TV Review: Forever

 Forever is an amalgam of several other television shows and movies, which is what passes for creativity in the TV industry. The main character works in New York City law enforcement (as a medical examiner) and is immortal (New Amsterdam); his long life has trained him to be hyper-observant and he can deduce things based on trivial evidence (Elementary, Sherlock, Psych); we see flashbacks of his previous lives in other eras (Highlander); the main character is a physically attractive male non-police officer working with an attractive and unmarried female detective (Castle); the main character’s secret is known by a shadowy figure who apparently stages mass accidents in order to locate people who are immortal (um, spoiler alert, but that’s the plot of M. Night Shamaylan’s film Unbreakable).

The show’s biggest asset is its star, Ioan Gruffud. Probably best known for the inane Fantastic Four movies, Gruffud exudes an easy charm, aided by a crooked grin and a lilting accent (he’s Welsh). He hasn’t had much luck with American TV since his breakout role starring in the British adaptations of the Horatio Hornblower novels, shown in America on A&E; he co-starred with Sarah Michelle Geller in the one-season 2011 series Ringer, and he played a lawyer in the very short-lived (four episodes) 2004 show Century City (which can be accurately described in four words: LA Law in 2030).

But Gruffud’s charm is actually part of the problem. His attitude is light and breezy, but at the same time he talks about immortality being his curse.  It’s nice that he is multi-dimensional, but the disparity in tone is occasionally jarring. I know that the “morbid medical examiner” is a stereotype of mystery television, and that breaking clichés is good, but an ME who is happy-go-lucky is hard to accept.

The pilot episode established a few other tidbits of information. Gruffud’s character fell in love with an Army nurse in WWII and adopted a baby rescued from a Nazi concentration camp (in a nice reveal, the baby is now played by Judd Hirsch). Hirsch’s character is the only one who knows Gruffud’s secret, except for someone who keeps calling in a whispery voice claiming to also know. Gruffud is suspected of murder by an attractive New York detective (played by Alana de la Garza) who initially thinks he is the creepiest man she ever met (to be fair, his home is filled with death-related tchotchkes), but she eventually comes to appreciate his deductive skills.  She’s a widow whom we meet leaving a one-night stand, so there is the requisite sexual tension.

It is always hard to judge a show by its pilot. Can the producers come up with clever ways to keep using his immortality as a way to solve crimes? Will the characters prove to have interesting back stories? Can they mesh Gruffud’s jaunty insouciance with the downbeat aspects of his “curse?” The pilot has a lot going for it, but it fails to feel fresh or distinctive.  Elementary is doing the “Sherlock Holmes in modern New York” thing, the flashback devise was done to death by Highlander, and MEs solving murders got worn out with Quincy.

There is potential, but it is hard to imagine Forever pulling out of its cliché nosedive and living longer than 13 weeks.