131 Sentences With "Santa's little helper"

Santa's Little Helper: The Walking Dog Look at this bullshit. 1.

Bonus: Mom opens up Santa's Little Helper: The Walking Dog That look on her face… probably not worth it.

Santa's Little Helper was introduced on the very first episode of "The Simpsons" when he's adopted by Homer and Bart.

Just look at her all gussied up in her Santa's Little Helper costume, soaking up the warmth of her ambient, electric fireplace.

Santa's Little Helper is one of few cartoon dogs that simply acts like a regular dog, and for that, we love him.

The image from the tweet, of Santa's Little Helper bouncing on a trampoline, appears to have been taken from the 1993 episode, Bart's Inner Child.

Bart is Finn, Homer is Jake, Lisa is Marceline, Maggie is Princess Bubblegum, Santa's Little Helper is Lady Rainicorn, and Mr. Burns is fittingly cast as the Ice King.

Lisa steps out of Cinderella's pumpkin carriage; Marge uses her vacuum as a broom while Snowball and Santa's Little Helper lend a hand to the strains of "Whistle While You Work".

For 30 years, audiences have watched as Santa's Little Helper has fathered puppies, passed obedience school, trained as a police dog, become the mascot for Homer's beloved Duff Beer, and was given away to an ostrich farm (though, of course, he came back).

Bart and Mitchell call to Santa's Little Helper so he can decide which owner he prefers. After briefly getting distracted by chasing his own tail, Santa's Little Helper chooses Bart. Chief Wiggum arrives with Laddie, who immediately sniffs out a bag of marijuana in Mitchell's pocket. As Bart and Santa's Little Helper head home, more police officers arrive to enjoy the confiscated cannabis.

Both Santa's Little Helper and Strangles arrive to save Bart, who chooses his faithful dog to save him. Santa's Little Helper goes back to living with the Simpsons. Groundskeeper Willie adopts Strangles, and places him in the fire hose coil.

Santa's Little Helper does not do well there as Bart is unwilling to use a choke chain suggested by the instructor. The night before the final exam, Bart and Santa's Little Helper play, thinking it will be their last few hours together. This bonding breaks down the communication barrier, allowing the dog to understand Bart's commands, and consequently pass the obedience school. Santa's Little Helper has fathered several puppies.

Santa's Little Helper is there, but does not even try to save him. Snowball II climbs up to save him, scratching him hard to restore him to consciousness. Homer calls Santa's Little Helper a coward. The dog follows him everywhere, but Homer rebuffs him.

The dog manages to sniff out Homer and drag him out of the maze. Santa's Little Helper becomes a hero and the Simpsons, persuaded by Chief Wiggum, enroll him in the Springfield Animal Police Academy, where he is teamed with Lou, managing to help fight crime in Springfield. Santa's Little Helper catches Snake Jailbird who is taken to court, but freed on a technicality. This makes Santa's Little Helper jaded, and when he returns home, he bites Bart on the leg out of frustration.

Laddie learns many tricks that Santa's Little Helper is completely unable to perform, and the Simpson family nearly forgets about their old pet. Bart eventually gives Santa's Little Helper away instead of Laddie when repo men take back everything he fraudulently purchased. Feeling guilty about this disloyalty and bored with his too perfect new dog, Bart tries to get him back. When he finally finds him, Santa's Little Helper is serving as a seeing-eye dog for a blind man, but eventually decides to return to the family.

Dan Castellaneta currently voices Santa's Little Helper. Although cast member Dan Castellaneta occasionally voiced Santa's Little Helper for bit parts, American voice artist Frank Welker most often provided the sounds of the dog and other animals on the show from "Bart's Dog Gets an F", which aired on March 7, 1991, to "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily", which aired on October 1, 1995. He said on his official website in 2007 that he liked portraying Santa's Little Helper because the dog was a "sympathetic" character. Welker has been praised by staff members for his performances on the show.

Lisa is home from school with the mumps, so Marge teaches her to sew. While Homer is at the mall buying magazines for Lisa, he splurges on a $125 pair of Assassins athletic shoes after seeing Ned sporting them. Santa's Little Helper promptly destroys Homer's Assassins. Marge shows Lisa a patchwork quilt, a family heirloom, which Santa's Little Helper chews apart.

