Television series

Manhattan

Name: Manhattan
Genre: Drama
Released: 2014
Cast: Ashley Zukerman, Christopher Denham, Harry Lloyd, John Benjamin Hickey, Katja Herbers

Other titles called Manhattan: the 1979 film.

Period drama

Manhattan follows the physicists, engineers and families at Los Alamos during the race to build the atomic bomb. It's a tense, character-driven drama about brilliant people under impossible pressure, exploring what ambition, secrecy and moral compromise do to the soul. For anyone who loved the psychological weight of prestige television.

TVMaze rating

4.0

If you liked this

The Americans2013

Two Soviet KGB officers posing as an American couple navigate espionage, ideology and marriage across the Cold War. Like Manhattan, it's about living a lie under state pressure, with extraordinary performances and scenes that linger.

But It runs seven seasons and moves slowly; patience is required. The final stretch divides viewers on whether the ending earns the journey.

Oppenheimer2023

Nolan's three-hour examination of the man behind the bomb, with the same moral weight and ambition as Manhattan but compressed into cinema. Robert Downey Jr. is extraordinary as the manipulative Strauss.

But It's dense, sometimes cryptic, and the editing can feel chaotic. Not a traditional biopic; requires active attention.

Chernobyl2019

Miniseries about the nuclear disaster told with surgical precision. Same DNA: brilliant people trying to fix catastrophe under state control, with secrets destroying everyone involved.

But Relentlessly bleak. There are no wins, only degrees of loss. Some find the pacing deliberate to the point of exhaustion.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Manhattan

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Scarlet Street1945

Both examine how brilliant, compartmentalized people justify the unjustifiable to themselves—and how that compartmentalization eventually shatters.

Fritz Lang's noir about a reserved man destroyed by ambition and desire. What connects it: both explore how intellectuals rationalize moral compromise, and how secrecy hollows out the self.

But Melodramatic by modern standards; pacing is glacial. The femme fatale role plays as dated sexual politics.

Halt and Catch Fire2014

Ensemble drama about the early computing industry with the same DNA: ambition, obsession, competing visions, and relationships destroyed by professional pressure. Phenomenal character arcs.

But Starts strong but takes time finding its rhythm. The first season feels scattered before it settles into something profound.

The Crown2016

Political drama examining power, duty, and the cost of public life on private relationships. If you're drawn to Manhattan's exploration of how institutions corrode the personal.

But Heavily dramatized and occasionally sanctimonious. Later seasons become more soap opera than serious drama.

Manhunt2017

Limited series about the obsessive hunt for Ted Kaczynski. Same tension: brilliant minds, institutional pressure, secrets that fracture mental health and relationships.

But True crime obsessiveness can feel cheap next to Manhattan's moral ambiguity. Ends where you might want more depth.

The Lathe of Heaven1980

PBS adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin's novella: a man discovers his dreams reshape reality, and government wants to weaponize him. Explores power, free will, and the corruption of good intentions.

But Deliberately strange and abstract. The special effects feel dated, which some find charming and others find distracting.

Godless2017

A town run entirely by women; a man on the run arrives. Smart genre exercise about power structures, loyalty, and the cost of secrets. Strong ensemble and genuinely suspenseful.

But Uneven pacing and a third act that feels rushed. Some subplots disappear without resolution.

Annihilation2018

Both use scientific discovery as a metaphor for the unknowable price of progress. Neither offers easy answers about whether the knowledge was worth the cost.

Science fiction thriller where scientists enter a mysterious zone to understand a phenomenon. Same tension as Manhattan: ambition and classified secrecy corroding judgment and relationships in a pressure cooker.

But Intentionally cryptic; the ending explains almost nothing. If you need resolution, this will frustrate you deeply.

The Right Stuff1983

Both dramatize an era when institutional ambition was treated as noble despite its human cost. Both ask whether that story was ever true.

Three-and-a-half hours following test pilots and astronauts through the space race. Sweeping, magnificent epic about ambition, ego, and what it costs families. Captures the same stakes and testosterone-fueled pressure.

But Genuinely long and sometimes airborne sequences feel indulgent. The women in the film mostly exist to show concern.