David Hinckley from the "Daily News" said that Rudy is "impossibly cute" in the episode. Marcy Carsey uses this episode to show how "The Cosby Show" makes stories of how people act to small events. Lisa Schwarzbaum from "The Entertainmeny Weekly" said that many people think that it is the most memorable episode of "The Cosby Show". Allison Samuels from "Newsweek" remembers Bill Cosby (who was the role of Cliff Huxtable) for the fish's funeral. William Raspberry from "The Washington Post" and Graham Jefferson from "USA Today" talked about the episode when they talked about good moments of "The Cosby Show". Cosby talked about it in "Ebony" when making a list of good episodes. The season 4 episode "Looking Back" makes a flashback to this episode.