Homer instructs him to find Santa's Little Helper. Bart eventually learns from Reverend Lovejoy that the dog was given to a parishioner, Mr. Mitchell. Bart visits Mitchell to beg for his dog back, but he sees that the man is blind because he fails to notice his parrot has died. When Bart hears how the man and Santa's Little Helper have bonded, he grows heartsick and leaves.

The show opens with a short parody of the Disney short Feast entitled "Fat." Santa's Little Helper is fed scraps from the Simpsons' dinner table until he gets too fat and dies. He goes to Heaven and God offers him a choice between Fit Dog Heaven and Fat Dog Hell. Fat Dog Hell flashes a "Free Pizza" sign and Santa's Little Helper runs inside.

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 and Maggie are—heck, most Americans probably recognize their pets, Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II". McHugh wrote in Dog that while Master McGrath was the most famous greyhound of the 19th century, "the most popular greyhound a hundred years later" is Santa's Little Helper. In the television special 50 Greatest TV Animals that was hosted by Mario Lopez and aired on Animal Planet in 2003, the dog ranked 27th.

There is an empty beer can there. Santa's Little Helper flips the can into the air, balancing it on his nose and drinking the last few drops. A Springfield Shopper reporter takes a photo of it which appears on the front page of the newspaper. This gets the attention of Duff Beer, who announce that Duffman will be replaced with Santa's Little Helper, as their new mascot, Suds McDuff.

They decide to release her, so she can live out her last days in the wild, but as soon as they let her go Santa's Little Helper eats Annie.

Although cartoon animals are often humanized, Santa's Little Helper generally exhibits canine behavior. Santa's Little Helper has become a popular character following his appearances on The Simpsons. He ranked 27th in Animal Planet's 2003 television special 50 Greatest TV Animals that was based on popularity, name recognition, and the longevity of the shows. He has also been featured in merchandise relating to The Simpsons, such as video games, board games, and comics.

A storm passes over Springfield, and the Simpson family tries to pass it by playing a board game. Suddenly, Lisa spots a tornado that has touched down and sucks up Santa's Little Helper. Homer and Marge leave the children behind to find Santa's Little Helper and are aided by Lenny and Carl. They come across the tornado which nearly sucks everyone up and then traps Homer and Marge inside the intact building of a bank.

He is eager to join their scheme: he will help them get Santa's Little Helper back at a Duff Beer- sponsored beach volleyball event. At the event, Homer pretends to be drowning, while he is actually floating on a keg of beer. As Homer expected, Santa's Little Helper is not brave enough to save him. However, when Duffman is called to save Homer, a shark is seen and Duffman refuses to go in.

The scene in which Santa's Little Helper and She's the Fastest are presented with a plate of spaghetti at Luigi's Italian restaurant parodies Lady and the Tramp. The clerk performing a mind-meld on Santa's Little Helper is a reference to the Vulcan mind-meld ability in Star Trek; the same music from the mind-meld scenes in Star Trek are played during the scene. At one point, Santa's Little Helper looks wistfully out the window of the Simpson family's car, and then morphs out of the car window in reference to a similar scene in Terminator 2: Judgment Day; music from that film plays in the background. Four of the puppies are named Jay, David, Paul, and Branford, a reference to late- night talkshow hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno and their respective bandleaders Paul Shaffer and Branford Marsalis.

Santa's Little Helper is an American comedy film starring The Miz, Paige, AnnaLynne McCord, and Maryse Mizanin. The film was directed by Gil Junger. The film was released direct-to-DVD and digital on November 17, 2015.

Dax does not believe Billie's claim to work for Santa, so Santa himself arrives at Dax's home to convince him to take the job. A flashback reveals Dax had once been optimistic and friendly until he was framed for stealing money from the youth center he shut down in the film's opening. Dax accepts the position of Santa's Little Helper, but Eleanor, using an obscure North Pole law, challenges him to the position with the winner being decided through a rigorous obstacle course. Dax loses and Eleanor is named Santa's Little Helper.

She runs off with Santa's Little Helper and they go to her therapy institute where she has an opportunity to communicate with him. She determines that the event causing his post-traumatic stress disorder goes back to his childhood and she sets out to find his origin. At the No Kill Kennel, dog trainer Les Moore explains how he took Santa's Little Helper from his mother She-Biscuit because he ran to her so quickly. The family is outraged, but their hearts are quickly warmed when the mother and son are reunited in Moore's yard.

