Gilbert Cruz
Canon editor at The New York Times
Gilbert Cruz (Canon editor at The New York Times) hosts The Daily. Topics they speak about most include Hannibal (TV series), The Sopranos, Mad Men.
In their words
Positions and remarks grouped by topic, each with the exact quote and where it was said.
Hannibal (TV series)
Cruz says Hannibal is extremely gory but also one of the most beautiful shows ever on TV, and that it should have made the list.
“one of the grossest things I've ever seen in my entire life. I don't know how it made it onto network TV”
The Daily: The Best TV Shows of the 21st Century (Sep 27, 2026) · Listen from 52:43
The Sopranos
Cruz explains that The Sopranos was excluded because it premiered in 1999, before the list's cutoff.
“The Sopranos, which is a great show, one of the best TV shows of all time, came out in 1999”
The Daily: The Best TV Shows of the 21st Century (Sep 27, 2026) · Listen from 49:30
Mad Men
Cruz argues that Mad Men is psychologically perceptive because it is about lying, both in advertising and in how people see themselves.
“It's also about people lying to themselves and each other about who they are, who we are”
The Daily: The Best TV Shows of the 21st Century (Sep 27, 2026) · Listen from 33:58
Peak TV
Cruz explains that the peak TV competition among network, cable and streaming created room for idiosyncratic voices like Waller-Bridge's.
“In 2015, the phrase peak TV was coined by the head of FX, this guy John Landgraf”
The Daily: The Best TV Shows of the 21st Century (Sep 27, 2026) · Listen from 24:04
The New York Times 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century
Cruz argues that the top 10 shows illustrate that great television always mixes comedy and drama.
“I think something that this top 10 shows overall is that there's a way in which great shows always mix comedy and drama”
The Daily: The Best TV Shows of the 21st Century (Sep 27, 2026) · Listen from 5:23
Andor (TV series)
Cruz called Andor the pinnacle of franchise storytelling and a rare grown-up Star Wars story.
“It was the pinnacle of something that has dominated the culture for, I don't know, two plus decades at this point, which is IP storytelling”
The Daily: Sunday Special: The Best TV of 2025 (Dec 21, 2025) · Listen from 35:15
Podcasts hosted
- The Daily · 1 episode in TMT
Appearances
The Best TV Shows of the 21st CenturyThe Daily · Sep 27, 2026 · 57 min
Natalie Kitroeff talks with Times colleagues Gilbert Cruz and James Poniewozik about the New York Times list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century.
Sunday Special: The Best TV of 2025The Daily · Dec 21, 2025 · 1 h 1 min
Gilbert Cruz, James Poniewozik and Alexis Soloski review 2025's television, from conspiracy dramas and revived rom-coms to Andor, Pluribus and The Lowdown, then play a TV quiz.
Often appears with
- James Poniewozik · 2 shared episodes
- Natalie Kitroeff · 1 shared episode
- Andy Cohen · 1 shared episode
- Alexis Soloski · 1 shared episode