''New Amsterdam'' is an American

television drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms t ...

which aired for eight episodes in 2008 on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

. The series starred

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Nikolaj William Coster-Waldau (; born 27 July 1970) is a Danish actor and producer. He graduated from the Danish National School of Performing Arts in Copenhagen in 1993, and had his breakthrough role in Denmark with the film '' Nightwatch'' (19 ...

as "John Amsterdam" (real name Johann van der Zee), an

immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film '' The Wisdom of ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

man born in 1607, who has lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on and off since he was 14 years old, and who is a

homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

in the present day. The series was nominated for an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Main Title Design.

Premise and plot

John Amsterdam (

) is an

NYPD The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

homicide detective who is 400 years old, but has the appearance of a 35-year-old. He was a Dutch soldier in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

in the year 1642, when he stepped in front of a sword to save the life of a Native American girl during the massacre of her tribe. The girl in turn rescued Amsterdam by weaving a spell that conferred immortality upon him. It was also

prophesied In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pret ...

that he would not age until he finds his one true love, and only then will he become whole and ready for mortality. Flashbacks in different episodes of the show reveal Amsterdam's centuries of life since, using many names, though usually retaining "John", marked by loss as his friends, lovers, children (63), and dogs gradually grow old and die. Amsterdam is a recovering

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...

who regularly attends

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...

meetings, having remained sober since 1965. In his lifetime he has joined the Army three times, in addition to the Coast Guard, Marines, and Navy. He stated that he never joined the Air Force because he "doesn't like heights". He has taught

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

at a university, served as a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, was a furniture maker at the turn of the 20th century, a

portrait painter Portrait Painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and pr ...

just before the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and by 1941 an attorney. At some point he attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and served in the CIA. (See below for a detailed

timeline A timeline is a display of a list of events in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events. Timelines can use any suitable scale representi ...

.) Amsterdam's quest to find his "true love" drives the series. But in each episode as a policeman he has crimes to solve, which he does using his deep and often personal knowledge of history, depicted as flashbacks. Though estranged from and unknown to most of his many descendants, except his 65-year-old son Omar, he tries to keep track of them and aids them when possible. The title sequence is a time lapse series of images of the place where Amsterdam received his "gift", from the forests and Native American camps of the 17th century which evolves into modern Times Square in the city of New York.

Cast and characters

as John Amsterdam, a New York homicide detective (badge number 9298) who will become mortal again after he finds his one true love. As a side effect of the immortality ritual, John has a rare Native American

blood type A blood type (also known as a blood group) is a classification of blood, based on the presence and absence of antibodies and inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells (RBCs). These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrate ...

( RR), with lethal levels of lead (120 μg/dL). His blood also clots quickly, with a

platelet Platelets, also called thrombocytes (from Greek θρόμβος, "clot" and κύτος, "cell"), are a component of blood whose function (along with the coagulation factors) is to react to bleeding from blood vessel injury by clumping, thereby ini ...

level ten times normal, despite very low levels of

factor VIII Factor VIII (FVIII) is an essential blood-clotting protein, also known as anti-hemophilic factor (AHF). In humans, factor VIII is encoded by the ''F8'' gene. Defects in this gene result in hemophilia A, a recessive X-linked coagulation disorder. ...

. Later Dr. Dillane speculates that he may have

pluripotent Pluripotency: These are the cells that can generate into any of the three Germ layers which imply Endodermal, Mesodermal, and Ectodermal cells except tissues like the placenta. According to Latin terms, Pluripotentia means the ability for many thin ...

stem cells In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...

