We’re in desperate need of a new dramatic period piece to fill the void that’s been left by Mad Men, which is currently on an annoyingly long hiatus between halves of its final season. Luckily, WGN may have just what we need, as seen by the debut trailer for their enticing new drama series, Manhattan.
Manhattan chronicles the lives of the men who worked secretly on the famous Manhattan Project in Lost Alamos, New Mexico in the 1940s, and how building the first atomic bomb behind closed doors affected their lives and families. The series was created and written by Masters of Sex alum Sam Shaw, with The West Wing and Parenthood director Thomas Schlamme at the helm. John Benjamin Hickey, Olivia Williams, Daniel Stern, Ashley Zuckerman, Rechel Brosnahan, Katja Herbers, Alexia Fast, Christopher Denham, Harry Lloyd, Michael Chernus and Eddie Shin star.
The Manhattan Project is one of the most fascinating stories in America history, and could easily lead to an engrossing, poignant character study. The talent behind it is sound, and though WGN is relatively new when it comes to delivering original programming, they stand to become the next AMC if they play their cards right. They’ve already found a hit with their new show Salem, and if this promo is any indication, Manhattan could be even better.
Manhattan debuts on WGN America on July 27th.
Fueled by mystery and suspense, “Manhattan” is set in the 1940s in a town whose very existence is classified. Frank Winter and his team of brilliant but flawed scientists have been recruited to work on a project even they could know nothing about until their arrival. Once inside “The Hill,” a middle-class bubble on a dusty foothill in the New Mexico desert, they begin to sense that this is no ordinary assignment. In fact, they are living in a town with the world’s highest concentration of geniuses, yet it can’t be found on any map—a place where men and women are torn between duty and their moral values, husbands and wives conceal the truth from each other and their families, the military keeps secrets from the scientists they chaperone, and the scientists keep secrets from each other. “Manhattan” depicts the wonder, danger and deceit that shadowed the first “nuclear” families.
