Santa's Little Helper for "The Tampa Tribune" listed Santa's Little Helper at number six, writing: "We admire his upbeat nature even after having his legs broken by Mr. Burns and being abandoned by Bart for another dog, Laddie." He also ranked 75th on Retrocrush author Robert Berry's list of "The 100 Greatest Dogs of Pop Culture History" in 2006. The character has attracted some criticism too, though. While reviewing the episode "Bart's Dog Gets an F" in 2010, Nathan Rabin of "The A.V. Club" wrote: "As cartoon dogs go, Santa’s Little Helper is spectacularly unspectacular. In a realm of aggressively anthropomorphic canines, some
Brother's Little Helper in the ratings, according to Nielsen Media Research, making it the most watched television program on Fox that night. Despite being the most watched program of the network, the ratings were considered disappointing by the "Deseret News". On October 7, 2008, the episode was released as part of "The Simpsons - The Complete Eleventh Season" DVD box set. Mike Scully, George Meyer, Mark Kirkland, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Matt Selman and Tim Long participated in the DVD audio commentary of the episode. Following its broadcast, "Brother's Little Helper" received positive reviews from critics. About nine years after its original broadcast, Robert Canning