Here's The Incredible True Story Behind NBC's 'New Amsterdam'
Most shows are pretty straightforward with their titles. This Is Us, for instance, is a show about a family who is just like us. Manifest is a show about a manifest of people on an airplane whose flight undergoes an extraordinary experience. The Voice is about...well, you get the picture. But New Amsterdam bucks this trend. It's a show with a title that doesn't hint at all what the series is about, or reveal New Amsterdam is based on a true story.
Part of the reason for this is New Amsterdam originally had a different working title. Plus, FOX already had a series by the same name not too long ago back in 2008 which was a supernatural-themed series. It only lasted one season, but fans who assume this show is also on the fantasy side of the line due to the title, there's a rationale behind your assumptions.
But the real reason for it not being called New Amsterdam was the original title of the show was far more straightforward. When Deadline announced the show had been greenlit for a pilot, the show was called Bellevue. NBC changed the title after they picked up the show for a pilot commitment last year.
NBC has given a put pilot commitment to Bellevue, an hourlong medical drama from David Schulner, Peter Horton and Universal TV. Written by Schulner, Bellevue is produced by Dr. Eric Manheimer, MD, the former medical director at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital and author of the memoir Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital, on whose true story the series is based.
Since being picked up, the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Manheimer's doctor character has been renamed Max Goodwin. Bellevue has been renamed New Amsterdam Hospital. Hence the title change.
But when it comes to the story, the facts remain mostly the same. In this clip, actor Ryan Eggold, who plays Goodwin, and Manheimer give us a behind-the-scenes look at how the show was inspired by Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital.
Inspired by Bellevue, the oldest public hospital in America, this unique medical drama follows the brilliant and charming Dr. Max Goodwin, the institution’s newest medical director who sets out to tear up the bureaucracy and provide exceptional care. How can he help? Well, the doctors and staff have heard this before. Not taking “no” for an answer, Dr. Goodwin must disrupt the status quo and prove he will stop at nothing to breathe new life into this understaffed, underfunded and under-appreciated hospital — the only one in the world capable of treating Ebola patients, prisoners from Rikers and the President of the United States under one roof — and return it to the glory that put it on the map.
New Amsterdam is part of this week's spate of premieres at NBC. The series airs its first episode on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018, at 10 p.m. ET, directly following This Is Us' Season 3 debut.
