There is a new series premiering on Fox on March 4 called “New Amsterdam, “ and it sounds intriguing.The show is about a New York homicide detective who is immortal. At least, he can’t die until he meets his one true love. OK, maybe it sounds a little corny, but bear with me.
The story really begins in 1642, when John Amsterdam (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), who was a Dutch soldier in the colony of New Amsterdam, stepped in front of a sword to save the life of a Native American girl during a massacre of her tribe. The girl rescues John Amsterdam, and in return casts an ancient spell on him that made him immortal. She tells Amsterdam that he will not age until he finds his one true love, at which time he will become mortal.
Of course, the big problem with immortality is that time passes but you don’t, so to speak. So, over three centuries, he’s lived quite a life and polished his skills. Yes, it does sound a little like the movie “Groundhog Day” except it’s stretched over hundreds of years, and without Sonny and Cher singing “I Got You Babe” every time he wakes up.
But while Amsterdam lives, anyone that he loves, or his family, dies, leaving him to go on as a young man, and over time, he becomes isolated and lonely.
In the current time, his confidant and current “lifelong” friend (lifelong being an bit of an oxymoron for someone who is immortal) is a jazz club owner Omar (Stephen McKinley-Henderson), who knows Amsterdam’s secret, as well as having some of his own.
But, he puts his life experiences to good use by working on Manhattan for the NYPD as a homicide detective, along with his partner Eve Marquez (Zuleikha Robinson). Problems surface when Amsterdam seems to have a massive heart attack while chasing a suspect, and Dr. Sara Dillane (Alexie Gilmore) pronounces him dead in the ER. (Oops.) Of course, he’s not. He then realizes that the Indian girl’s prophesy may be coming true and that his soul mate must have been nearby. So the story continues to unfold as Amsterdam works to find killers – and maybe this one true love.
It sounds like the show has it all – mystery, suspense, drama, romance. OK, maybe it will run the risk of being a little corny, but since the writer’s strike has left us with virtually nothing new, I think this show is worth a serious look.
So if you’re interested too, stay tuned for the show, which will be airing on Fox on March 4, at 9:00 PM ET, 8:00 PM Central.
Check out my blog home page for the latest information, HERE!
I found the show to sound a tad corny on paper, too, but the pilot didn't really feel that way at all. I think the fact that the lead character lives in an otherwise normal world helps ground the premise in reality a little better than you might otherwise expect from this type of series.
ReplyDeleteJohn
http://newamsterdam-forever.com
I just found your blog post and found it quite interesting. Would you be interested in a story about a real life immortal?
ReplyDeleteIf you are serious about this subject, then you will be quite interested in my research and findings on this very topic.
I have summarized what I have found on my main blog:
www.Ben-Abba.com.
Check out the post “Summary of the Facts” when you get a chance and then my follow up book “Secrets of an Immortal - An Eyewitness Account of 2,800 Years of History”.