actually stand out on the Prime Time landscape as something more than just a gussied-up crime show. The interest for Science Fiction and Fantasy fans may be minimal, however, because there is little about the show to generate genre interest other than the fact that the lead character has lived beyond his years. The stories so far are crime dramas with a twist, but are still written well enough to justify the hour a week commitment. Still, my preference for immortal crime fighters is with Moonlight, so I may not tune into New Amsterdam as much once that show returns with new episodes in April.
Ratings-wise, New Amsterdam has provided FOX with a bonafied hit. This show has even outscored Lost in some recent weeks. And that’s quite an accomplishment for a show that almost never made it to the air. The series was originally set to debut in Fall of 2007 but was pushed to mid-season. Then at one point it was put on an indefinite hiatus (without ever airing). It was really only the dearth of scripted series available because of the writer’s strike that gave the show a chance to make it to the schedule. And it definitely has done the most with its one chance so expect to see it on FOX’s Fall 2008 schedule.
Rating (after five episodes): 3 out of 5 Stars
In the FOX Channel’s newest genre entry, John Amsterdam (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is a cop who happens to be immortal. You see, way back in 1642 when he first came to the New World as a Dutch soldier, he saved a Native American girl’s life and she in turn placed an enchantment upon him that would cause him to live forever until he finally found his true love (not quite certain if this is considered a reward or punishment for his actions). Now we check in on him during the present day as he solves crime (with an uncanny knowledge and wisdom beyond his apparent years) and relives flashbacks to earlier days.
What’s that you say? Been there, done that? On multiple occasions? Yep, that’s exactly what I thought while watching the premiere and that’s why I almost gave up on this one halfway through the first episode. At first, it seemed like a mish-mash of clichés thrown together by network executive types to fill up a few hours on the schedule. Can’t you just hear the conversation:
Executive 1: We need to come up with a new show. How about a crime show? The other networks are raking in the viewers with those, so we need one of our own. But we need to have a twist to it.
Executive 2: Let’s make it a love story, too. That will pump up the female viewers.
Executive 3: Hey, and how about this: Let’s make the lead character immortal. That’ll get those sci fi geeks watching as well and maybe they will finally cut us some slack for cancelling Firefly.
Executive 1: Well this can’t miss. A cop show, a love story, and geeks to boot. What other sci fi show do we have running now that we can cancel to make room on the schedule.
Or something like that.
The fact is that New Amsterdam revisits a lot of familiar territory, but believe it or not, it actually manages to put a bit of a fresh spin on old concepts. True, each episodes’ flashbacks make you nostalgic for The Highlander series, but they do expand on the story on this modern day cop who has lived over 400 hundred years. And the criminal investigations seem to put a sufficient spin on the typical crime story plots (though since I am not a fan of that genre, I am not the best judge). And the love story arc has weaved enough twists and turns so far to keep it interesting.
Coster-Waldau as Amsterdam is the series biggest asset at this point. He has a definite charm and charisma that draws the viewers in to each episode. And Stephen Henderson is the perfect foil as Amsterdam’s 65 year old tell-it-like-it-is son. Of course we have to have the head-strong, sharp-tongued female partner to Amsterdam, and Zuleikha Robinson pulls this off quite well without descending too far into crime show stereotypes. And lastly, Alexie Gilmore generates a sufficient amount of steam as John Amsterdam’s newest love interest who just may be the one to allow him to grow old like a normal person.
So despite all the pitfalls, New Amsterdam manages to actually stand out on the Prime Time landscape as something more than just a gussied-up crime show. The interest for Science Fiction and Fantasy fans may be minimal, however, because there is little about the show to generate genre interest other than the fact that the lead character has lived beyond his years. The stories so far are crime dramas with a twist, but are still written well enough to justify the hour a week commitment. Still, my preference for immortal crime fighters is with Moonlight, so I may not tune into New Amsterdam as much once that show returns with new episodes in April.
Ratings-wise, New Amsterdam has provided FOX with a bonafied hit. This show has even outscored Lost in some recent weeks. And that’s quite an accomplishment for a show that almost never made it to the air. The series was originally set to debut in Fall of 2007 but was pushed to mid-season. Then at one point it was put on an indefinite hiatus (without ever airing). It was really only the dearth of scripted series available because of the writer’s strike that gave the show a chance to make it to the schedule. And it definitely has done the most with its one chance so expect to see it on FOX’s Fall 2008 schedule.
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