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
Media in The Simpsons this mocks "how many children's programs have become little more than the ad to the merchandise". Gray also writes that "The Simpsons" "illustrates how the ad as genre has itself already invaded many, if not all, genres. Ads and marketing do not limit themselves to the space between programs; rather, they are themselves textual invaders, and part of "The Simpsons" parodic attack on ads involves revealing their hiding places in other texts." "The Itchy & Scratchy Show" is a show within a show that appears occasionally in episodes of "The Simpsons". They typically appear in the form of 15-60 second