Yes, John Amsterdam is one of those jaded immortals. Just like Marie Osmond was "a little bit country" and Donny was "a little bit rock 'n' roll", Amsterdam--both the series and the man--is a little bit Highlander and a little bit Angel, with just a pinch of C.S.I. New York and a dash of Law and Order thrown in.

 
     The central premise of the series is that centuries ago, during a Dutch raid on a Native American tribe, Amsterdam (played ably by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) saved one of the native women from being killed, at nearly the cost of his own life. As "thanks", the woman(Tamara Podemski)--a shaman for her tribe--healed John and told him that he'd never grow old and never die, until he found his one true love and their souls would unite. Ever since then, John Amsterdam(if that's even his true name...the writers never decide to tell us other-wise) has drifted through the centuries, gaining and losing lovers--and at least one of those aforementioned children--along the way. Accumulating knowledge and skills, such as how to carve masterpiece furniture and a wealth of other arcane info which aids him in his work as a detective.

     In his capacity as an NYPD detective, John is both respec-ted by his colleagues, who also look upon him with a wary eye, believing he has a death wish...which in fact, John does. He only has one friend, a bar owner named Omar(Stephen Henderson), who knows he's immortal. He leaves his lovers almost immediately, which comes back to haunt him later in the episode. And when he's forcibly partnered with Eva Mar-quez(Zuleikha Robinson), a new assignee to the homicide division, he tells her in no uncertain terms that she won't want to be his partner for long. Like most immortals, John has attachment issues. After pursuing a murder suspect to a sub-way platform, John collapses of a heart attack when the woman who might be his true love happens by. After waking up in the morgue, John is overjoyed to realize his long life might finally be near its end. Ah, love!

 
     The woman in question is one Dr. Sara Dillane(Alexie Gilmore), who rushes John to the hospital after his collapse, works to save him, then declares him dead. We're only briefly introduced to her so that we can establish that she's a doctor and that she might be the one John's searched for all his life. Other than that, she's a null factor, just like the other woman in John's life, detective Marquez. Perhaps it's a choice on the part of the writers to wait until subsequent episodes to flesh the two characters out, but I don't think so. Whereas in the show all the men have respectable amounts of dialogue and things to do, the women--from a grieving mother to a barten-der--are stock characters placed in the scenes to look pretty, serve a purpose quickly, then leave. It's the same principle as using a hooker, only more money's involved.

     Aside from the dearth of good female roles here, New Amsterdam's main problem--which could very well turn out to be a fatal one, if not corrected immediately--is that there is absolutely nothing in this show we haven't seen before. The "blessing" bestowed upon him by the shaman is simply a type of reversal of the curse bestowed upon David Boreanaz in Angel(in that case, if he found true happiness, he'd turn evil). The detectives' dialogue during the police procedurals can be predicted nearly word-for-word if you've ever watched more than one episode of any police show that's ever been on television(trust me, I did it while watching). And obviously John doesn't want to die too badly if he's never thought of simply having someone cut his head off--another snatch of dialogue, this time from the 2nd episode's trailer. I'm pretty certain beheading's fatal for most immortals...it was in High-lander, where John's dour mood and former alcoholism is borrowed from heavily. New Amsterdam also manages to hit on several immortal cliches right in its first episode, including the knock of having John run into an old woman by chance, who just happens to have been a former lover. Well, they say if you live long enough in New York, you'll meet everyone.

 
     It's a shame really, because the cast is actually quite competent, and very likeable--especially Henderson(Keane, Conviction) as John's bar buddy. The premise of an immortal can always have potential, if one is willing to turn certain of the standard conceits on their ear instead of adhering slav-ishly to what has gone before. Unfortunately, New Amsterdam does the latter, and squanders the viewers' good will before we even hit the ten minute mark. If this show doesn't die by its third episode, that will truly be a miracle.

 
     As for me...I'm all in favor of lopping off its head right now.