The Most American Episode of The Daily, Ever.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Michael Barbaro** (0:41)
From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily on Sunday.
Today, in celebration of America's 250th birthday, we posed a simple question to some of our favorite colleagues from across the newsroom. People who write about books, movies, TV shows, science, sports, wellness, food. We asked them all, what is the most American thing on your beat? Some of their answers will surprise you.

**James Poniewozik** (1:17)
I would say that the TV show that most encapsulates America for me is CBS's Survivor.

**Michael Barbaro** (1:24)
Some might make you angry.

**Zachary Small** (1:26)
There's no better choice than Grand Theft Auto.

**Michael Barbaro** (1:29)
Some might make you think a little bit differently.

**Jennifer Szalai** (1:32)
All of these urgent issues are tied to the American fixation on parking our cars.

**Michael Barbaro** (1:38)
But they're all in their own way, extremely American.

**Helen Shaw** (1:44)
There Will Be Blood, August Wilson, Century Cycle, Demolition Derby.

**Zachary Small** (1:48)
How do you capture America? How do you determine the most American book? It's a trap. It's a trap.

**Jennifer Szalai** (1:53)
The M&M. Get Out.

**Madison Malone Kircher** (1:54)
Bama Rush.

**Bill Wasik** (1:56)
Randy Newman's Political Science.

**Zachary Small** (1:57)
Beloved by Toni Morrison or Huck Finn or Tequila Mockingbird or Invisible Man.

**Michael Barbaro** (2:01)
So here we go. The most American episode of The Daily ever.
It's Sunday, July 5th. Happy birthday, America.

**James Poniewozik** (2:19)
There's a lot of classical music that is quintessentially American, but if I had to pick one, I think the most American of them would be Aaron Copland's Rodeo. I'm Joshua Barone. I write about classical music and opera at The Times. So Aaron Copland was writing in the 1940s at a time when American sound really came into its own. He really cracked the code of what it means to be American in music. He was writing about specifically American themes. He was writing about the American landscape. With Rodeo, he's writing a score for a ballet by Agnes DeMille that's about as American as it gets because it's about a tomboy cowgirl in the West being courted by two men.
In Rodeo, Aaron Copland kind of creates the vibe of Americana as we know it, but at the same time, he's creating that by drawing on American folk music. So the first movement alone incorporates the tune if he'd be a buckaroo by his trade. And later, there's this really, really lovely late night waltz that's based on the tune called I Ride an Old Paint.
I mean, this is a song that Woody Guthrie recorded as well. Like, this is what American music is made of. It's about a school of composing that was really trying to distinguish the United States from the rest of the world, and specifically from the European tradition. Okay, here we go. If anyone, even if they don't think they know Rodeo, they know Hodown, which is the finale. It is just, I mean, it's as finale as a finale gets. It's also ultimately as American it gets. I mean, anyone who was around in the 90s might remember beef, it's what's for dinner, which was what this was used for. I mean, it was a barbecue in the backyard. I mean, it's just like, it's pure Americana.
This isn't anything that's particularly high brow. I mean, it appeals to the masses, it comes from the masses, and that is so quintessentially American in classical music.

**Vanessa Friedman** (5:48)
I am Vanessa Friedman, and I am the chief fashion critic for The Times. If you stop anyone on the street and ask them what they think the most American piece of apparel is, they will probably come up with something like a t-shirt and jeans.
However, if you ask anyone outside of this country how they can identify an American through what they are wearing, the answer they always come up with is, leggings, sports bra, workout wear.

**Zachary Small** (6:12)
I'm Erik Piepenburg, and I write about horror movies for The New York Times. Only in America could you get a horror film like Jordan Peele's Get Out.