Santa's Little Helper greyhound's lack of intelligence. In an article that compared "The Simpsons" to the animated series "Family Guy", Todd Camp of the "Fort Worth Star-Telegram" noted that "though Santa's Little Helper may be the only Simpson who's dumber than Homer, the Griffins' pooch <nowiki>[</nowiki>Brian Griffin<nowiki>]</nowiki> is the brainiest member of the household". In 1991, Copley News Service's Alison Ashton described Santa's Little Helper as a "sweet and stupid dog". Tom Coombe of "The Morning Call" wrote in 2002 that "fans of "The Simpsons" will tell you that the cartoon family's dog [...] is often dumb, disobedient and skittish. Fans of the
The Call of the Simpsons DVD review of the first season, David B. Grelck gave the episode a rating of 1.5/5, adding "the surrealism of Homer as bigfoot is a major misstep. This type of gag would be very different today, if done at all." Jon Bonné at MSNBC called the episode "a perfect example of the first season’s bizarre and fruitful balance between edgy humor and softly-drawn neuroses" and stated that "it was this combination that made Groening’s shorts for the Ullman show so compelling, and ultimately what made it possible for "The Simpsons" to break the molds of network television." Colin Jacobson at