Their bones, muscles and blood vessels exposed, they perform a musical number with Willie during the end credits, but near the end of the number, Santa's Little Helper drags Bart off-screen by his intestines and eats him alive.

He is also an avid fan of The Simpsons, has tattoos of both Homer and Bart, and an English bulldog named Santa's Little Helper. Pratto has stated that he is a Boca Juniors supporter. He holds an Italian passport.

Leontovich, P. Wilhousky) – 1:27 # "Farewell, New York" – 2:57 # "Up on the Housetop" (B. Hanby) – 2:34 # "Santa's Little Helper" – 2:29 # "My Evergreen" (T. Maxwell) – 2:37 # "Silent Night" (F. Gruber, J. Mohr) – 2:46 # "Little Drummer Girl" (K.

They plan to turn Duffman into a hero at a Duff Beer- sponsored beach volleyball 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.

German poet and novelist, Theodor Storm, wrote the poem "Knecht Ruprecht" in 1862.Raedisch, Linda. The Old Magic of Christmas, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2013 In the German version of The Simpsons television show, the family dog is named Knecht Ruprecht rather than Santa's Little Helper.

After four days, Maggie rides Santa's Little Helper into Guidopolis and frees the drivers by using the hook on Louie's tow truck to rip out the bars on his basement window. Homer returns home with Maggie and the dog, and Marge and Maggie happily reconcile.

In addition, the dog has been made into action figures by McFarlane Toys, action figures by Playmates Toys in the World of Springfield series, and plush toys. Santa's Little Helper has made an impact on real life in that an espresso-based drink has been named after him at the award-winning restaurant and bar Bambara in Salt Lake City's Hotel Monaco. Bartender Ethan Moore told The Salt Lake Tribune in 2004 that it is "one of the most popular holiday drinks" at Bambara. In addition, a dog walking and pet sitting company in New York City, called "Santa's Little Helper Dog Walking and Pet Sitting", has been named after him.

After minutes of searching, they eventually find Santa's Little Helper hidden in a pantry shelf below the sink. Lisa and Bart realize Homer has not paid any attention to the dog all the time. When Homer states that he does not get along with Santa's Little Helper because he is not a "dog person", Grampa mentions about another dog named Bongo, which upsets Homer. It is revealed that Bongo was Homer's childhood dog and best friend (along with Harry Nilsson singing Me and My Arrow from the cartoon The Point, which the animation also imitates, with cross-hatch shading and a more angular style).

The shark tries to bite Homer, but bites the beer keg open instead and gets drunk. The crowd at the beach likes the shark, and Duff Beer announces that the shark -- named Duff McShark -- will be their new mascot. Santa's Little Helper returns to the Simpson family.

Homer Simpson and his son Bart, who are at the race track in hope of winning some money for Christmas presents, see this and decide to adopt the dog. Santa's Little Helper has since appeared frequently on The Simpsons, and is the center of the plots of several episodes. During the course of the show, he has fathered litters of puppies, passed obedience school, had surgery for bloat, replaced Duffman as the mascot for Duff Beer, and been trained as a police dog at Springfield's Animal Police Academy. Some of the episodes that focus on Santa's Little Helper have been inspired by a popular culture or real experiences that staff members of the show have gone through.

Since his first appearance on The Simpsons, Santa's Little Helper has appeared in merchandise relating to the show. On the board art of The Simpsons Clue, a 2000 board game by USAopoly based on Clue, he is shown drinking Duff Beer that has been spilled on the floor. In another board game published by USAopoly called The Simpsons Monopoly, based on Monopoly and released in 2001, the dog is featured as one of the six pewter playing pieces. Santa's Little Helper has also appeared in issues of Simpsons Comics, in the 2007 film The Simpsons Movie, and in video games based on The Simpsons such as Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror and The Simpsons Game.

"Two Dozen and One Greyhounds" is the 20th episode of The Simpsons sixth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 9, 1995. The episode was written by Mike Scully and directed by Bob Anderson. Frank Welker guest stars as Santa's Little Helper and various other dogs.

"Old Yeller Belly" is the nineteenth episode of the fourteenth season of The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 4, 2003. Santa's Little Helper fails to help Homer when he is trapped in a fire. He is rebuffed by the family, but eventually accepted again.

