Quote (Kevorkian @ Dec 15 2014 10:05pm)
You put an odd amount of emotion into the equation. Typically people avoid unpleasant senses.
There is much more to the equation that the oversimplified statement "people avoid unpleasant senses".
A great TV show would evoke responses in their audience that range from pleasant to unpleasant. In fact, the more extreme ends of both sides of the spectrum that a single show can hit, the better it is.
Example: If a show depicts a character suffering a negative emotion and the audience member who liked that character also feel unpleasant, then the show is doing a good job being dramatic. But the show should obviously make the audience feel good when the character experiences good things as well.
On the other hand, if an audience stays comfortable for the duration of the program, then its probably some low brow, simplistic show like Psych.