The Call of the Simpsons episode, along with his four other appearances on "The Simpsons", the best guest appearance in the show's history. "The Call of the Simpsons" received mixed reviews from critics. Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book "I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide", both criticized and praised the episode saying: "This episode is a bit less than the sum of its parts. The early stuff at the RV Round-Up is much better than the main camping story, although there's some nice Marge-Lisa bonding, and who could resist Maggie and the bears?" In a
The Simpsons and digital syndication rights for "The Simpsons." Original contracts had previously stated that syndication rights for "The Simpsons" would not be sold to cable until the series conclusion, at a time when cable syndication deals were highly rare. The series has been syndicated to local broadcast stations in nearly all markets throughout the United States since September 1993. FXX premiered "The Simpsons" on their network on August 21, 2014 by starting a twelve-day marathon which featured the first 552 episodes (every single episode that had already been released at the time) aired chronologically, including "The Simpsons Movie", which FX Networks