DAVID BIANCULLI

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OPPENHEIMER
June 29, 2014  | By David Bianculli
 
Not that one is necessary, but there’s a timely reason to award this BBC-WGBH miniseries co-production, originally shown on PBS’s American Playhouse in 1982, a TV Worth Watching Seal of Approval. That’s because the central plot of this brilliant seven-part drama, concering theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer’s efforts to lead the top-secret Manhattan Project team of scientists developing the world’s first atomic bomb, is being revisited yet again. WGN America, having recently launched Salem as its inaugural stab at a weekly drama series, has announced July 27 as the premiere date for its new Manhattan series, created by Sam Shaw (Masters of Sex) and directed by West Wing TV director Thomas Schlamme. It sounds good – but has a long way to go to be as good as Oppenheimer, which starred Sam Waterston in the final role, and featured David Suchet, several years before he starred in and as Poirot for PBS’s Agatha Christie series on PBS’s Mystery!, as Edward Teller. Oppenheimeris as gripping as it is smart, and covers 15 years in Oppenheimer’s fascinating, often controversial life. – David Bianculli
 
 
 
 
 
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