TV with MeeVee

"New Amsterdam" Star Lands In "Virtuality"

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is a star on the rise. Again. The Danish actor was the best thing about "New Amsterdam," Fox's broody and short-lived drama about a man given the power of immortality who chose to live as a New York cop. But "New Amsterdam" was killed off by low ratings (and maybe the writers strike). Now Coster-Waldau has been booked for another Fox production, the two-hour sci-fi drama "Virtuality," penned by "Battlestar Galactica" producer Ron Moore.

Apparently the backdoor pilot was set to start filming next month and lacked only a leading man. Coster-Waldau will be playing the captain of a starship whose crew whiles away a long journey played in advanced virtual-reality modules - like the holodeck on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" - and that's where the drama comes in.

Right: Coster-Waldau in "New Amsterdam."

Pilot Season: Busy Weekend For Network Execs

I'll just keep updating this item I think, because the pilot pickup news is coming fast and furious...

• Fox picked up J.J. Abrams "Fringe" and kept "'Til Death" alive but won't be going "Back To You" next season.
• "New Amsterdam" wasn't immortal after all.
• CW picked up "90210," complete with Jennie Garth, and "Stylista."
• CW also picked up a show Nikki Finke calls "This Is Our Money-Grubbing Attempt to Clone Gossip Girls But Not Call It A Spin-Off."
• And Nikki sez Tori Spelling might also be in "90210." Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
• Fox also picked up Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse."
• And the writers strike screwed up the whole process.

Morning Schmear Of TV News

• Live ads are making a comeback as one way to beat the DVR, and Jimmy Kimmel will be the next to offer them. (AdWeek)
• Writers strike cost "Desperate Housewives" some viewers, it appears. (Hollywood Reporter)
• CBS unveils big summer plans including - finally - plans to put "Swingtown" on the air. (Hollywood Reporter)
• First peek at the new girl on "Gossip Girl" - Michelle Trachtenberg of "Buffy." But - to your right - we found one they didn't have. (TV Addict)
• A look at the season finale of "New Amsterdam." (TV Squad)
• Our friend Tim Goodman lowers himself to praising CBS Monday comedies. Sort of. Still snobby, dude. (SFGate)
• Anderson Cooper for Katie Couric? Theo Epstein wouldn't make that trade. (TV Squad)
• Verdict on last night's "How I Met Your Mother." (TV Squad)

Morning Reading: What Shows Are Coming Back?

• Handicapping the future of some of TV's on-the-bubble series. (Hollywood Reporter)
• At least we know "Prison Break" is coming back. (GMMR)
• But "Jericho" almost certainly isn't. (TV Decoder)
• I think I'm still more excited about the female spinoff of "Prison Break," but, uh, word is that Fox is cooking up a contemporary "90210" spinoff. (Hollywood Reporter)
• Ratings bode well for "Canterbury's Law," not so much "New Amsterdam." But the real joy is that Dennis Miller's "Amne$ia" totally sucked it. (Televisionista)

Honestly, I don't have a link for this, but the funniest thing I've seen on TV all week was Dennis Miller and Bill O'Reilly - Bill O'Reilly! - waxing wroth over Gov. Spitzer's scandals. I mean, Bill, loofah this.

"New Amsterdam" Premieres Amidst Centuries Of Cop-Show Cliche

There's been a distinct lack of buzz for Fox's new supernatural detective show "New Amsterdam," so I didn't go in expecting much. It's also a concept that's been more or less done before, a few times, but I'm willing to allow that there are new things that could be done with the immortal guy in a nice trenchcoat. Unfortunately, "New Amsterdam" does exactly none of them. Aside from a rather charming throwaway about our hero taking a photograph of Times Square every year, I didn't see a scene or hear a line of dialogue that I haven't more or less heard before.

In classic cop cliché, we meet John Amsterdam as he's being hooked up with his new partner, Eva. She's a tough lady cop who didn't want this assignment, but is bound and determined not to get pushed away or killed as all Amsterdam's partners seem to. Amsterdam wants to get rid of her, but he's more interested in solving the murder of a young woman who he identifies as not a prostitute by her expensive perfume. It is at roughly this point that the friend who I roped into watching this premiere with me starts giving me pointed looks. Her righteous indignation is understandable, I made her watch the "Painkiller Jane" premiere with me too.

