Index: django/template/loader.py
===================================================================
--- django/template/loader.py	(revision 16549)
+++ django/template/loader.py	(working copy)
@@ -180,6 +180,9 @@
 def select_template(template_name_list):
     "Given a list of template names, returns the first that can be loaded."
     not_found = []
+    if not template_name_list:
+        raise ValueError("Couldn't choose template for load since there are"
+                         " no candidates")
     for template_name in template_name_list:
         try:
             return get_template(template_name)