I'm doin' it again

Rooting for the underdog relationship. [What were you thinking??]



Last night was the long-anticipated [at least by me] premiere of the FOX show New Amsterdam starring Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as John Amsterdam, an immortal NY City detective.

I like the show. [Normally the kiss of death since the powers that be in TV Land never seem to see the world the way I do, and they're all evil anyway] but I hold out hope that it will last long enough to really hit its stride before FOX, in its infinite ignorance [hey, they cancelled Firefly earning them the coveted and indelible title of STOOPID] decides to replace it with yet another insipid reality show. [Bitter much? Sorry, what was I saying? Oh.]

I like this show.

But, as usual, being a romance author, I don't fall for the obvious romance - and when I say 'obvious' I can only hope FOX isn't dumb enough to make it as obvious as they seem to be making it. John Amsterdam was made immortal by a Native American Shaman and he will remain so until he finds his true love and their 'souls are wed.' Interesting concept, not necessarily a gift, to hear John tell it. He's lived a long, long time without true love and bears the scars of it [much deeper than the sexy sword and bullet wounds he sports on his rather attractive chest].

They've set John up to fall for - or think he's falling for - the doctor who pronounces him dead after a literally heart-wrenching pain fells him in the subway moments after she appears.

Yada yada. I didn't find that part quite as endearing as the relationship between John and his new partner Eva. She's a no-nonsense cop [again, kiss of death for a warm fuzzy romance] assigned to him when he has a rep for chasing partners away [or having them die on him]. She takes no prisoners and doesn't put up with his tepid attempts to piss her off by calling her Detective Whatever Your Name Is. By the end of the show they're sharing a quiet moment in the bar and he's done her the favor of helping her complete her transfer out of his department. [Something I have a feeling won't stick.]

Here's the relationship I'm interested in. I don't care already if John ever meets his heart-stopping lady doc. She seemed generic in the few miniutes of screen time she was given in the pilot episode. Eva has a bit of substance - not quite enough yet to make her the perfect romance heroine, but she has potential. Of course, FOX won't do this. She'll be the long-suffering best friend who ends up loving him like a brother and they'll say - well, they're partners, they can't get together. To which I reply, Why the hell not? I'm a romance novelist, for heaven's sake. We do that kind of thing all the time and we do it well.

Sigh. I guess I'll just have to keep watching and waving my banner for yet another doomed relationship.