The TV doctors on New Amsterdam are here to shake things up in the medical system just as much New Amsterdam, the show, is here to shake up the medical drama. The new series stars Ryan Eggold as Dr. Max Goodwin, the medical director of one of the oldest public hospitals in the country. What else do you need to know? Well, how about…
1. It's based on true events.
"What makes New Amsterdam different from the rest of the medical dramas that you find on television is it's based on true events," series star Jocko Sims told E! News.
The series is based on Eric Manheimer's book Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital. Dr. Manheimer was the medical director of Bellevue.
"It is a TV, but Eric Manheimer…is on set. We have nurses, doctors and medical professionals on set, and we're trying to keep it grounded in real life," Eggold said. "Not trying to get it go to TV land or over the top or too fake, or any of that stuff, and try to have a real conversation about things that we're all dealing with."
2. Don't expect (too many) medical drama clichés.
"It's way more character-driven," Tyler Labine told us.
3. The ensemble cast includes an inanimate thing.
In addition to Eggold as Dr. Max Goodwin, Freema Agyeman as Dr. Hana Sharpe, Janet Montgomery as Dr. Laura Bloom, Sims as Dr. Floyd Pearson, Anupam Kher as Dr. Anil Kapoor, and Labine as Dr. Iggy Frome, the cast also includes New Amsterdam, the hospital. "The hospital itself is a main character in the show," Labine said. "Which I think adds a really unique element."
"It's a very detailed, well-fleshed out character in the show," Agyeman said about the hospital.
4. It's topical.
There's "real, sort of emotional content that we can all relate to because the stakes with life and death can't' be any higher and I think we can all relate to that in a very base way," Labine said.
5. It's topical, but it won't be political.
"We're not going to hit you over the head with any sort of political agenda, we're just going to give you the truth and expose it the way that it is," Sims said.
6. It'll be educational with some "life hacks."
Labine said the series takes a look at healthcare in a new way, and viewers could come away from a viewing experience with new approaches to dealing with their own insurance providers. "We learned in the show that you could negotiate your hospital bill," Labine said. "I didn't know that. I've never heard that in my life."
"It's not preachy at all," Labine added.
7. The cast is from pretty diverse backgrounds.
Labine has a background in comedy, Eggold in action dramas, Agyeman in sci-fi, etc.
"I think the thing I'm most proud of is…I think all of us are getting an opportunity to really stretch our legs a little bit," Labine said. "I think that I've been watching a lot of actors…We've all been through it. We're all seasoned actors, for the most part character actors, and we're all getting to play these very solid, awesome, rounded actors where we get to flex all of our chops at the same time. I'm proud of that, as a cast, watching all my now friends…get to, like, flex, it's cool, it's really neat."
New Amsterdam premieres Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 10 p.m. on NBC.
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)