I admit it - I'm addicted to immortal characters. First there was "Forever Knight," then "The Highlander" and "Angel." I've loved them all. This season, Fox has a new one, John Amsterdam of "New Amsterdam." For those that don't already know, 'New Amsterdam' was the original name of New York when the Dutch colonized it in the 17th century. When John saves an Indian girl from being killed by a fellow dutchman, she saves his life and bestows upon him immortality until such time as he finds "the one" and they are wed.
The show has only shown seven episodes, and I've seen all of them. They're all good so far, and I'm hoping that Fox will bring it back soon for more episodes. So far we've seen John as a coachman, a painter, a con artist, and an alcoholic. His son, Omar, is 65 years old, the offspring of John & a black woman in the 1940's. John's got a sense of humor that other immortals don't usually have: He stands up in an AA meeting and introduces himself, "Hello, my name is John and I'm an alcoholic. I haven't had a drink in 15,495 days." If you do the math, that's 42 years! He mentions his many wives frequently and he doesn't bother to name his dogs anymore - the current one is "36."
Why do I love immortals? I've often felt like one, I guess. While I'm only 47, I can certainly relate to the idea of outliving all of your friends (most of mine died of AIDS in the last 20 years) and re-inventing yourself over and over. I think those kinds of experiences have left me feeling older than I really am.
Give John Amsterdam a try, you might like him.
