Remember ‘Manhattan’: The TV Show That Told the ‘Oppenheimer’ Story First
Going as far back as last summer when the first ominous countdown clock teaser debuted, every single time I see footage of Oppenheimer, it has made me want to rewatch the overlooked two-season historical drama Manhattan. And what better way to prepare for Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated summer blockbuster than with a canceled-too-soon TV series packed with actors who have since become recognizable favorites?
Sam Shaw’s Manhattan debuted in 2014 on WGN America, when the quintessential antihero who was a complex period character was the hottest trend in TV. It didn’t matter if they were based on real people or entirely fictitious, as long as they were complicated. Think “I can fix him,” before that phrase entered the popular lexicon.
Mad Men was heading toward its conclusion, and every network was looking for the next Don Draper. In 2013, The Americans hid a marriage story inside a spy narrative, utilizing the last decade of the Cold War as a backdrop for different interpretations of loyalty and patriotism. Halt and Catch Fire premiered the month before Manhattan, adding to this trend with its exploration of the rise of computers in the 1980s and the prickly geniuses who were making waves.