When Bart and Homer return home, Santa's Little Helper is assumed by the rest of the family to be a Christmas present. Years later, the family would find breeder and trainer Les Moore and reunite their pet with his mother She-Biscuit. In various episodes, Santa's Little Helper can be seen chewing on newspapers and other objects in the Simpsons' household, destroying furniture, and digging holes in the backyard.. In "Bart's Dog Gets an F" (season two, 1991), he manages to infuriate the entire family by destroying valued items in the home. As a result, Homer and Marge want to get rid of the dog, but Bart and Lisa convince them that he can be trained at an obedience school.

Santa's Little Helper is agitated by the sights, sounds, and smells of the Simpsons' Christmas celebration: he refuses to be affectionate, tears apart the couch, and stares idly at a smudge on the cabinet. Lisa suggests attending a seminar from dog psychologist Elaine Wolff. Wolff mostly berates dog owners and her talk is not helpful, but when Lisa tries to ask her to help the Simpsons to empathize with Santa's Little Helper, she explains that they are underestimating how his sense of smell is strongly tied to memory and it brings back memories of when he was an abused racing dog. When Marge reaches for a Santa Claus hat that the dog has been keeping next to him, he nips at her.

When the calls and collection letters persist, he enlists Laddie's help to bury the ill- gotten card. Soon repo men arrive to confiscate his purchases. When a repossessor asks for the $1,200 dog to be returned, Bart identifies Santa's Little Helper as the dog. The greyhound is herded into the truck and he watches sadly as it drives away.

Homer fights his double and defeats him by kicking him in the crotch. Marge and the kids are happy that the real Homer has returned, but then a fake Santa's Little Helper spouts a gas that drugs the entire family. The episode ends with everyone in the family enjoying their strange, new life on the Island.

Undeterred by its US$1,200 price, Bart orders a purebred collie. When the dog arrives, Bart learns his name is Laddie and he is trained to perform several tasks. The Simpsons fall in love with the new dog and neglect Santa's Little Helper. When he fails to pay his credit card bill, Bart gets a call from a debt collection agency demanding payment.

Later Bart makes a late-night visit to the man's home and retrieves Santa's Little Helper. While trying to escape, he traps himself in a closet after mistaking it for an outside door. Thinking Bart is a burglar, Mitchell gloats that he has called the police. Bart explains that he is just a child and the dog was originally his.

The story is set right after the events of "Kamp Krusty". Santa's Little Helper follows the trail of Homer and Marge's clothes, leading him to Bart's treehouse, where they were having sex. Chief Wiggum and Officer Lou arrive at the scene, having been called by Ned. Homer tells them the kids are fine, before showing them a postcard from Kamp Krusty.

At the Armageddon on December 14, Maria was part of the winning team of a Santa's Little Helper tag team match. On the December 26 episode of SmackDown!, she served as a special guest referee in the Divas Championship match between Maryse and McCool, where Maryse became the new champion. After the match, McCool turned heel and attacked Maria, injuring her shoulder.

The dog obedience school has different categories named after famous dogs, which are Rin Tin Tin, Benji, Toto and the one in which Santa's Little Helper attends, Cujo. Winthrop is based on British dog trainer and author Barbara Woodhouse. Winthrop exclaims "Heavens to Murgatroyd!", a catchphrase spoken by Bert Lahr in Meet the People and popularised by the cartoon character Snagglepuss.

In "How Munched is That Birdie in the Window?" (season 22, 2010), after Santa's Little Helper devours a pigeon with a broken leg that Bart was nursing, Bart gets mad at the dog and is unable to forgive him. The Simpsons therefore give him away to an ostrich farm. There, Bart says goodbye to him and explains that he should never, ever devour a bird.

During the night, Sideshow Bob reaches the houseboat and unmoors it from the dock. He ties up Homer, Marge, Lisa, Maggie and Santa's Little Helper so they cannot meddle with his plan. Sideshow Bob enters Bart's room, ready to kill him. Bart flees out the window and tries to escape, but he cannot jump off the boat since the river is filled with alligators and electric eels.

Writing for The A.V. Club, Dennis Perkins gave the episode a B, praising it for the attempt to do a serious study of the character of Santa's Little Helper but noting that the finale was too sentimental. Den of Geek's Tony Sokol gave the episode four out of five stars for its emotional depth and its ability to make the show's past more rich.

