Network: WGN America
Episodes: 23 (hour)
Seasons: Two

TV show dates: July 27, 2014 — December 15, 2015
Series status: Cancelled

Performers include: John Benjamin Hickey, Olivia Williams, Alexia Fast, Ashley Zukerman, Rachel Brosnahan, Daniel Stern, Katja Herbers, Christopher Denham, Harry Lloyd, Michael Chernus, Eddie Shin, Daniel London, and Mark Moses.

TV show description:      
A period drama, this show is set in 1943 in the secret town of Los Alamos, New Mexico. Hidden away by the federal government, scientists live there with their families while they work to build the world’s first atomic bomb.

Frank Winter (John Benjamin Hickey) is the lead scientist on the Manhattan Project and is brilliant, kinetic, and self-destructive. He’s a man who believes that scientific work is what matters most.

If it weren’t for his wife, botanist Liza Winter (Olivia Williams), he would have become a recluse years ago. Now that military secrecy has severed the lifeline of communication with Liza, Frank is a man who is very much alone.

Cut off from her husband, Liza is snubbed by the housewives (who think of her as a scientist) and shunned by the scientists (who think of her as a wife). Callie (Alexia Fast) is their rebellious teenage daughter who’s become frustrated with small town life.

The newest member of the team is Charlie Isaacs (Ashley Zukerman), a young man who’s know for both his love of numbers and his conscience. He distinguished himself as one of the rarest talents that the physics department at Harvard had ever seen. While in college, he also fell in love and married a Jewish girl named Abby (Rachel Brosnahan). She’s now a housewife and the pair share few interests other than their young son and Abby finds it difficult to fit in with her new community.

Frank Winter’s former mentor is Glen Babbit (Daniel Stern) and it seems like he’s always helped keep Frank out of trouble. It was Babbit who asked Frank to join a secret military project in the New Mexico desert.

Other scientists include Helen Prins (Katja Herbers), Jim Meeks (Christopher Denham), Paul Crosley (Harry Lloyd), Louis “Fritz” Fedowitz (Michael Chernus), and Sid Liao (Eddie Shin).

What do you think? Do you like the Manhattan TV show? Do you think it should have been cancelled or renewed for a third season?