Cannonball with Wesley Morris

Forget the hot dogs and apple pie. Wesley has one thing on his mind this Fourth of July — potato salad! The moment has stirred up some really strong feelings for this classic summer staple and how it lives up to the country’s ideals of what it is and could be.

Wesley takes to the streets of New York City and back to The Times’s Cooking Kitchen to test out his theory against his family’s recipe for potato salad. Is it the beacon of hope and possibility that he thinks it is? Along the way, he’s joined by a two-time James Beard Award winner and food historian, Jessica B. Harris, to answer this essential question: Does potato salad belong on the Mount Rushmore of national dishes?

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A few weeks ago, “Cannonball” hosted its first live show at the 2026 Tribeca Festival.

Wesley Morris thought to himself, “What could we talk about in front of a bunch of New Yorkers that would be interesting to them?” And then the answer came to him: New York movies! Movies about New York City.

Joining him for the conversation is Cynthia Nixon, one of our great New Yorkers. She’s made iconic work in the city (like, of course, “Sex and the City”) and is a fierce advocate for the TV and film industry to continue making work here. Also, no big deal, she ran for governor in 2018.

Together, Wesley and Cynthia chat about three N.Y.C. movies of their choice: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “The Taking of Pelham 123" and “The Wiz.”

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It’s no secret that Steven Spielberg is fascinated with the cosmos. His latest aliens-are-among-us action thriller, “Disclosure Day,” follows a TV weatherperson (Emily Blunt) and an encryption specialist (Josh O’Connor) as they attempt to understand their connection to life beyond this planet. In doing so, they get entangled in a government cover-up.

Ahead of the movie’s release, Wesley Morris spent time with Spielberg and wrote a profile of him for The New York Times Magazine. The 79-year-old director’s appetite for telling stories on the big screen is undiminished — he’s preparing to make his first western — but Wesley writes that as Hollywood adapts to the streaming era, “the idea of a Steven Spielberg has felt endangered.”

And so, there’s only one person for Wesley to call when a new Spielberg drops: Eric Hynes, Wesley’s pal and former co-worker from Kim’s Video in New York City. They started their Spielberg conversation over 25 years ago as young cinephiles. On today’s episode, it continues.

Together, they consider the evolution of aliens in Spielberg’s work, relive memorable onscreen sequences and think about the strength of the filmmaker’s more-than-half-century canon.

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“Obsession” is about a guy who makes a wish for a girl to love him “more than anyone in the entire world.” What follows is a classic horror movie trope: the girlfriend from hell. One of the movie’s tag lines is “be careful who you wish for.” And younger audiences are flocking to see “Obsession,” making it a genuine Gen Z phenomenon.

The film’s writer-director-editor, Curry Barker, is also part of that generation. The 26-year-old, who had previously been making content for YouTube, is now responsible for a film that has made over $230 million (so far) on a budget of $750,000. Hollywood has taken notice. Barker has been offered an eight-figure deal for his next movie, sight unseen.

For Wesley Morris, the success of “Obsession” raises a bigger question about relationships today: Is this how the young folks think about love—as something that should appear instantaneously, without effort, but might also ruin their lives?

With all this in mind, Wesley invited Angelica Jade Bastién, a pop culture critic with New York Magazine, onto the show to ask, “Are the kids all right?”

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Each spring, in the months leading up to the Tony Awards, Wesley Morris tries to see as many Broadway shows as he can. And this season’s spree (including “Ragtime,” “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” “Proof,” “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Giant") left him with the question: Where are the challenging shows?

There were some great performances, but the productions seemed designed to reflect his values and make him feel good. Doesn’t the best theater raise uncomfortable questions, and not give clear answers? Shouldn’t the shows vying for Broadway’s top awards be a bit more difficult?

To work through these feelings, and to help wrap his head around this season, Wesley invites Helen Shaw, The Times’s chief theater critic, to compare notes.

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