You Should Be Watching Manhattan

Right now on cable TV there is a show about the Manhattan Project focusing on the scientists involved, and one of the executive producers/writers is also a This American Life contributor. Really, that should be all I need to say to get you to go watch Manhattan. But since I’m so excited about this show I couldn’t wait for Ryan to watch and review it, I should probably write about it properly.

While flipping through the channels one night (just typing that makes me miss having cable a little bit), my husband and I found a short special about the Manhattan Project and stopped to watch. (Fact: When two engineers live in the same house, you will always stop on Manhattan Project documentary.) And while there was a brief overview of the Manhattan Project itself, the special was actually about how they were trying to make the upcoming show Manhattan have an authentic feel. According to History vs Hollywood, they’ve succeeded.

While the show has an authentic feel, the characters are mostly fictitious. Every once in  a while you’ll see Oppenheimer, but that’s about it. This gives the show’s writers the ability to weave their story freely. And it is amazing. Each character is unique and facing their own struggle, either within the Manhattan Project itself or with being stuck in Los Alamos. And even though most the women are stuck in Los Alamos because of their husbands’ work, they’re not just passive background decoration. Their stories are still presented with importance. Because when you get down to it, this isn’t a story about the atomic bomb. It’s the story of how working on the bomb affected the lives of those involved.

Manhattan airs at 10:00pm Sunday on WGN. It’s also one of the shows on Hulu Plus that doesn’t limit you to only the 5 most recent episodes. So you can catch up now. And if you don’t, you deserve whatever awful reality shows come out in the fall.