New Amsterdam (2018)

New Amsterdam will satisfy fans of the genre. It’s somewhat predictable, with a moderate dose of prime-time soapiness. But with Eggold’s strong performance and an interesting supporting cast, this show could be the right prescription to attract a following.

New Amsterdam tends to rather tidily resolve all of its patient crises in these first two episodes. It also can get treacly at times, particularly when Coldplay’s “Fix You” hovers over the closing minutes of the premiere hour. The long-term diagnosis is iffy at best, with the main characters and their cases coming off as not that special or interesting.

Perhaps the show will develop, but in the first two episodes given to critics to review, it’s simply boring in its predictable moralizing. The show isn’t awful enough to be hemorrhaging or flatlining but watching it is long, drawn-out suffering for which the only sweet release is the end credits sequence.

It’s a fine if unremarkable broadcast network-style series.

The problem is that no matter how many side characters and plots the series adds into the mix--and it adds a lot--the doctor who’s supposed to be its main catalyst for change is so irritating that he ends up overshadowing the more promising elements.

Eggold is appealing, in an old-fashioned, "Marcus Welby" kind of way, and the show does contain a few unexpected twists. The series is loosely based on a medical administrator's memoir, but the idea of a square-jawed doctor who really, really cares feels like an awfully familiar procedure.

New Amsterdam...is not based on one show but every medical drama in TV history going right back to 1954's Medic.

It doesn't do much good having a hospital in which basically every permutation of medical case is possible if every case feels like a pale imitation of something that worked on another medical show.

Heartfelt, well-meaning and dull. ... Mr. Eggold has an easy charisma, but ... It all feels too smooth and forgettable.

New Amsterdam isn't bad so much as it is wearily predictable. We've seen this all before, but we keep coming back for more.

New Amsterdam makes it clear this isn’t just going to be a regular medical drama. This is going to be a very, very dumb medical drama. ... The show’s stated intent--to be a medical fantasy about doctors actually helping people--is beautifully dumb, but at least it’s occasionally funny.

It’s about a jerk doctor who is fixated on rebelling against bloated health-care bureaucracy. ... An attempt near the end of the premiere episode to privately humanize Goodwin comes too late; New Amsterdam suffers extreme organ failure, starting with an infection in its heart.