[Chris Eco]

Lisa Simpson (Simpsons)

vs.



Norm Peterson (Cheers)

[Sportsguy]

NORM!

[Chris Eco]

Later Simpsons kind of undermined what was special to me about Lisa as a kid - the brainy kid trying to reconcile her rationalist instincts with her family's faith, sometimes unsuccessfully, sometimes profoundly.

This feeds into a larger point that I think that the show was at its best when it was wrestling with the beauty and foibles alike of the American Protestant tradition ("Lisa The Skeptic," "Homer The Heretic") and traveled a long way from that by the time you had cheap Treehouse of Horror laughs with Satan controlling God/sleeping with Maude. By then, you're just Family Guy.

[Leo]

Lisa is unappreciated, but Norm could be the best supporting sitcom character ever. It's a dog eat dog world Lisa and you're wearing milkbone underwear.