New Amsterdam - season 1 thread

Fox airs the pilot of "New Amsterdam" right after American Idol tonight in the 9 p.m. EST timeslot, and there's another new episode being aired on Thursday in the same timeslot. After this week, there are only 6 episodes of this show "in the can".

Basic premise - John Amsterdam is a homicide detective who's very good at his job, and some of the reasons why he's good at it has to do with him having been around the block (for over 400 years) due to an immortality spell that will go away in the event he finally finds his true love. Inevitably, life without true love is a lonely existence for John.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

"It's like Angel without the vampires!"

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

sounds good, i don't like vampire stuff.

i forgot to set the dvr, will it be on again.

i don't do online tv unless i really have to.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

I just watched the pilot, it was okay, i'm just not sure the public can handle or even wants yet another show about an immortal crime fighter.

As for myself the only thing that I don't like about it is his motivation, he's basically just biting his time waiting to fall in love and then die...bummer. I don't know if I want to watch a show that has it's hero praying for death each week.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

biting his time?

i thought this wasnt a vampire show.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

I liked it and I'll keep watching but after 4 or 5 centuries of Manhattan I'd think he'd get a clue and move to Miami or Austin.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

My wife, daughter and I watched it last night. Within about 30 minutes I was pretty much done with it. I just found it kind of boring.

However, my wife and daughter absolutely loved it and will be staying with it.

I really enjoyed "Journey Man" but can't get my head into "New Amsterdam".

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

One thing I'm reading is that it gets better in later episodes; the first was in a tough situation because it had to both be a "premise pilot" (establishing an origin story) while also demonstrating that it would work as a procedural. I almost wish they weren't going the police-procedural route with it at all, but you need something to hang the weekly story on, and the alternative is having a bunch of other supernatural things going on in New York... And as much fun as that can be, having John be singular is a nice choice, too.

(Although, honestly, if the local natives knew a way to be basically immortal, why the heck didn't they use it on themselves more rather than just on this one outsider? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.)

I like it, though - it looks a lot better than Moonlight, for sure - and the show could be a lot of fun if the writers are committed to delving into New York's history.

Also, I don't think John's praying for death - he's world-weary and has had the time to grow philosophical. Growing old with the one he loves is likely the one thing he hasn't done, and he's ready. I like that he doesn't seem particularly tortured by his long life the way TV's other immortal detectives have tended to be.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

How do you know they didn't?

I like this show and think it has great promise. I will keep watching.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

The show has some potential but I agree the pilot was somewhat bland. I really hope every case he gets doesn't hinge on something or someone he knows from his past, that will get old real quick.

I liked the bit about him continuing to building and selling authentic "antique" furniture for beaucoup bucks, but how did he get that desk through the narrow secret passageway to his workshop?

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

> I liked it and I'll keep watching but after 4 or 5 centuries of Manhattan I'd think he'd get a clue and move to Miami or Austin.

Really- shouldn't he be retired by now?

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

He likely has retired from a number of jobs - it's neat that being a cop is apparently just his latest, not something he's been doing in one capacity or another for centuries.

I suspect that if the Manhattan area were occupied by a tribe of immortals who were unkillable until they found their true loves (which can take centuries), the Dutch and later English would have had a harder time of taking and holding on to the place. I suppose that there are certain prerequisites to the enchantment that prevent it from being used on just anyone (can only be cast on one who has fallen by the person they were defending or some such), although I'm not sure I want them to spend too much time on the magical equivalent of fine print.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

Or that they simply moved on, blended in and are still walking among us.

lighten up, mon!

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

The show reminds me of Highlander. Only it's missing the elements that made Highlander good. No duels, no action, no interesting characters. For me that equals, no interest. However, it is only the first episode so we'll see.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

"Moonlight" took a few episodes to get me hooked, but it has grown into one of my favorite shows. Alex O'Loughlin took a while to grow on me, too.

I'm going to give "New Amsterdam" a few more chances, as it has potential. Last night wasn't too good, though.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

I was thinking about that, too, John can't really do anything cool like vampires or other movie and tv show immortals can, there's no high jumping, no vamping out, no super human strength, he's just a regular Joe who happens to be immortal and that's no fun to me.

Also, how did he know that an important landmark like Times Square would spring up in that exact spot and how did he know to take time lapse pictures there?

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

I'm on-board. The closing montage sequence from the 17th century to the present was a nice touch.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

lol @ those of you expecting EVERYTHING in one pilot episode.

I thought it was pretty darn good.


It also aired with 23 million viewers

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

> Also, how did he know that an important landmark like Times Square would spring up in that exact spot and how did he know to take time lapse pictures there?

