Favourite T.V. programs

The Simpsons Favourite ten episodes listed roughly in order of decreasing merit:

Rank	Episode	Season	Code	Synopsis
1.	‘‘ You Only Move Twice ’’	8 / 26	3F23	Homer is hired for a new job on the basis of his supposed expertise.
2.	‘‘ King Size Homer ’’	7 / 26	3F05	Homer purposely gains 61 pounds in weight in order to qualify for a disability allowance.
3.	‘‘ Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish ’’	2 / 26	7F01	Mr Burns runs for mayor.
4.	‘‘ The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show ’’	8 / 26	4F12	A new character is added to the Itchy & Scratchy Show
5.	‘‘ Simpson and Delilah ’’	2 / 26	7F02	Homer finds a miracle treatment for baldness.
6.	‘‘ Last Exit to Springfield ’’	4 / 26	9F15	Homer becomes a union representative.
7.	‘‘ Brush with Greatness ’’	2 / 26	7F18	The Simpsons visit Mount Splashmore and Marge paints Mr. Burns.
8.	‘‘ Some Enchanted Evening ’’	1 / 26	7G01	The Simpsons face a babysitter with sinister intentions.
9.	‘‘ Marge vs. the Monorail ’’	4 / 26	9F10	Springfield invests in a monorail.
10.	‘‘ Homer’s Enemy ’’	8 / 26	4F19	Homer meets his nemesis with hilarious consequences.

I have found the List of The Simpsons Episodes helpful to compose the above list. In my opinion the earliest episodes are better than the more recent ones, due to an apparent lack of good new ideas in the more recent episodes.

Seinfeld is famously known as a show about nothing, or more accurately: pondering over the minutiae of everyday social interactions.

Whose Line Is It Anyway? The older British version has a wider range of jokes and comedians than the newer American version.

Fawlty Towers is the greatest British comedy series of all time and it seems like a travesty that they only produced twelve episodes. It tells a story of a long-suffering man Basil Fawlty whose spirit is regularly crushed by his domineering wife Sybil. He is constantly entering into hilarious misunderstandings with his waiter Manuel whose command of the English language is frustratingly poor. Basil is also rude, sarcastic and cruel so that the audience is not disappointed when he gets his just desserts. Their funniest episode is called ‘‘Communication Problems’’ and is about how Basil secretly makes a winning bet on a horse but is foiled by a near-deaf woman who refuses to turn her hearing aid on because as she says: ‘‘It runs the batteries down!’’.

The concept of a flawed character ultimately receiving negative consequences applies to most artistic works. The most beautiful and morally superior characters in an artistic work almost always never receive negative ultimate consequences while the uglier and morally inferior characters almost always do receive negative ultimate consequences. Most artists seem to be aware (either consciously or unconsciously) of this principle. The purpose of this principle is to increase our enjoyment of a work of art. Our emotional investment in the beautiful and morally superior characters is always rewarded with dividends and our emotional divestment (hatred) of uglier and morally inferior characters is also rewarded with dividends of the opposite kind. An example of this principle in action is horror movies where the people who have extramarital sex are almost always killed while the virgins almost always survive to the end of the story.