Santa's Little Helper event; however, their plan fails and a drunk shark that's discovered at the event becomes the new mascot instead. Santa's Little Helper gladly returns to the Simpson family. Santa's Little Helper's initial appearance on "The Simpsons" was in the first episode of the series, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", which aired on Dec. 17, 1989. Since then, he has become a recurring character. "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening told "TV Guide" in 2000 that "we [the staff] painted ourselves into a corner with our Christmas episode. Once we wrote the dog into the show, we were stuck with him."
Religion in The Simpsons praying. William Romanowski, author of the book "Pop Culture Wars: Religion and the Role of Entertainment in American Life", noted that ""The Simpsons" is not dismissive of faith, but treats religion as an integral part of American life. Episodes that I’ve seen are not so much irreverent toward religion, but poke fun at American attitudes and practices." One episode that heavily features religion is "Bart Sells His Soul" (1995). While discussing "The Simpsons" treatment of religion in his "Drawn to Television" book, M. Keith Booker cites a scene from the episode where Milhouse asks Bart what religions have to gain