. He was born Johann van der Zee on June 1, 1607 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

. Amsterdam is only the latest of the aliases John has used, changing identities as often as once a decade. *

Zuleikha Robinson Zuleikha Robinson (born 29 June 1977) is a British actress. She first came to attention as Yves Adele Harlow, a mysterious thief on the 2001 series ''The Lone Gunmen''. She has appeared in the films ''Hidalgo'' (2004), ''The Merchant of Venice'' ...

as Eva Marquez, Amsterdam's new partner. She attended SUNY Binghamton. Her brother is also a police officer, and her father is police

Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

Eddie Marquez. Her mother is a history teacher at

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

. *

Alexie Gilmore Alexie Gilmore (born December 11, 1976) is an American actress who starred in ''New Amsterdam'' as Dr. Sara Dillane. She is featured in ''Definitely, Maybe'' and co-starred in ''Surfer, Dude''. Alexie also played the part of Kelly in '' Willow Cr ...

as Dr. Sara Millay Dillane, a

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

graduate who lives in the

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The traditional boundaries of the West Village are the Hudson River to the west, 14th Street (Manhattan ...

, within walking distance of St. Francis Hospital where she is an emergency room physician. Dr. Dillane pronounces Amsterdam dead after a heart attack, and he is convinced that she is "the one" (his soulmate). This is complicated by the revelation that she has been married for four years to Robert Camp, although they are currently separated. Sara initiates a divorce because her husband was having an ongoing affair. * Stephen Henderson as Omar York, who owns a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

club named Omar's: Bar–Grill, and is John's 65-year-old

son A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...

with schoolteacher Lily Rae Brown, an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

woman A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

. He is named after

Omar Khayyám Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīsābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131), commonly known as Omar Khayyam ( fa, عمر خیّام), was a polymath, known for his contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, an ...

Episodes

Production

''New Amsterdam'' was created by

Allan Loeb Allan Loeb (born July 25, 1969) is an American screenwriter and film and television producer. He wrote the 2007 film ''Things We Lost in the Fire (film), Things We Lost in the Fire'' and created the 2008 television series ''New Amsterdam (2008 TV ...

and Christian Taylor, who also served as executive producers alongside David Manson, Leslie Holleran, Steven Pearl and

Lasse Hallström Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström (; born 2 June 1946) is a Swedish film director. He first became known for directing almost all the music videos by the pop group ABBA, and subsequently became a feature film director. He was nominated for an Acade ...

. The latter also directed the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

. Produced by Laha Films,

Regency Television Regency Enterprises (commonly referred to as Regency onscreen and copyrighting as Regency Entertainment (USA), Inc. in the U.S. and Monarchy Enterprises S.á.r.l. overseas) is an American entertainment company formed by Arnon Milchan. It was foun ...

, Sarabande Productions and Scarlet Fire Entertainment, the series was greenlit and given a thirteen-episode order on May 11, 2007. The series was scheduled to premiere in the fall of 2007, consequently airing on Tuesday nights at 8:00/7:00c on

, but it was held as a

mid-season replacement In American network television scheduling, a mid-season replacement is a television show that premieres in the second half of the traditional television season, usually between December and May. Mid-season replacements usually take place after a ...

and began airing in March 2008. On Tuesday, October 16, 2007, an article in ''The Hollywood Reporter'' stated that production on ''New Amsterdam'' had been stopped for an indefinite period, with "seven episodes of the series in the can". The article also mentioned that Fox decided to review the series and then decide whether or not to order new episodes, something that the article writer asserted was considered to be unlikely. A pre-air version of the Pilot episode was leaked onto

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

file-sharing File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include ...

services on December 2, 2007. On January 23, 2008, Fox resumed airing commercials for the show stated "coming soon". Following the premiere another preview episode aired on March 6, 2008 (at 9:00 PM/8:00 PM Central), before the series moved to its regular timeslot on March 10, 2008. The series also aired on

Global Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

in Canada. Global ran the first episode one hour before the U.S. broadcast, and the second episode one day before the U.S. broadcast. On May 11, 2008, it was announced that Fox had decided to cancel ''New Amsterdam''. The show was nominated for a 2008

Emmy Award for Main Title Design This is a list of the winning and nominated programs of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Design presented for the best main title sequence in television programming. Prior to 1997, the award was presented for Outstanding Individ ...

, but lost to ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...

''.

