Some concepts are more easily digested when they’re explained by puppets. The difference between “near” and “far,” for instance, or basic phonics. This extends beyond simple, unalterable certainties like left, right, and mortality, though—as creative advertising agency JESS3 recently discovered, felt and fur are the perfect mediums to explain the complicated metrics that go into television ratings. As the title, “TV Ratings 101” implies, this is only scratching the surface as to how the woefully outdated Nielsen ratings determine which series will live and which will die, but it’ll at least give you some perspective for when your new favorite show of the fall 2011 season slips off the broadcast schedule (and help you better enjoy The A.V. Club’s new, regular ratings breakdowns). [TV By The Numbers]