Cannonball with Wesley Morris

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The Best TV of This Century? Sep 25, 2026

Show notes

The New York Times asked more than 500 TV insiders and experts to select their 10 favorite shows that premiered in the 21st century. That survey of the 100 best TV shows published this week.

There’s lots of golden age and prestige TV on it — “Mad Men,” “Game of Thrones,” “Succession,” “Severance” — but also some outliers that illustrate a medium in flux. In the last 25 years, we’ve started talking about TV more seriously, treating it like an art form. But what kind of art form is it now?

On today’s episode, Wesley is joined by Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan, the hosts of The Ringer podcast, “The Watch,” to talk about how they voted and what this list tells us about where TV has been, and where it might be going.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher.

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Cannonball Will Be Back Tomorrow! Sep 24, 2026

Show notes

This week’s episode will be about the New York Times list of the 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century (full list here). See you tomorrow!

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Who Keeps On Choosin’ Texas? Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

Singer-songwriter Ella Langley’s country tune “Choosin’ Texas” entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart last November, and it hasn’t left. It’s just tied the record for the most nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1: 22 . (Sorry, Mariah Carey.)

Wesley Morris is a student of the chart and he’s noticed that in recent years certain songs seem to hang around for a long, long time. These chart toppers are starting to feel more like chart cloggers. Why is this happening?

His curiosity cannot be contained for another week. So he’s going to Chris Molanphy, a pop music critic and the host of Slate’s “Hit Parade” podcast, for answers. Together, they recall chart trends, think about Billboard’s tracking metrics, and consider what kind of choice “Choosin’ Texas” is.

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How 9/11 Changed Comedy Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

It has been 25 years since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and Wesley has been reflecting on what has changed since then — particularly when it comes to comedy.

The first film he saw in theaters after the attacks was “Zoolander,” which opened to mediocre box office numbers and mixed reviews. The movie became a flashpoint as the world wrestled with questions about what was funny and when it would be OK to be funny again. And that uncertainty about what American comedy is, whom it’s aimed at and whether it can be therapeutic may never have gone away.

This week, The Times’s comedy critic, Jason Zinoman, sits down with Wesley to remember the debates about comedy in the aftermath of the attacks, and to think through how that period changed the art form in ways that we’re still experiencing today.

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Take Me Back to the Summer of ’86 Aug 27, 2026

Show notes

This year’s summer movie season proved that the “Toy Story” franchise still has some juice, that “The Odyssey” can spark endless debates, and that “The Invite” might be the sleeper film of the year.

But according to Wesley Morris, we’re still in a summer movie drought. He can’t help himself! His nostalgia for the movies of summers past is as strong as it was last year.

So, once again, Wesley invites Sam Anderson, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, to go back in time. This week, they travel to 1986, where the multiplex marquee reads: “Ruthless People” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

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Caught Up in the Rapture of Anita Baker Aug 20, 2026

Show notes

Anita Baker’s second album, “Rapture,” was released in 1986 and became a breakout hit for the R & B singer from Detroit, winning two Grammys and selling eight million copies worldwide. The album’s eight tracks defined her signature sound — what Baker liked to call “fireside love songs with jazz overtones” — and solidified her as a giant of the Quiet Storm radio era.

But while the singer went on to produce four more albums, most notably her follow-up, “Giving You the Best That I Got,” in 1988, she hasn’t maintained the mainstream presence of her “Rapture” years.

Today, Wesley wonders: Is Baker underrated, properly rated, or just kind of … forgotten?

He brings these questions to Danyel Smith, former editor at Billboard and editor in chief of Vibe Magazine. Together, they luxuriate in Anita Baker’s “Rapture” while wrestling with her legacy.

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The Bicentennial Was Better! Aug 13, 2026

Show notes

What did we get for our country’s 250th birthday, a.k.a. the semi-quincentennial? An Ultimate Fighting Championship cage match on the White House lawn? A sparsely attended Great American State Fair? An underwhelming logo?

The last time we had an anniversary this massive, it was 1976 — the bicentennial — and the celebration was everywhere: in our movies, in our books, in our Saturday morning cartoons.

What happened this year? Wesley Morris is perplexed.

Jennifer Schuessler, a Times reporter who covers intellectual life and ideas, has talked to state planners and historians alike, and attended semi-quincentennial events across the country. Together, she and Wesley mull over the circumstances that led this year’s birthday bash to fall flat, and they celebrate the bicentennial gifts that keep on giving, 50 years later.

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Madonna Returns as Queen of the Club Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

When Madonna’s new album, “Confessions II,” dropped in early July, it went straight to the top of the Billboard 200 (her 10th No. 1 album).

Many of the 16 tracks plumb her own history for lessons learned along the way. On “Bizarre,” the blue Shelby Cobra she gave her first husband, Sean Penn, “wasn’t meant to last.” On “The Test,” she tells her daughter Lola Leon, with whom she sings: “I wish I knew the pain I’ve caused.” And on “Danceteria,” she takes us to the New York City clubs of the 1980s and the moment when a D.J. “played my tape ‘Everybody’ ” and launched her career.

Wesley Morris describes the album as “post-nostalgia,” with Madonna using an idea of her past as a slingshot into some kind of future. “Confessions II” is also a dance record that reminds us of the impact she has had on club culture and gay culture.

Wesley sits down with one of the biggest Madonna fans he knows — Jacob Bernstein, a writer for The Times’s Styles section and a former club kid in New York City — to talk about her new record and the immense influence Madonna has had on their lives.

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Nolan’s Been Making ‘The Odyssey’ All Along Jul 23, 2026

Show notes

If you haven’t seen Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” yet, good luck. The hit of the summer is selling out showtimes around the country.

Wesley Morris initially thought he didn’t need this adaptation. Then, Matt Damon was cast as Odysseus. Curiosity piqued. Fast forward to him in a packed theater (IMAX 70mm, of course) excited by the prospect of an old-fashioned all-star-cast movie. But with Nolan’s filmmaking, it’s never that simple. There’s a lot going on within the nearly three-hour epic that’s fascinated moviegoers and critics alike.

And so, whenever there’s a big movie that everybody is talking about, Wesley wants to hear from his pal, Sean Fennessey. Fennessey is head of content at The Ringer and a co-host of the podcast “The Big Picture.” Together, Wesley and Sean go deep on the “The Odyssey” and the evolution of Nolan’s career.

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The World Cup Is This Summer’s Blockbuster Jul 16, 2026

Show notes

After five weeks of action, the World Cup is finally coming to an end, a tournament that will be remembered as much for its feats of athleticism — the precision passes and laserlike goals — as for the passionate fans and spirited team rivalries. No wonder soccer is called the beautiful game.

Wesley and his guest, Pablo Torre, host of the podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out,” also see the action on the pitch as something more: pure cinema. They tick down a list of reasons the matches — and the culture surrounding them — are theatrical. Cue the lights, the cameras and the Viking score. These games have proved more than ready for their Oscar-worthy close-up. Don’t forget the pomade!

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