A Shout-Out For Some Feel-Good TV!

Stressed out?  In need of some feel-good to counteract Brett Kavanaugh and other natural disasters ubiquitous in every news cycle?  Have I got a couple of shows for you!

Unless you were under a rock all summer, you probably saw some previews and/or witnessed the networks drumming up some buzz for these shows.  Do feel-good shows usually hit the TV big-times?  I couldn't swear the truth one way or the other, but I checked out the pilot eps of both of these shows and they were AWESOME, so I wanted to share.

GOD FRIENDED ME is about a young podcaster (Brandon Micheal Hall) who is literally friended on social media by God, as the title suggests.  The young atheist scoffs, but The God Account is good at getting his attention via his smart appliances and a ton of synchronicity.  Pretty soon he and his hacker friend Rakesh (Suraj Sharma) are joined by writer Cara Bloom (Violett Beane), sleuthing it all out, bringing people together, and helping them in ways that get sentimentalists like me all dewy-eyed.  And I like the twinkle-in-the-eye chemistry between the leads.  This show is escapist for sure, but taps the same markets as Touched By An Angel and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (look 'em up, Millenials!) did in halcyon days gone by.

You can see God Friended Me on CBS Sundays, directly after 60 Minutes, or catch it on CBS All-Access and HULU Live TV.

NEW AMSTERDAM is based on the book Twelve Patients: Life And Death at Bellevue Hospital by Eric Manheimer, MD.  Ryan Eggold stars as Dr. Max Goodwin, the medical director for the "oldest hospital in the country".  Of course he's your usual crusading medico, but with a few twists.  His wife, Georgia (Lisa O'Hare) just gave birth to his baby.  Oh, yeah, and (SPOILER ALERT!) Max has throat cancer.

He starts off his first day by firing the cardiology department.  Along the way, a terminal case the doctors decide is more compassionately treated at home; a troubled psych patient; a possible Ebola case.  Every time we turn around we see compassionate professionals actually being doctors, not power trippers with God complexes.  At the center of it all is Dr. Goodwin, whose catchphrase is, "How can I help?"  Boy, do we need some of that!  Oh, yeah, and have I mentioned Ryan Eggold is not too shabby to look at, or that the equally easy-on-the-eyes Peter Horton of Thirtysomething will be at the helm of some episodes (he appeared, blink and you missed him, in the pilot ep), as will Dr. Manheimer.

New Amsterdam is on NBC Tuesdays at 10 PM Eastern.  You can also catch it on the NBC app, and on HULU.  Enjoy!