Manhattan's implosions.

• Author: Welch, Matt
• Position: Television series 'Manhattan' - Television program review - Brief article

Imagine the best elements of the hit AMC series Mad Men: the attention to period detail of a forgotten America, workplace/managerial jujitsu, hot ladies kissing (sometimes each other!), and a secret so profound that it eventually eats away at the lives of all the major characters. Now transfer that rich, soapy context to ... World War II--era Los Alamos?

A little-viewed but increasingly praised drama airing on WGN transplants TV's 21stcentury storytelling model to the desperate race to build the first atomic bomb. Manhattan, whose first season closed with a flourish in October, conveys the patriotic...