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."
Brother's Little Helper eventually stops at the school. There, he points the tank's cannon into the sky and shoots down a Major League Baseball satellite; inside are detailed documents on everybody's behaviors. Mark McGwire appears, distracts the citizens with a long home run, and hides the evidence under his cap. Marge takes Bart off Focusyn for good and puts him back on Ritalin. Major League Baseball, however, still spies on the Simpson family due to an autographed bat McGwire gave Bart that has a hidden camera. "Brother's Little Helper", which was originally called "Bart a Go Go", was written by staff writer George