Stuff I Haven't Talked About Before.

If you're looking for the round-robin writing game, Sophie From Shinola, its here.
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Hell of a creative title, huh? Live with it.

Based on the responses I got to my post about the possibility of me posting about American Idol, I know that most of you are TV snobs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, You don't watch TV. Well, I do. And I've got a new favorite.

Fox (go figure) has a show that's been on for four or five weeks called New Amsterdam. You can read the Wiki article, for an explanation, but I'll try to tell you what it's about (apostrophe for MWT). John Amsterdam was born in the mid-1600's and he's immortal. Some Native-American chick told him he wouldn't age until he found his one true love. He's currently a NYC homicide detective. Each episode has him solving a crime and flashing back to his past lives. He also hangs out with a really old bartender who happens to be his son from a marriage in the 1940's.

It turns out that sometimes he clues in his family that he'll live forever and sometimes makes sure a relationship falls apart so he can maintain his secret. There's a terrific scene where he's attending his Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and he says, "I'm John; I'm an alcoholic and I've been sober for 15, 330 days". Since he looks like he's in his early 30's, this takes the group by surprise.

There's also the plot line where he's sure that a doctor who treated him for a heart attack (he died on the table and then woke up and walked out of the morgue), is his one true love. She's in a bad marriage and wary of him. Last week, he admitted to her that his big secret is that he's 400 years old, but, of course, she doesn't believe him and wants to know what he's really concealing.

Last night's episode had him taking down a mobster who he realizes is his Great-great-grandson from another of his past-wives...a woman who left him with their son when he had an affair with a woman who was modeling for him in his incarnation as a painter. It turns out she realized she was aging and he "looked and acted just like the day they met".

This all sounds terribly convoluted and I'm sure I'm not explaining it very well, but this is a terrific show. So far, each episode reveals more about Amsterdam's past (proper apostrophe for MWT and Shawn), and unlike a lot of shows, this one seems like it has unlimited possibilities for future plots.

Give this one a look. Each episode stands on its own without many needless cliffhangers, so you should be able to catch up without too much brain-bending. I will warn you that you actually need to pay attention when you're watching, otherwise you'll be lost really quickly.

I'm about to hit the "publish" button fully realizing that this may be my least coherent post ever. But I'm OK with that. Just watch the friggin' show and we'll talk about it next week.