Emily grows more exasperated with Bart and his dog at each class. Thinking it will be their last time together, Bart plays with Santa's Little Helper the night before the final exam. The dog is finally able to understand Bart's commands and passes obedience school, to Homer's chagrin. Lisa marks the occasion by starting a new quilt to replace the one the dog destroyed.

" Jacobson's favorite line of the episode was Homer's ad about Santa's Little Helper: "Free to loving home. World's most brilliant dog. Says 'I love you' on command." Reviewing for The DVD Journal, Dawn Taylor thought the most memorable line was Flanders's description of the Assassins sneakers: "They've got Velcro straps, a water pump in the tongue, a built-in pedometer, reflective sidewalls and little vanity plates.

When the Springfield gay pride parade passes by the Simpsons' house, Santa's Little Helper flirts with one of the gay dogs. Uncomfortable, Homer drags his family to the Springfield Googolplex. After growing impatient at several previews and public service announcements preceding the film, Homer flies into a rampage and demands the movie start. Wielding oversized Kit Kat bars, the ushers chase Homer from the cinema.

Dr. Budgie's plea for Springfield to realize that the dogs will soon notice that humans have advocated their alpha status and turn on the citizens is not taken seriously until it actually happens. Even Santa's Little Helper joins the feral dog pack, as the town hides from the now-vicious dogs, and a town meeting leads to the community begging their most broken-down citizen to help them: Gil. Gil is ready to face down his fellow street creatures, but it is Marge who steps up, and after finding out the leader of the dog pack is a vicious chihuahua named Taquito, kicks Taquito clear out of their showdown park and becomes the new alpha of Springfield. All of the dogs return to their homes and families, from Ned's Baz and Mr. Burns' hounds, to Lisa and Bart's joyous reunion with Santa's Little Helper.

Grampa then shows Homer a picture of an older Bongo resting on an old sweatshirt Homer gave to Bongo when the dog was left to Ms. Viola, proving that Bongo still remembers him. Homer tries to deny the truth but eventually bursts into tears when he realizes that Grandpa did something noble and suffered badly for it, and he immediately makes amends with his father and spends the following night sleeping on the couch with him and Santa's Little Helper, dreaming about himself walking with Santa's Little Helper alongside a younger Homer with Bongo, Burns with his dogs, and Krusty with a gorilla that was the predecessor of Mr. Teeny. At the end of the episode, Mr. Burns has a sad (for him) conversation with Smithers where they concede that Mitt Romney lost the 2012 Presidential election, and then explains the fiscal cliff in his own words.

She has also appeared in several newspaper interviews, including Tokyo Headline, and was on the cover of Sessions Magazine in October 2010. In 2012, Maryse was featured on the cover of Le Journal de Montréal, and on MDA Show of Strength with The Miz and other celebrities. In 2015, Ouellet had roles in Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! and in Santa's Little Helper, the latter starring The Miz.

Santa's Little Helper sires another litter of puppies with Dr. Hibbert's poodle in the episode "Today I Am a Clown" (season 15, 2003). These puppies are given away to townspeople. The dog has been neglected or treated unfavorably by the family in some episodes. In "Dog of Death" (season three, 1992), he nearly dies of bloat and they decide to make budget cuts in order to pay for the required operation.

David Mirkin has noted that "he can do anything, and it fits perfectly. You forget you're listening to a guy, and he's a pleasure to work with." Groening has commented that he was "unbelievably good" at doing animal noises. After 1995, Castellaneta voiced Santa's Little Helper on his own while Welker performed other animal noises until his full departure in 2002, when he was denied a pay raise.

Christian Roman, John Reiss and Mike Anderson storyboarded the episode. In the original animatic, Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II were not present, so the animators went back and added them, even though they are not a part of the story. It is a common misconception that Scorpio's design was modeled after Richard Branson. The final design, which underwent an overhaul, was hailed by the writers as "the perfect madman".

This saddens Flanders and he decides to give the dog to his neighbor, much to his and his sons' chagrin. However, Homer advises him to keep her since he will be a better owner than Homer, who in Baz's eyes is just another dog with whom she can play. The end of this episode shows us Santa's Little Helper and Baz preparing to fight in a Far West style.

