What It's About: The high concept, as relayed by Fox, is: "The story of a New York homicide detective unlike any other. He is brilliant, mysterious, reckless, magnetic, unknowable. And he has a profound secret: he is immortal." At least he's not a vampire. The backstory: John Amsterdam stepped in front of a sword to save a Native American girl from the massacre of her tribe in 1642, and was rewarded (cursed?) not to die or age until he finds his true love. He feels a part of New York City, having witnessed its entire history.
Origins: The show was created by Allan Loeb and Christian Taylor. Taylor wrote, directed, and starred in the weird but affecting mockumentary Showboy, about his pursuing dreams of dancing in Vegas after being sacked from his real-life writing gig on Six Feet Under.
Popular Characters: John Amsterdam, the enigmatic immortal, is played by Danish actor Nikolaj Coster Waldau, who definitely sports the most intriguing face of the new season -- this guy looks like he's lived the history of New York. Though the bulk of his work has been in Danish films, he's played various Euros in a handful of English-language movies and has always gotten good press. Zuleikha Robinson (John's detective partner Eva Marques) was in The Lone Gunmen and Rome. Every character of this sort has a confidante, and here it's Omar (Obie-winning stage actor Stephen Henderson).
Flavor: Atmospheric. Waldau looks to be the Daniel Craig of immortal, star-crossed detectives: a bright-eyed, two-fisted brooder. Picture Moonlight crossed with Life.
Network: New Amsterdam is shown on Fox. For showtimes see When It's On.
