NEW AMSTERDAM has had birth pangs. It was originally scheduled to air in Fall 2007 but was put off. Then off again. FOX finally premiered it yesterday.

For the first few minutes, I thought it was going pretty well. But gradually it turned into an average whodunnit with the gimmick of having the lead character be a Dutchman who arrived in the New World during the early 1600s who is saved from death by American Indians which made him immortal (that must be a secret of the East Coast Indians cuz my Indian relatives drop like flies). He's now NYPD dectective, supposedly brilliant altho I didn't see much evidence of that.

It had one thing going for it from my point of view. I've seen mucho American tv -- yet visually this had a look and feel unlike anything I've seen. The differences are subtle but palpable to me. Most of that credit probably goes to Swedish director and co-producer Lasse Hallström. But, other people must be given credit, such as the Director of Photography.

The actors were very individual. And some foreign. Playing Detective John Amsterdam is Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (I had to copy and paste his name). He is totally and absolutely convincing as an American -- but not as a 400-year-old man (David Boreanez had a similar problem). As his new partner (are there any other types?), UK-born Zuleikha Robinson. She was raised in Southeast Asia and had drama training in Los Angeles which might explain how she got her accent down. Funnily, she's playing an Hispanic -- but I guess they couldn't find any who could do the role better.

BTW, at the IMDb webpage for NEW AMSTERDAM, there's a scintillating thread in the Message Boards near the bottom of the page on the number of foreign actors taking lead roles in American TV series. Why not add your 2p.

This was only the Pilot. I plan to check out the episode to be aired tomorrow. I think there were only about 7 episodes filmed.

:lmao:

Good grief, some people are really throwing their toys out of the pram on that IMDB thread. :lol:

Fox were widely regarded to be just burning off these seven episodes ahead of an ultimate cancellation.

Of course, that may now have been thrown into chaos due to the fact that it scored well. Very well. Second overall on the night behind American Idol with about 13m viewers.

Fox might be having a change of heart towards the show if the second episode holds up numbers-wise.

They wouldn't have any choice. Can't ignore numbers like that.

Thinkingn about recent UK shows with American actors, I came up with Gillian Anderson ( Bleak House ), Elizabeth McGovern ( Freezing ) , Megan Dodds ( Spooks ) and Robert Vaughn ( Hustle ) . :ponder:

The State Within had a mix of US and UK actors ( Jason Isaacs, Sharon Gless ). :)

Anyone else ? :unsure:

Peeking at that IMDB thread, I`m not sure if John Barrowman counts as a US or UK actor. :lol:

Ep 1.02

It must be a sign of laziness on the part of the creators and writers that they take what is essentially a psychological story and frame it within a whodunnit. That was done with JOHN DOE.

I think this show could have worked better as a drama of how a man who has lived for 400 years makes his way thru life. It would be especially interesting cuz he doesn't feed on people's blood to do it. Now that's unique!

Instead we get a police detective and his new partner with all the usual conflicts. And a crime of some sort to figure out.

The second episode's rather uninteresting crime was vainly spiced up with a supposed deep commitment on the hero's part and an English-type accent on the part of one of the suspects. There was a nice twist in the middle of that one, altho it wasn't particularly well done.

It was the personal stuff that worked, even if it was a little heavy-handed (circa 1940, our Dutch hero is having an affair with a black woman). Still, there were a few nice twists. But only Stephen Henderson as Omar provides any depth.

Really good acting has not been a feature of this show in the first two episodes.

Remember I had loved the direction of the first episode? After just a few moments, I could tell this was a different director with more conventionally American tastes. Not bad direction. It just didn't have the unexpected visuals.

Previews to the next episode make it promising so I will try to tune in.

That`s something I`ve found particularly disappointing about most of the pilots which I`ve seen so far - they have a good director for the first one, then switch to whoever they can get to fill in. :ponder:

Just thinking of Reaper in particular. :unsure:

Ratings for second episode of NEW AMSTERDAM was about 10 million compared to its 13 million premiere. Both of these numbers were obtained while following audience grabber AMERICAN IDOL.

NEW AMSTERDAM moves to its regular timeslot on Monday -- where it doesn't have AMERICAN IDOL as a lead-in.

The UK industry has been inserting American actors in lead roles in movies and TV for years. There was a practical reason: hopefully the American names would attract an American audience. It rarely did, tho.

That may in part explain the growing presence of foreign actors in lead roles in American products. More and more money is made in foreign markets. Too much not to take advantage of chauvanistic impulses.

Of course, many times the foreign actor is the producers' best pick. Hugh Laurie is probably the best example. I've heard that the producer of HOUSE wanted an American until his cohorts slipped in Hugh's American-accented audition tape and changed his mind.

The agitation that you see displayed comes partly from the actors' quarters (they have always resented foreign -- especially British -- actors coming to the US and taking jobs that they assume are theirs by right) and from those non-actors with strong protectionist instincts.

In all this time, the thread on IMDb about the only howling that I've heard. And, that thread consists of about 50% howlers and 50% counter-howlers.

10m isn't too bad. If it can level off at about that number it'll be fine.

It'll be interesting to see what the impact is of the move to Monday nights and the loss of the Idol lead-in.

NEW AMSTERDAM debuted in its home timeslot, Monday 9pm. This was its 3rd episode and an okay one. I really liked sparks between him and the doctor (female). The crime story was okay with the issue of repressed memories stirring memories of Amsterdam's experiences during the American Civil War.

Interesting that they gave the wounded Civil War soldier a slight Scottish (I think) accent. That sort of thing would have been more prevalent back then -- where even second or later generations would have some residue of an old world accent.

Ratings were a respectable 9 million following on the premiere of CANTERBURY'S LAW (which had about 11 million viewers).

The numbers were very good considering that it moved from a post-Idol slot. 1m wasn't too bad a drop-off.

If the show can maintain 8m or above then I think it should be pretty safe. Remarkable considering that it was widely regarded as being DOA.

:rolleyes: There's probably a network executive or two hiding away in their offices hoping for a drop off in numbers.

Not a marquee name in the cast. So this is going to have to succeed on its merits.

If the show hummed along at this level, I would a satisfied viewer. It wouldn't be a great show. Just an interesting one.

Like the episode before, there are frequent flashbacks that echo the present day's situation. The case of a brutal rapist reminds Anderson of a painful memory from his past. That worked okay cuz it also worked as a self-contained drama.

The situation between him and the doctor works really well for me. I like the writing and I like the actors' chemistry. It's not an explosive chemistry. It's an adult chemistry.

This episode's viewership numbered in the 8 millions. It actually beat its lead-in CANTERBURY'S LAW (whose ratings were a huge loss over the premiere's -- including me just cuz I forgot).