Good point- maybe he took them all over town, like the way theme parks take photos of everyone on a ride, knowing a few of them will buy the pix.


I wonder what the "rules" of his immortality are. He doesn't age, but is he indestructible, or just won't die of old age or natural causes? If you cut his head off would he survive?

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

Just a reminder, the second episode airs tonight after American Idol on Fox.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

I took it that the spot he began to photograph was the exact spot upon which he was given his "gift" from the tribe...it just so happens to be Times Square....now

I thought last night's episode was awesome. Some pretty interesting twists and reveals - I am going to stick with this.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

Yeah, it's not really a great cop show, but John's interactions with his family are interesting. He has over three hundred years apparently learned how to make things work with his kids, even though a relationship with one's unaging father must be downright weird.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

I cut it off halfway through and deleted my series recording. Cop shows just aren't my thing, twists or no.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

Make that over four hundred years. The birth certificate reveal showed his DOB as 1603.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

For some reason I don't really consider this a cop show...like that part is secondary...integral, but secondary....

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

He was only three-hundred-odd when he had that apparently good relationship with Maggie.

Although seeing that he's got kids kicking around makes me wonder how extinct his rare blood type mentioned in episode one is.

Also, I wonder if there's a fan site documenting his timeline, known descendants, etc. yet. Sure, on the one hand, it's only been three days since the first episode aired, but on the other hand, it's been three whole days!

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

I just caught up with the first two shows and, as a Native New Yawker, I enjoyed the shows and all the historical city references. It seems promising to me although, as others have stated, it is definitely derivative. Let's face it, there are a lot of shows on television that copy the basic format, even subconsciously, of other established shows. That doesn't mean that they will stink or excel. It all depends on how things develop and how the major players perform. I'll be watching in the Monday Night time slot to see which way this goes.

And on a related note: I noticed that my Dish Network PVR programming guide listed the "pilot" episode as "Episode 4" and the latest show as "Episode 5." Does this mean that the producers decided to start up with a later, possibly stronger, episode because the back story appears to be something that is easily summarized each week? That would explain a couple of references that didn't make sense in the "first" episode (such as what's the deal with Omar right out of the gate) but quickly took focus in the next hour.

Like I said - the premise is a twist on a basic plot but I like the little touches like numbering the dogs, everyone in NYC seeming to be related to John, his choice of surnames throughout the years (is "John Knickerbocker" next? ), the "don't I know you from someplace?" wife factor(s!), etc. There's certainly enough here to keep me watching as long as they don't resort to cookie-cutter writing in the future. To me this is a lot better than what passes for entertainment on many of the networks.

Staying tuned....

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

It is "Highlander meets Angel" kind of thing in the crime fighting bit, but uh, as said, no real "powers" to speak of, except the fact that unlike those two, he has kids, in fact, he has had kids repeatedly. Which to me makes it a tad creepy (dear god, don't let him fall in love with his great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter) Then again, in 400 years, I figure he could have a few hundred thousand or more related progeny by now, which is kind of creepy, too.

I don't need him to have special powers, but I don't like that element; the "kid" now a 65 year old man summed it up when he worried about whether or not he really "loved" his mother, when apparently "true love" will cause him to grow old. What a constant reminder to the children that their mother, and they, were born out of a relationship that wasn't pure Actually, I'd be a lot more cynical then the bar owner, every day's existance of the immortal would be a reminder that whether or not he "loved" my mother, it wasn't "good enough" and he needed to move on and still had to chase the perfect woman, and I was just the remenants of that chase.

One other thing.. he apparently hasn't done much to really hide.. he stays in NY in the same sector.. in the 1950s he was a prominent lawyer and now he's a beat detective... ? Why aren't there are a ton of people within the judicial departments and judges who would say "damn, you look exactly like.."

That's part of what made Highlander good; that he had to keep moving around to conseal his identity, lose everything of his past, etc.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

There probably are, but the thing is, they're rational, intelligent people, and will immediately realize that he's either some relation or it's a coincidence, because the alternative is clearly impossible.

Part of that casualness probably comes from the fact that we're seeing an experienced John now. If we'd seen him at fifty or sixty, we'd probably see him much more worried about such things - and at some point, we probably will see flashbacks about that. By four hundred, he's got a handle on what he can get away with.

Re: New Amsterdam - season premiere 3/4/08

I thought the first ep ok, i have'nt seen the 2nd yet, but in the first I could'nt understand how a NY Cop could Die in a subway area, then in ahospital without anyone of his precinct knowing, surely he had ID on him. But then he's right back to work.