Timeline

As of the pilot, John has had 609 girlfriends, a few wives, and 63 children. His current dog is ''Thirty-six''. John keeps a detailed family tree of all his wives and known descendants. His military service includes "the Army three times, Marines, Navy, Coast Guard...not the Air Force - don't like heights." John's descendants shown or mentioned in the series include: * John's daughter, Maggie (born c. 1891), known as "Em". In 1941 she is working as John's secretary. * John's son, Roosevelt "Rosie" Amsterdam (born 1894). ** Rosie's son, Theo Spoor. The retired boss of one of New York's mob families. The Spoor family owns Dutch's Painting of Alice, which they keep at the Spoor Brewery. *** Theo's grandson, Nicholas Spoor. The current boss of the mob family, and an FBI informant. *** Theo's grandson, Piers Spoor. Murdered by Nicholas to hide the FBI details. *** Theo's grandson, Alex Spoor. Murdered by Nicholas to hide the FBI details. * John's son, Omar York (born 1942). ** Omar's daughter, Hallie. *** Hallie's young son, Corey.

Reception

Works with a similar premise

The background idea behind the show, a present-day immortal who changes aliases to avoid detection, has been used elsewhere. After hearing about the upcoming series, author

Pete Hamill Pete Hamill (born William Peter Hamill; June 24, 1935August 5, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and editor. During his career as a New York City journalist, he was described as "the author of columns that sought to capture th ...

alleged that the show has similarities to the plot of his 2003 novel, ''Forever'', but producer David Manson claimed he had no knowledge of the book until after filming had wrapped. Other productions with similar foundations are the 2007 film ''

The Man from Earth ''The Man from Earth'' is a 2007 American science fiction drama film directed by Richard Schenkman. It was written by Jerome Bixby, who conceived the screenplay in the early 1960s and completed it on his deathbed in April 1998. It stars David Lee ...

'' (written in 1998); the ongoing ''Highlander'' franchise, which began in 1986; ''

Forever Knight ''Forever Knight'' is a Canadian television series about Nick Knight, an 800-year-old vampire working as a police detective in modern-day Toronto, Ontario. Wracked with guilt for centuries of killing others, he seeks redemption by working as a ho ...

'', a 1992 Canadian show about a vampire detective (which includes in each episode a flashback to previous years); and ''

Forever Forever or 4ever may refer to: Film and television Films * ''Forever'' (1921 film), an American silent film by George Fitzmaurice * ''Forever'' (1978 film), an American made-for-television romantic drama * ''Forever'' (1992 film), an American ...

'', a U.S. television series that aired in 2014. The premise was used as early as 1969, in the ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' episode "

Requiem for Methuselah "Requiem for Methuselah" is the nineteenth episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek''. Written by Jerome Bixby and directed by Murray Golden, it was first broadcast on February 14, 1969. In th ...

". An unrelated 2007 book also called ''New Amsterdam'', by the fantasy and science fiction writer

Elizabeth Bear Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky (born September 22, 1971) is an American author who works primarily in speculative fiction genres, writing under the name Elizabeth Bear. She won the 2005 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the 2008 Hugo A ...

, features an immortal vampire detective partnering with a forensic sorcerer to solve occult crimes in an alternate universe. Many of the issues John deals with are covered by

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...

Lazarus Long Lazarus Long is a fictional character featured in a number of science fiction novels by Robert A. Heinlein. Born in 1912 in the third generation of a selective breeding experiment run by the Ira Howard Foundation, Lazarus (birth name Woodrow Wi ...

series of books, specifically the melancholy of immortality and the sense of loss that accumulated through the death of loved ones (after ''

Time Enough for Love ''Time Enough for Love'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in 1973. The work was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1973 and both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1974. Plot The book cov ...

'').

References

Episode sources: : : : : : : : :

External links

* * {{Cite web , url=http://newamsterdam-forever.com/ , title=Fan site: New Amsterdam - Forever , access-date=November 8, 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714170600/http://newamsterdam-forever.com/ , archive-date=July 14, 2011 , url-status=dead , df=mdy-all 2008 American television series debuts 2008 American television series endings 2000s American crime drama television series 2000s American police procedural television series English-language television shows Fictional portrayals of the New York City Police Department Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Serial drama television series American time travel television series Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television shows set in New York City