Manhattan-WGN
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khorum
Murder Apologist
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I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected... but I can see how folks can see dueling physicists snipe at each other's competing theories would be boring. I'm actually curious where the show will go considering there was actually a ton of massive egos who couldn't stand each other in the manhattan project.
But how can we expect someone who makes a living writing recaps of the bachelorette for EW to review a show based around ivory-tower types slinging their physics cred and princeton doctorates to browbeat their rivals? How the hell would you dramatize Feynman and Teller's screaming matches to WGN's TV audiences anyway? They may as well be speaking ancient aramaic.
I kinda loved the pilot but I suspect we're gonna see more of the wife/daughter drama than the truly awesome shit that ended up with the radically different designs of fat man and little boy.
But how can we expect someone who makes a living writing recaps of the bachelorette for EW to review a show based around ivory-tower types slinging their physics cred and princeton doctorates to browbeat their rivals? How the hell would you dramatize Feynman and Teller's screaming matches to WGN's TV audiences anyway? They may as well be speaking ancient aramaic.
I kinda loved the pilot but I suspect we're gonna see more of the wife/daughter drama than the truly awesome shit that ended up with the radically different designs of fat man and little boy.
I'm really, really enjoying the show so far. They've managed to create a great setting and the story builds up pretty quickly 2-3 episodes in. Binged pretty much the whole season up to the 11th episode (12 episode season ending on Sunday) and it's been a while since I've been hooked on a show like this.
There's a lot of physics talk with competing designs and interests among the various factions; and Richard Schiff (Toby from the White House) makes a fantastic counter-intelligence operative.
It's pretty much the opposite of The Big Bang Theory, with world class scientists portrayed not as anti-social nerds, but as people capable of doing quite some scheming and having to engage in moral calculus. Or, as Frank Winter said something along the lines of: "This is a zero sum game. For every piece we take, they take one." Maybe a nice allusion to John von Neumann, the founder of game theory who was also part of the Manhattan Project.
There's a lot of physics talk with competing designs and interests among the various factions; and Richard Schiff (Toby from the White House) makes a fantastic counter-intelligence operative.
It's pretty much the opposite of The Big Bang Theory, with world class scientists portrayed not as anti-social nerds, but as people capable of doing quite some scheming and having to engage in moral calculus. Or, as Frank Winter said something along the lines of: "This is a zero sum game. For every piece we take, they take one." Maybe a nice allusion to John von Neumann, the founder of game theory who was also part of the Manhattan Project.
Agraza
Registered Hutt
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It's a really solid show, especially given the source. I'm not familiar with the physics of the bomb, the process they took, or the major players in the manhattan project, so I don't know where they've decided to take artistic license, but I enjoy the development of the competing theories.
I do feel like they're focusing too much on how we see the war in hindsight rather than how they saw the war at the time. The depth of the Nazi crimes against jews on the basis that they were jews rather than some flavor of red political actor wasn't accurately known or appreciated by the west. The anti-semitic flavor they mention seems to be more than the broad strokes, and the hysteria of the jewish mother was a bit strong. Hell, before the US got into the war there were isolationist minded elected officials summoning jews to testify regarding jewish warmongering.
Also eugenics was a darling theory for whites here and in other allied states into the beginning of the war. It seems like a missed opportunity that they haven't demonstrated much of the support for Nazi Germany from the irish and german americans or the eugenists in america. The three global conferences for eugenics were not in Germany, but in the UK and US. Then they throw in the gay, black, and injun angles and I'm just like....eh....try less hard please.
I do feel like they're focusing too much on how we see the war in hindsight rather than how they saw the war at the time. The depth of the Nazi crimes against jews on the basis that they were jews rather than some flavor of red political actor wasn't accurately known or appreciated by the west. The anti-semitic flavor they mention seems to be more than the broad strokes, and the hysteria of the jewish mother was a bit strong. Hell, before the US got into the war there were isolationist minded elected officials summoning jews to testify regarding jewish warmongering.
Also eugenics was a darling theory for whites here and in other allied states into the beginning of the war. It seems like a missed opportunity that they haven't demonstrated much of the support for Nazi Germany from the irish and german americans or the eugenists in america. The three global conferences for eugenics were not in Germany, but in the UK and US. Then they throw in the gay, black, and injun angles and I'm just like....eh....try less hard please.
I think there's a good chance the black character is based on this guy:Ralph Gardner, chemist and scientist on the atomic bomb | African American Registry
He was a chemist that had to transfer programs because the school he was in couldn't place him even as a busboy or kitchen staff -- much less in a research position. He transferred to Berkeley and eventually joined the Manhattan project, co-developing the procedure to refine plutonium. (In the show, he brings up the plutonium's impurity.)
Wikipedia has another black scientist at the Manhattan project:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Ernest_Wilkins,_Jr.
That guy started studying mathematics at the University of Chicago at 13. Discovered a number of physical processes as part of the Manhattan Project, but was forced out when his group moved to a site in Alabama, where they could not employ blacks at the research site. So he went to Columbia University...
Pretty amazing that despite all the pressure to develop the bomb quickly, the military still couldn't get black scientists fully involved. Maybe not all that dissimilar from the gay Arabic translators that the military fired in early 2000s, despite having a clear need for them in counter-terrorism operations.
edit: show's renewed for a second season, by the way!
Drama series Manhattan wraps its first season tonight. Here's why you need to watch - Vox