Wine vs. whiny sitcoms

Via Matthew Yglesias, I've just learned that television is the secret to happiness. Given Mr. Yglesias's impeccable taste, not to mention my own sense of the joys television can bring, I will have to agree.

I've never understood why a glass of wine with dinner is wise and sophisticated, while a Nanny rerun or two when getting back from school/work is considered pathetic and cretinous. Frankly, I find this disparity to be classist, not to mention biased against those who are female, don't weigh a lot, and are of not-so-heavily-drinking ancestry (i.e. sexist, sizeist, and anti-Semitic). After a half-hour sitcom I'm pleasantly sedated; after a glass of wine on an empty stomach, I'm...somewhat more sedated, and a whole lot more silly. So, all things being equal, and productivity later in the evening being the goal, television wins hands down.