I had a friend once who was relentlessly sceptical about animation because he thought none of it was ever as good as The Simpsons. South Park? Not as good as The Simpsons. The Wild Thornberrys? Not as good as The Simpsons. Robin? Not as good as The Simpsons. Now, whereas I agree with his judgement, it was pretty obvious that he was only comparing them because they were cartoons, and it drove me mad. Eventually I tried a counter-attack. Whenever he talked about a new American TV show, I would reply with "Yeah, but it's not as good as Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Eventually he asked me how I could possibly compare such diverse programmes as Mr. Show, Frasier, Ally McBeal and Oz with Buffy. replied "Well, they're all set in America, aren't they?"

He got the message in the end.