TVSquad

if I recall correctly at one point during the episode last night, Amsterdam compares something to Normandy, which would suggest that he served in World War 2, so he may have traveled some, just uses New York as his base of operations.

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"...One thing that bothered me about the show is the fact that John has stayed in New York for the entirety of his very long life..."

He mentions being injured during the war and deafened for a period of time which is how he picked up lip reading. I think he said it was the battle of dunkirk, but I can't be certain.

I was surprised by how much I liked it. His apparent honesty about his immortality was refreshing, like when he answers the question about the speak easy, or number of girlfriends. And his immodesty about getting out of the pool, the show deals how living a very long time would kind of winnow away the everyday hangups.

Oh and I had some flashes of Daredevil when he took that leap from the building, John Amsterdam as the man without fear, I guess its amazing what you can do if you're not worried about dying.

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One thing is bothering me. How is it that he works with all these detectives and none of them have noticed that he doesn't age at all? Does he keep changing his name and identity? That would mean that he would have to keep changing locations over time.

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Maybe he stays mainly in New York thinking that because he got cursed there he can only find his love there at some point in time?

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And I love the way he throws around his age. Everyone thinks he's a bit odd, but he's being truthful.

The flashbacks are possibly the part I’m looking forward to the most. I like the idea of peeking into someone’s past to learn more about them and I enjoy historical stories, so bring on the flashbacks.

http://redlightnaps.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/new-amsterdam-pilot/

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Great Show....I do think they got him to close to the "cure" to soon. Makes me worry that they will have trouble writing around it in the future if the show is a success.

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Also in the end they show the city of New York going from a field and trees to Times Square. It changed before his very eyes. He's been there before it was a city and saw it grow. Maybe seeing something like that made him feel attatched to the place.

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Got info from someone who worked on this show. It is only slated to run one season, and not a full season either. Only 6 to 8 shows. The show was cancelled before it was even aired. Hopefully this is wrong info, but I don't think so.

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It wasn't officially canceled, but yes Fox wanted to sweep the show under the rugs but because of the strike they dusted it off.

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I thought they may set us up for a curveball and the doctor turned out to be just a red-herring. Would be cool if his partner or another woman nearby is actually the one. The Indian girl said that he will feel it in his heart, but she never specified 'instantly'...

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I really wanted to like this show, but... no. The murder plot story was weak; the solution to making sure an innocent man didn't go down was to let set him free to attempt a murder? And the hamfisted way the show set up his immortality; the Indians gave it to him because he saved one of them? If they could do that why weren't they handing it out amongst themselves? "Sleeping Bear, the Europeans are killing us! Chill dude, now you're immortal until you find true love. BTW, you might want to invest those beads. Just saying." And the way he keeps dropping arcane nuggets of knowledge isn't clever, it's stupid, because a) it almost all referenced the 1920's and 30's which really isn't that impressive for someone that's been alive since the 17th century, and b) it assumes that in a room full of detectives nobody ever stops and says "Why is your answer invariably an obscure figure from the turn of the last century? You're either a pretentious tool or older than you look." And the closer was the big pseudo-time lapse montage at the end. Here's a hint: the Indians that inhabited Manhattan never used tipis; those were pretty much exclusive to Plains Indians. I'm willing to suspend disbelief pretty far, but this show blows. So of course my girlfriend likes it.

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It wasn't great, but it was interesting. I liked the effect of seeing Times Square develop before his eyes--and also his wall of photos of Times Square from the same vantage point across the years. It reminded me of one of my favorite books, New York Then and Now (http://tinyurl.com/2ladsd).

@Huzzah07, I think he does change his name over time. The Alzheimer's artist called him "Charlie," for example. He must move around a lot in the NYPD, and he probably hasn't always been a cop.

The actual detective story was dreadful, and most of the supporting cast were lifeless and uninteresting (although it was nice to see Robert Clohessy!), but the lead is Very Pretty and I love NYC history so I'll watch it for the rest of its run. Hell, there ain't much else to watch, and those Netflix DVDs only come twice a week!

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The most interesting parts were the photo collection and the times lapse at the end.

The whole thing felt rushed, like another hour would have served the plot and the character development very well. I wasn't overly surprised by the first episode, because all the key parts were in previews. And while the murder plot sucked, that wasn't the focus of the show and shouldn't have been. Later on, they should.

I wonder if this is the same pilot critics saw months ago. It just feels like there was a lot of re-editing with Fox not being sure they'd air it, and then limiting the episode run.

Like other new shows, Journeyman and Eli Stone, for example, this show's first episode proves it just needs to find its groove. I'm willing to stick it out another couple of episodes, to see how things develop.

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In this interview the actor says his character hasn't been a cop before and has to reinvent himself every 25 years or so.

http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Trivial-Mattrs/Got-Mega-Minute/800034879

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The show looks ok at best. It's an interesting premise, but yeah, the crimes are just like every other crime show. And, I don't know how long he can run around looking for his true love before it gets old. One season, tops.

This show was based off a book, so I'm told. In the book, he cannot leave New York or he will die by suicide apparently, which will prevent him from going to heaven, so he's trapped on the island. This contradicts what some other people have observed, but that's my two cents about it.

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It sounds interesting. I will check it out. In your lead-in, when you said he was "fatally stabbed" and it made sense, I wondered if it was either a misuse of words or if we had another Jack Harkness on our hands.

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I just finished watching the Pilot and I though It was pretty good. Sure there might be a few plot holes, but i think it's an interesting idea, and I'm looking forward to see how it goes.

I've got the next episode 'Golden Boy' ready to go, and I hope it's good. Apparently 7 episodes have been filmed.

I like the title, as New Amsterdam was the Dutch colonial that became New York.

It's also interesting to note, that the lead actor is from Denmark, [hence his accent, which suits the show, as the character would have been from Europe originally].

Also the Pilot was directed by Lasse Hallström, who also co-produces the show, a well known Swedish Director. The show seems to have a Nordic connection

Cheers

Dave

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