"New Amsterdam" Star Talks To Bloggers

John Amsterdam is a New York detective unlike any you'll find on "Law & Order."

Way back in 1642, as a Dutch soldier serving in what was then called New Amsterdam, he saved the life of a Native American girl, who picked up her peace pipe and gave him the magic toke of immortality, or something like that. (The flashback is a little dark.) Now he's the "living embodiment of New York City," says Fox, which sounds like a wild party, except that everyone he knows gets old and dies, and he doesn't. Bummer. He won't be released from predicament until he meets his soulmate. But then, while he's fighting crime in the Big Apple in the present day, a foot pursuit hands him a near-death experience, and he knows his one true (and final) love must be near...

Fox's "New Amsterdam" is a cop show under a Native American spell. Lasse Hallstrom directed the pilot:  Not bad. Its first two episodes bow on Tuesday and Thursday after "American Idol," before settling in on Monday nights next week.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Amsterdam, got on the phone with a small group of TV writers, mostly bloggers and other online types, to talk about it. Edited highlights...

Question: I was wondering if you could actually live to be 400 years old, when do you think boredom would start to kick in?
Coster-Waldau: That’s a good question. I think anxiety would kick in a little sooner, and fear. I guess John Amsterdam is a little lucky. He’s lucky the way he happens to be blessed or cursed in New York. Doing this show, of course, I’ve been reading a lot on the history of New York, and its breathtaking the amount of events that have unfolded in this city. So, I’m not sure he’s been bored. Here, where I am right now, yes, I think 400 years is maybe pushing it a little bit, yes. I would say 124 years.

Morning Links Festival Returns To Fenway Park For Game 6

• Rundown on "America's Next Top Model" and acrophobia. (BuzzSugar)
• Worrying about "30 Rock" going all "Will & Grace" with the guest stars. (TiFaux)
• Daily Show's new web site includes a complete archive, how cool is that? (BuzzSugar)
• The annoying husband/father on "Gilmore Girls" is going to be a boyfriend for Addison on "Private Practice." (TV Guide) Just saying "Private Practice" already makes me yawn, though.
• A roundup of season orders and airdates (or in the case of "New Amsterdam," lack of airdates). (E! Online)

Morning Reads

Excellent recap of Monday's "Weeds" episode at TV Squad. They've finally caught up with the advance DVD and I'm going to have to start paying attention on Monday nights. I skipped "Californication" entirely this week. The Squad also recaps the first half of the season finale of "The Closer." ... Bill Murray "explains" his golf cart drunken driving arrest in Stockholm. ... The question of originality surrounding Fox's "New Amsterdam" keeps coming up. But at least Pete Hamill says he's not going to sue.

"Bones" Replaces "New Amsterdam" on Fall Sked

Maybe there's a curse on immortal-detective shows this season. Maybe it's some kind of David Boreanaz/"Angel" mojo.

CBS' "Moonlight," about a vampire private eye, has been playing musical showrunners for weeks now, most recently shedding former "Angel" honcho David Greenwalt in favor of former "Millennium" honcho Chip Johannessen. Several supporting roles have been recast too, reportedly. And now Fox's "New Amsterdam," about an immortal detective in New York City, has been pushed back to midseason, as Fox handed over its time slot to Boreanaz and "Bones" in a schedule reshuffle.

"Bones," starring Boreanaz as an FBI agent and Emily Deschanel as a forensic anthropologist, will now air on Tuesdays at 8, right before the ratings juggernaut and critical favorite "House." The summer sort-of -hit/"Singing Bee" clone "Don't Forget The Lyrics" will take the Thursday 9 p.m. slot, while Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares" will move from that slot to the old "Bones" time period, Wednesdays at 9 p.m.

It's all part of Fox's attempt to strengthen its fall schedule, which has generally languished in recent years while the network got all its ratings punch with the arrival of "American Idol" and "24" in January. Some mild erosion for those shows - including a drubbing from fans and critics for this season of "24" - suggest Fox is smart to concentrate on building a season-long strategy instead of abandoning the fall to the baseball playoffs and repeats as in the past. After all, no one lives forever.