Amongst the TV shows that have started in the past couple of months, there are more than enough to suit everyone’s tastes and needs. Especially when they keep mixing and matching bits and pieces taken from other shows we know and love.

Take Forever, for example. The show is new and the idea is mind-bogglingly good. Yet parts of it remind me of series like Sherlock, The Mentalist, Bones or anything CSI.

Meet Doctor Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd). He’s a medical examiner in New York City and works with the NYPD, resolving curious and often crazy murder cases. Henry is outstandingly good at his job, finding clues no one else has, and more often than not resolving a case almost single-handedly.

His most recent partner in crime (fighting) is detective Jo Martinez (Alana De La Garza), a recently widowed power woman who won’t take no for an answer and starts heavily relying on Henry in order to catch the bad guys.

But Henry has a secret: the reason he knows so much about EVERYTHING is because he’s been around the block before. To be precise, more than 200 years worth of block. Henry Morgan is immortal. Shot and dumped overboard on his way to America back in 1814, Henry died. And then came back to life. And this has been happening ever since. Whenever Henry dies, his entire life flashes in front of his eyes and he finds himself born again in the nearest water mass.

His only ally is Abe (Judd Hirsch). In his early 70s, Abe appears to the outside world as either Henry’s father, or Henry’s father’s friend. The truth of course is that Henry and his then wife Abigail (MacKensie Mauzy) adopted Abe after finding him in a German concentration camp in 1945.

As we all know that every hero needs a villain, enter Adam (nuh huh I’m not telling you who plays him, that’d be spoiling it). As Henry gains popularity with the NYPD, he starts getting anonymous phone calls from a man claiming to have the same affliction. As he’s apparently been around for 2000 years, he demands to be called Adam and insists he wants to help Henry let loose of his humanity.

The show has had mixed reviews, and while ratings started at a good high, they’ve halved and stayed that way for the last ten episodes or so. ABC hasn’t confirmed whether it wants to renew it, even though creators have already discussed plans for two more seasons. However, the show is slowly being picked up in other countries (first Canada, then New Zealand and Australia, France being the latest addition).

Personally, I’m hooked. It combines the bits I like best in TV crime shows: a part Sherlock, part Native American-like hero who deduces clues by analysing his surroundings and using his extensive knowledge; enough science to keep you believing that the plot is at least somehow rooted in reality; cases that alternate between believable and “out there” and characters that are likeable, hateable and have enough spunk and humour to keep you watching.

Unfortunately at this point we know ABC has not renewed Forever for a second season. However, I’m not giving up hope and have started a petition, urging alternative studios (or Netflix etc.) to pick up a series that already has a great fanbase.

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