New Amsterdam: Pilot

September 25, 2018 8:26 PM - Season 1, Episode 1

The premiere of the drama about a new medical director, Max Goodwin, at America's oldest hospital, as he sets out to tear up the bureaucracy and provide exceptional care.

IndieWire Review - Nothing New and Plenty to Damn in NBC’s Condescending Medical Show

Variety review: "“New Amsterdam,” like its supposed hero, ostensibly has good intentions. It wants to do a medical show with an inclusive cast that can, thanks to the hospital’s public standing and sprawling services, tell stories about a wider swath of people. But in the meantime, it’s weighed down by an albatross of a main character who, despite his best and oft expressed wishes, isn’t helping much at all."

TV Fanatic review - How Can I Help?

posted by oh yeah! (10 comments total)

Wow was that a terrible pilot. Just cringeworthy. Oof. Definitely won't be watching any further episodes, hope that the talented members of the cast find better projects next time around.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:32 PM on September 25, 2018

I didn't watch the show, and probably won't, but I was forced to watch the trailer and OMG, I thought it was an SNL digital short. I can't believe it's not a parody.
posted by LizBoBiz at 11:56 PM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

So they looked at House and thought, let's make our doctor a BIGGER asshole ? At least House had Hugh Laurie.
posted by Pendragon at 1:48 AM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

But House was intended to be an asshole, I don’t think these writers actually want the audience to find Max insufferably off-putting, I think we’re supposed to think he’s a wonderful rebel against the system. Just like I think they want us to be thinking ‘reverse racism’ when the black doctor tells the white-lady doctor that he’s not interested in hooking up with her again.

It’s just amazing to me that the pilot script got green-lit, and then actually commissioned for more episodes once they saw the finished product. That nobody involved saw the pilot and said “we’ve made a terrible mistake” and shelved it.
posted by oh yeah! at 7:32 AM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

This just makes me think fondly of the New Amsterdam show from a few years ago with Jamie Lannister as yet another immortal detective.
posted by kmz at 8:29 AM on September 26, 2018 [8 favorites]

I didn't hate it as much as oh yeah! It was a bog-standard mediocre medical drama. Grey's Anatomy without the early-seasons charm. That doesn't mean it's worth watching. And I guess I'd rather a show try to be more and fail than shoot for mediocre from the start. So not good but I didn't cringe as hard as I did to the commercials. The pompous speechifying made more sense in context.
posted by Justinian at 7:55 PM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

I think we’re supposed to think he’s a wonderful rebel against the system.

I think we're supposed to believe that too but I prefer to think he's just off his rocker 'cause he's dying. (well, ok, SCC is usually not fatal iirc.)
posted by Justinian at 7:57 PM on September 26, 2018

I haven't watched this but I keep hearing commericals where he fires the entire cardiology department for "putting billing before providing care", which is depicted as a bold, compassionate move. Yeah, dipshit, way to go. All those people out of work with no notice and now your hospital has no one available for a huge part of hospital care. Super smart, asshole, I wonder how many people will die because of that.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 10:47 AM on September 27, 2018

D1: If you can't treat him as a doctor, treat him as a human.
D2: Am I allowed to do that?
D1: You are now.

I am saddened to have messed with a perfectly good nap for that bit of dialogue.
posted by neilbert at 7:01 AM on September 28, 2018

At first this post confused the heck out of me, thinking it was about New Amsterdam with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (GoT's Jaime Lannister) as an immortal who's been a NYC cop of some sort since the 80's - the 1880's (or something) who has flashbacks.
posted by porpoise at 8:32 PM on September 28, 2018