....that tv show about the Manhattan Project. I forget what channel it's on but it airs in Sunday nights. I tried watching it and I must admit I have little knowledge about the "little behind the scenes" tidbits of the day to day life about life at Alamagordo while they were building the bomb. It seems that the story line they are portraying is one of what you'd find on a poorly made day time soap opera or something silly along the lines of Dallas, Peyton Place or some other HBO mini series of the same ilk. Just wondering if anyone else noticed this while watching the show. I give up on it. If that's the way it was, it's a wonder they ever finished the damn thing at all. Seems as if they forgot what they were trying to do there.
I'm not watching it, but from what I understand, none of the characters is even loosely based on real people. Seems to be more of a soap opera than anything.
I was wondering about this series... First red flag, I guess. Oppenheimer is only in three episodes of season one. From the preview, it would seem that the dad character does roughly the same job Feinman did?
The synopsis says that its set in a "New Mexico town" -- I assume its supposed to be Los Alamos? As someone who is very familiar with Los Alamos, I might watch an episode or two just to see how "accurate" it is.
Haven't seen the show and now may not bother. Watched the 3 part series about WW1 (can't remember the channel) and thought it was pretty interesting.
The infamous WW2F boycott -- that seals the show's future then. They as well pull the plug now so they can still walk away with some dignity....
So sad. So much potential for a series. When, oh when will they ever release "Race For The Bomb"? It's just sitting there in the public domain...
Okay. Finally got the first season dvd box. Four discs, thirteen episodes. I thought I would do a short write up for any of you who are still undecided as to wether to watch it. Because of Thomas Schlamme's name on the series I went along for the ride. He was one of the writer-producer-directors of the "West Wing" tv series. Different style. After this I can say he is certainly not Aaron Sorkin. The producer-writers are very straightforward about historical accuracy in both the making-of documentaries and the audio commentaries. The series is not meant to be about specific historical individuals in Los Alamos. We see glimpses of Oppenheimer (strange, very dour and humourless), Neils Bohr (exuberant and eccentric), Heisenberg (a few seconds only) and Harry Stimson (overbearing and martial). Every other character is fictional. Fermi and Groves are mentioned. Some are composites of several historic figures but heavily fictionalized. The main character is working on the implosion bomb (Seth Neddermeyer?) and along the way he makes an acquaintance with a Russian expat engineer and explosives expert (George Kistiakowsky ?). He has a Brit and a woman on his team as well as another man who is obviously modelled on Klaus Fuchs. The series creates all kinds of drama around the rivalries between the rag-tag Implosion group and the much better funded gun-barrel group. Everyone is paranoid about secrecy, yet they all talk openly in public spaces using very specific terminology that obviously reveals what they are working on. There is sex and a small bit of nudity. some girl on girl action between the wives. Some swinging couples. The Wacs have an open brothel. Despite all of that the science isn't too dumbed down. The series shows the difficulties involved in the theoretical science behind the bomb, the primitive nature of the tools at hand and the series of hurdles they faced. Season one covers most of 1943, ending some time in September, based on the scientific progress that we see. Apparently the producers have done a lot of research which they decided not to use in bulk. The period costumes and sets are nice. They convey very well some of the historical imperative for wanting to get the bomb before Germany did. To their credit, the show runners illustrate some of what it must have been like for younger viewers wjho have a limited interest in where the bomb came from or how it all came about. Some of the arrogance and rivalry among scientists of the era kind of makes sense, though I have not read any books that expose it as so cravenly open or obvious.
