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."
Satan's Little Helper chubby little shoulders of a 9-year old. Still, horror buffs will delight in ingenious twists, perverse satire and gleefully off-kilter Amanda Plummer/Katheryn Winnick mother-daughter team." The website JoBlo.com gave the film a 8/10 rating, writing, "if you like your horror with a heaping dose of the blackest of black comedy, then "Satan’s Little Helper" will be quite the treat! The flick is a prime example of horror on a low budget done right. Characters are actually developed, jokes are skillfully executed, and the scares are delivered with flair." Dread Central called the film "Irreverent, subversive and deliciously caustic [...] a