Archive for March 31st, 2008
Premiere Week 2007.5: New Amsterdam
In the original ad campaign for this show, it appeared to be about a vampire who came to Manhattan in the 1600s and stayed in the city through the present day. He was currently filling the role of “immortal detective with oblivious partner solving crimes in City X” once taken by Nick Knight.
Anyway, I don’t know if I misinterpreted the original ad campaign or if it was changed because of Moonlight but the premise is actually not “vampire cop show.” Instead, it’s “immortal cop show.” Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays John Amsterdam; a man who came to New Amsterdam in the 1600s and takes a sword for a Native woman. The Natives heal him and magically imbue him with immortality. He will not age or die until he finds his one true love and their souls become intertwined. Then he will age normally and finally die. Playing the role of sassy-but-clueless Latina partner is Indian/English actress Zuleikha Robinson. Alexie Gilmore fills in as potential love-of-Amsterdam’s-life-and-thus-harbinger-of-death. Stephen Henderson plays his 65-year-old son. I was also happy to see that Law & Order superstar Robert Clohess (who’s played about 15 different bad guys on all flavors of Law & Order) get some steady work.
The gimmick is that Amsterdam was blessed with immortality until he finds his one true soul-mate.
The Good
- The character not being a vampire in a sub-world of vampires brings a little bit of different flavor the show. It’s the first show of this kind to raise the question “what if you were the only immortal person in the world?” When you think about it, the guy can never really get close to anyone and has to watch everyone he ever knows die. It could get old - something which Coster-Waldau’s character communicates well. He names his dogs after number (his current one is 36). He refers to his ex-wives by number. In fact, he’s kind of obsessed with numbers
- Having his son on the show (who is visually older than he is) adds an interesting dynamic. The sad part is that you know this guy is on the show just to die at some point.
- I’m a New York history buff, so I like the old shots of and the various historic things they throw in about Manhattan. He’s also the ultimate New Yorker. When he bitches about the neighborhood changing he actually knows what he’s talking about.
The Bad
- For every bit that Moonlight is Angel, this show is Forever Knight. Some crime happens, it reminds the main character of something from his long past, we flashback to that episode of his life, and it parallels what’s going on in the present day. The only difference is that he’s not a vampire.
- This is another show where the main character really seems to hate his life when his life really doesn’t seem like all that bad a gig. I mean, he’s immortal in Manhattan. If you had to be immortal somewhere in the world, wouldn’t the lifespan of Manhattan be the place you picked? I mean, it’s gone from farming community, to war zone, to port/railroad/farming community, to financial center of the universe. Not only that, but you’d probably to be able to see one neighborhood go through roughly 100 different upheavals. How many people have gone through Manhattan in 400 years? On top of all that, you can’t die. How does that suck?
- The whole gimmick of the show is that he’s trying to find a soul mate so he can die. Isn’t that kind of a morose premise for a show? It doesn’t help that he’s morose as well.
- Is a new rule on television shows that all police bosses must be female? Was the last male to make captain on a TV Show Barney Miller? The Detective Sergeant on this show is a cute blonde who in no way ever went in to the police academy in any real world ever. If she did, she didn’t stick it out this long.
- The writers are somewhat heavy-handed with their “this guy’s been alive forever so he’s known everyone that’s lived in Manhattan ever.” So far, we’ve discovered that he knew e.e. cummings, had a relationship with Emily Dickenson, chased down John Wilkes Booth, was in the Civil War at Antietam with Walt Whitman, he was at Normandy, and had a fight with John Coltraine (who died still mad at him). All shows that feature immortal characters do this… they just tend to not do it every single episode
- At the end of the day, the immortal thing doesn’t add much. Think about it… when you’re watching a cop show you pretty much know the main character’s not going to die. The only difference between this show and those shows is that the writers can mortally injure the guy every once in a while.
The Summary
Not a fan. There’s nothing new here. It could be an episode of Criminal Intent (complete with weird savant detective that knows everything) or any other of the countless New York Cop shows. At best, it’s a ripoff of Forever Knight. At worst, it comes across of a ripoff of Moonlight which is itself a shameless ripoff of Angel.
The ratings seem to agree with me. Of course, I also decided to wait until 5 of the 7 episodes had aired before finishing the review. East Coast Bias: On The Cutting Edge.