New Amsterdam (1.1) and Jericho (2.4)

Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 at 9 PM

FOX

New Amsterdam, Season 1 - Pilot

FOX

Warning: SPOILERS!

Manatee: 'Morning Marmot. I watched some pretty bad TV last night. How about you? I started with the pilot of New Amsterdam. The hour seemed to take forever... which brings me to my #1 pet peeve with this show - there's a novel called "Forever" by Pete Hammil.

This is Amazon's summary: "...His recovery takes a miraculous turn when... Tomora, appears and grants Cormac eternal life and youth-so long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan, thus the "Forever" of the title. Cormac fights in the American Revolution...and lives into the New York of 2001. In that year he warily falls in love with Delfina, a streetwise Dominican ("That was the curse attached to the gift: You buried everyone you loved"),... [this] is beautifully woven around historical events and characters, but it is Hamill's passionate pursuit of justice and compassion-Celtic in foundation-that distinguishes this tale of New York City and its myriad peoples."

I feel as though last night's TV show pulled a few lines from this blurb, or maybe directly from the book.

Marmot: I know what you mean about the pace. I feel like we watched all 500 years that he's been alive in real time. Why is his name the same as the former name of the city he lives in? If this was set in Istanbul, would his name be John Constantinople? This premise if kinda flimsy, if you ask me. I read this script a year ago and it went into greater detail with exactly how he is immortal, but last night's episode completely lost me.

Manatee: Putting aside the supernatural for a sec, what's up with crime fighting aspect of this show? It feels like a bad, bad episode of Law & Order. The crimes are in the background of Amsterdam's storyline, and only serve to further his torture and pain of eternal life. We learn that he has to find "the one" to become mortal again, and that he lost his 6 year old son (as the victim's mother herself grieves).

Marmot: The victim's mother was great...telling the cops to get out when they come to question her? It's like she already knew all the cop show cliches and has just been waiting for a chance to use them. I agree, the detective aspect feels forced. I think the initial idea was a detective show with a twist (isn't there enough of these already?), but the immortal aspect would be just as interesting if he worked security at Madison Square Garden, or sold hotdogs from a cart in Times Square.

Manatee: The Amsterdam character reminds me of Detective Robert Goren (from Law & Order Criminal Intent) - a know-it-all cop, except he has hundreds of years of experience under his belt, not just academic knowledge; played with much less skill than Vincent D'Onofrio (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays Amsterdam). Yet no one really questions why he knows where a speak easy used to be, let alone question what a speak easy is?! How often does that word come up in 2008. Even his new partner, Eva Marquez (Zuleikha Robinson, who was great on Rome) just gives him a silly look, like "Amsterdam, you so crazy."

Marmot: Who is this guy? Actually, who are the entire cast? I don't know how I feel about it. On one hand, its nice to have fresh faces that don't bring any of their past roles to the show, and on the other hand, they all kind of suck. Actually, the whole show feels a lot like Life on NBC. Especially the dynamic between him and his partner. Except, not nearly as good, of course.

Manatee: I have to say the worst part of the show was the last 5 minutes. I wanted to jump out of my skin when the screen filled with the end montage of visual effects showing Amsterdam with the Indians up to present. What?

Marmot: That circle pan? WTF? That was horrible. Plus, we got it during the scene with the photographs. Way to beat me over the head with the fact that he's hundreds of years old.

Manatee: If you can't do it well, don't do it. If you don't have the VFX money, take it out. I get that Amsterdam has been around the block. I could tell from the first flashback of mangy hair, fake beards, and ripped up rags that he's had the pleasure of seeing a really Native American. There was no need, no need at all to refresh my memory with that terrible green screen action.

Marmot: Do you think future episodes will have flashbacks to previous times in his life, a la LOST? Like what he was up to during the 1800s? This would probably help the show by taking time away from the cop work, which is nothing new. And why do all cases wrap up in the space of 1 episode? I wouldn't mind if I case was carried across multiple episodes or a whole season. And do they only work on one case at a time? Are there really that many detectives?

To Be Continued.... Episode #2 airs this Thursday

Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 at 10 PM

CBS

Jericho, Season 2, Episode 4 - "Oversight"

CBS

Warning: SPOILERS!

Manatee: The best part of TV last night was from approximately 10:56 to 10:59 PM. The deaf sister dying definitely woke me out of my Jericho slumber. I'm surprised that with only 3 episodes left to the season, last night's Jericho was so slow. I don't think it's a surprise that the show will probably not come back for a season 3, so why hold back? They should be going all out, but the writers seem to be struggling.

Marmot: I was thinking the same thing. Blow some shit up already! You know you only have 7 episodes, lets wrap this up and go out with a bang. We need all of the usual TV show stories: weddings, babies, deaths, war, famine, street racing, flashbacks, flashforwards, amnesia, evil twin and "a very special Jericho".

Manatee: I'm confused by the coming and going of certain characters, such as: Mary (the bartender), Dale's Girlfriend (What's her name?!), and so on.

Marmot: I think Dale's girlfriend is named Grunhilda. Or Jenny. Something like that.

Manatee: I was a die hard fan of Season 1; I loved the premise, the writing, the actors, but now I no longer feel invested in these characters or what they are doing.

Marmot: Really? I hated this show from the first episode. But yet, I watched loyally. Why? Because I'm a sucker. But this season has been much better for me. Still bad, but not quite as bad.

Manatee: It varies from one of my all time favs Prison Break - though you have to suspend belief for an hour, which I am okay with since it is TV - but the writers of Prison Break plant seeds in episode two that come up again in twelve. That takes careful planning and quite a bit of talent. Come on Jericho writers, why can't something blow up? Another war maybe? But this time, maybe the war could break out before the last episode (highly unlikely at this point). I admit that the show makes me think about the "what ifs." The what if the government did blow their own country up? What if the US spilt in half? What if we had a president that was not elected by the people ;)

Marmot: I just hope that the nuke that Jake thinks is so easily mobile goes off and destroys the whole town. By the way, the best part of last night's episode? Stanley's "Red Dawn" reference. WOLVERINES!!!

Manatee: How will there be a revolution in 3 episodes?

Marmot: Just another case for setting off that nuke.

To Be Continued.... Next Wednesday