Fox TV comes up with two new drama series featuring troubled geniuses.

The Fox network developed an unexpected hit series with House three years ago, as the irascible, curmudgeonly, obviously troubled genius medical diagnostician struck a chord with viewers. Or, more accurately, solid story lines, likeable characters (even House himself, thanks to actor Hugh Laurie’s charisma and likeability—he played Bertie Wooster in the superb BBC comedy series Jeeves and Wooster in the 1990s), and interesting, life-or-death situations.

So it was hardly unexpected that the network followed up with another troubled, traumatized genius, the forensic anthropologist in Bones. Now the network has offered a couple more, in the new shows Canterbury’s Law (Mondays at 8 EDT) and New Amsterdam (Mondays at 9 EDT).

Both shows are quite skillfully written, performed, and produced, and the stories deal with interesting subject matter. Also, both have the same sort of generous, classical liberal sort of thinking behind them. In both shows, there is a concern both for the innocent accused and for the victims of the crimes, and in both shows there is no false sympathy for the real perpetrators of the crimes.

Each show’s protogonist, like Dr. House, has a serious problem.

In Canterbury’s Law, the lead character, a genius criminal defense lawyer played by Julianna Margulies, drinks too much and is involved in an extramarital affair. The reason behind her bad behavior is sadness and anguish over the death of her young son.

Margulies does a splendid job of portraying the character’s anguish and also her brilliance as a lawyer. The whole thing is good, solid TV. I doubt that I’ll watch any more episodes, but I wouldn’t fault anyone for doing so. 

Death is likewise central to New Amsterdam. The lead character, NYC homicide detective John Amsterdam, who has been alive for five centuries since saving the life of an Indian shaman woman during the first years of European settling of what is now New York City. He cannot die until he finds his one true love, she tells him, and sure enough, he’s still around today.

The story lines tend to concentrate on sympathy for the downtrodden—such as a black woman in 1930s New York City with whom Amsterdam was in love; war veterans over the years who have suffered from shellshock and not been able to get help for this poorly understood syndrome now known as traumatic stress disorder; the victims of repressed memory syndrome (which includes both those deceived into believing that they where abused as children when they were not, as well as the families destroyed by the false claims).

Obviously, Fox has hit on a formula here, but it’s not a bad one at all. The central characters’ weaknesses keep them from ever seeming priggish, and they help sustain audience interest and sympathy, and the concern for those not blessed with genius or riches gives the protagonists’ lives real purpose. Great art it’s not, this is very decent and well-meaning entertainment—and that is a big compliment.