New Amsterdam: Anupam Kher's American Medical Drama Series Fails to Impress the Critics

Anupam Kher, who was last seen playing an evil moneylender in Love Sonia, is starring a new medical drama series called New Amsterdam. Playing one of the important supporting characters in the show, Anupam Kher had even asked for the blessings of his friends and colleagues in the industry as New Amsterdam was about to premiere. He had tweeted, "My series @NBCNewAmsterdam premieres tonight. I need your wishes very badly. So here is my #WishMeGoodLuckChallenge to @NazaninBoniadi @RanvirShorey @bomanirani @KapilMishra_IND @TAPMofficial @iam_juhi @soundarya_20 @misskaul @karanjohar @iHrithik @kumailn @vivekagnihotri."

Well, the show premiered on NBC and while Anupam Kher has received good praise for his act as the hospital's head of neurology, Dr Vijay Kapoor, on social media, the same cannot be said about New Amsterdam itself. New Amsterdam has been getting poor reviews, with critics saying that it doesn't hold a candle in front of other iconic shows in the same genre as ER, Grey's Anatomy etc. The reviews blame the direction and the Patch-Adams like treatment of the narrative for New Amsterdam to not create the needed impact. Check out some of the reviews below -

Vulture says, "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. The opening salvos of Dr Goodwin’s journey toward self-realization keep all of New Amsterdam’s over-obvious aphoristic messaging, but jettison what little the show had in entertainment value."

USA Today says, "'Amsterdam' ticks off enough boxes in the medical-drama checklist to satisfy viewers who come just for the last-minute surgical rescues. It may be obnoxiously cheesy, but it can still drain your tear ducts. But the genre is seeing a renaissance, and there are other choices, such as ABC's still-rocking "Grey's" or the schmaltzy "Good Doctor." The best medical dramas have something going for them besides the blood and scrubs. This one is simply dead on arrival."

NPR says, "There is so much going on in this first hour that it becomes comical: possible dangerous outbreaks, possible terrorism connections, immigration policy, bringing someone back from the dead, a debate about interracial dating, a pregnancy imperiled, a spunky younger doctor who takes a risk for a patient (and needs Dr. Max to tell her what to do next), and a wise Indian doctor (played by the very great Anupam Kher) who's maybe the only person besides Max who's allowed to be right about anything."

The Hollywood Report says, "New Amsterdam is less glibly cynical than Fox's The Resident and less wholly forgettable than CBS' Pure Genius, yet it has many similar "Here's what's wrong with medicine today!" DNA strands. Without looking at my notes from episodes I watched a day ago, I couldn't tell you specifics about any of the cases our team of intrepid doctors solved. One involved Ebola. One featured an overmedicated kid. Nothing in medical methodology or narrative approach stood out. 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.

Well, it is just an episode down, and we hope that New Amsterdam can rise from these bad reviews to be a better show. The series also stars Ryan Eggold, Freema Agyeman, Janet Montgomery, Jocko Sims, and Tyler Labine.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 26, 2018 12:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).