The new midseason replacement New Amsterdam boasted an interesting, if unoriginal, premise—a New York City detective, John Amsterdam, hides a secret of immortality while solving homicides. It sounded similar to the recent vampire-solving-crimes show, but I figured it was still worthy of checking out. Perhaps there’d be a magic sword or superpowers or intellect learning along the way. Maybe it would even mimic one of the coolest shows on television, Heroes, finding others who were roaming the earth for centuries.
I was wrong. Somewhere in the process, New Amsterdam got saddled with romantic and buddy-cop overtones. Centuries ago, John, a Dutch soldier with a glued on mustache and beard, darted in front of a sword to protect a Native American girl during a massacre. The girl cast some sort of spell on him not only saving his life, but also giving him many, many more years of walking the earth until he finds “the one.” And then he’d start aging after he found her (insert wife jokes here).
In present day, John is a no-nonsense instinct-driven New York cop who, in the premiere episode, gets a new partner (naturally). At this point, the show quickly turns into your typical Bones-type crime-solving show, except John occasionally will remind viewers how old he is. Others assume he’s kidding when he says he’s been sober since 1964, and you almost expect him to turn and wink to the camera when he says “I look young for my age.” We get it. You’re old.
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