New Amsterdam is a procedural drama with a twist. It stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as police detective John Amsterdam. His co-stars include Zuleikha Robinson as his new partner Eva Marques and Stephen Henderson as Omar, the owner of a jazz club and the only one who knows John's secret. The one-hour drama premiered on March 4, 2008 on Fox and airs on Mondays at 8p EST.

Let me warn you that this is not a family show. Within the first two minutes, there were scenes of dead bodies, a couple having sex, and an ancient war. These scenes would be too upsetting for my fourth-grader but they weren't so graphic that I wouldn't let my ninth-grader watch them.

So what's the twist? John Amsterdam is immortal. He was a Dutch soldier when back in the 1600s he saved the life of a Native American princess. She rewards (or curses?) John by making him immortal until he finds his one true love. Having lived in New York since it was called New Amsterdam has made John an expert on the city. His knowledge proves to be a valuable asset to him as police detective.

RECAP (SPOILERS BELOW)

The case in the pilot is the death of a socialite. While working this case, John meets his new partner, Eva Marques. We learn that John has a habit of chasing away his partners because he acts as though he has a death wish. After determining that the socialite's boyfriend is the main suspect, John tracks him down and corners him in the subway. Just as he is about to bring him in, John collapses. He is taken to the hospital and worked on by a female doctor who happened to be on the train. John's heart stops and he is taken to the morgue after being pronounced dead. John then wakes up and walks out of the hospital without telling anyone, which makes the hospital staff wonder where his body has gone. John immediately goes to his friend Omar and tells him that he thinks he was close to the one that the shaman spoke of because his heart exploded in a way that it never had before. Omar is skeptical and worried that searching for this woman would make John crazy. John solves the murder by using skills he has honed over hundreds of years, including lip reading. Back at the hospital, the doctor is perplexed by John's blood work which shows that he has a rare Native American blood type that died out years ago. At the end of the episode, we see John checking the subway surveillance cameras to figure out who his soul mate might be, and he settles on the doctor.

The biggest weakness this show has is the procedural part of it. The murder in the pilot was not a compelling mystery. In fact, I didn't really care about it. The show suffers from the same problem that The Closer and Journeyman does. The detective work is just there to give the writers a reason to show off the main character's talents or put a certain group of characters in the same room. In the case of New Amsterdam, I'm not sure that the I'm-so-tired-of-being-immortal bit is going to be enough to hold the attention of viewers for long.

I did find many things to like about this show, though. The actors are not ones that I am familiar with, but they all clicked with me. I liked the fact that the writers gave John someone that already knows his secret. I get frustrated with shows where the hero has to struggle through several episodes without anyone in his life who understands his plight. It also tickles me that although John doesn't come straight out and tell everyone that he is immortal, he doesn't seem to be trying to hide it, either. He will stand up in an AA meeting and say that he has been sober since 1965 and be totally serious about it.

If you didn't get a chance to see the pilot, you can check it out for free on Hulu.com (which is now out of private beta and open to the public) or on Fox's own website. You can also buy the episodes on iTunes.