Santa's Little Helper reason he stopped performing as Santa's Little Helper was because "The producers thought... 'Hmmm, Dan barks pretty good, and we are already paying him and he seems to like doing the dog thing... why do we need to pay Welker who comes in here, spends less than an hour, eats all the doughnuts, refuses to come to rehearsals... let's just give the damn dog to Dan!'" Santa's Little Helper has become a well-known dog because of his appearances in the series. A writer for "The Grand Rapids Press" wrote in 2002 that "we all know who Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa
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