Alongside the five main family members, there are a number of other major and minor characters in their family. The most commonly recurring characters are Homer's father Abraham "Grampa" Simpson; Marge's sisters Patty and Selma Bouvier; and the family's two pets, Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II. Other family members include Homer's mother Mona Simpson, Homer's half-brother Herbert Powell, Marge's mother Jacqueline Bouvier, and other minor relatives.

When Edna receives a gentle and romantic breakup letter saying Woodrow will never forget her, she feels better. She and Bart spend his last day of detention having fun outside the classroom. In the subplot, Marge notices that Santa's Little Helper needs a new dog house. Homer tries to save money by building one himself, but his attempts fail and he curses loudly enough for Todd Flanders to overhear.

Santa's Little Helper is a cartoon dog in the American animated television series The Simpsons. He is the pet greyhound of the Simpson family. He was previously voiced by Frank Welker, and is currently voiced by Dan Castellaneta. The dog was introduced in the first episode of the show, the 1989 Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", in which his owner abandons him for finishing last in a greyhound race.

The greyhound finishes last. As Homer and Bart leave the track, they see the dog's owner berate and abandon him for losing the race. Bart pleads with Homer to keep the dog as a pet; they return home and Bart introduces Santa's Little Helper as their family dog while Homer confesses that he didn't get his Christmas bonus. The family is overjoyed by Homer's gesture and celebrates by singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

After a failed attempt by Marge to win the money on the game show Jeopardy!, the Simpsons arrive home to find everyone in Springfield gathered on their lawn and Marge thinks they have forgiven them. However, while that is the case, they steal all of their belongings, including Santa's Little Helper and Snowball ll, to cover the $15,000 debt. The family playfully fight over a tattered washcloth, the only thing they have left.

The end came when Batista executed the Batista Bomb to win the match. The fifth match was an Eight Woman Santa's Little Helper Tag Team match where all eight competitors were dressed in Christmas outfits. It pitted two teams of four against each other: Michelle McCool, Maria, Kelly Kelly, and Mickie James versus Maryse, Jillian Hall, Victoria, and Natayla. The match ended quickly with McCool getting a pinfall victory over Hall after the Faithbreaker.

The main theme to Peanuts "Linus and Lucy" is played several times. A redesigned version of Santa's Little Helper can be seen sleeping on top of his dog house and Homer is seen sleeping on top of his house in a manner similar to Snoopy. When Marge first speaks, she uses a muted trombone. This is a parody of the "wah wah wah" voice that is used for adults in the various Peanuts specials.

During an event in downtown Springfield, Professor Frink demonstrates a new invention that he soon loses control of, resulting in the destruction of the Springfield Retirement Castle. This results in Grampa moving in with the Simpson family. Meanwhile, Homer discovers an app game called "Villageville" on his MyPad, which involves constructing a village. His immediate addiction to it causes him to ignore Santa's Little Helper and lead to the dog's sudden disappearance.

The segment is inspired by and contains references to several films by Jerry Bruckheimer, including Die Hard and Lethal Weapon, and borrows elements from other action films. At one point in the segment, Bart's dog Santa's Little Helper starts talking to him. The dog's voice is similar to that of Goliath in the stop-motion animated television series Davey and Goliath. Inside the whale skeleton in the episode, Bart finds the remains of Jonah.

Thinking quickly, he alters the prank so that the letters "F" and "D" remain, as a tribute to the Springfield Fire Department, to a much relieved crowd, and he finally admits his fault to Marge. Wiggum arrests him but allows him to give a hug to Marge. Meanwhile, Homer learns that Flanders got a new female dog named Baz. Though Homer isn't her owner, he eventually bonds with this dog, ignoring Santa's Little Helper.

Homer, excited about going to Oktoberfest, is disappointed when he discovers that Marge has tricked him and the kids into going to a Harvest Festival which allows no alcohol. While attempting to leave, Homer accidentally leads the family into a cornfield maze. Lisa crafts an escape plan with Tremaux's algorithm, a real life maze- solving method, but Homer is left behind. Santa's Little Helper is called upon by Bart to find Homer.

While at the mall on Christmas Eve, Bart removes Santa's beard, exposing Homer's secret. Bart apologizes for the prank and praises his father for moonlighting to give the family Christmas presents. After Homer's Santa gig pays far less than expected due to high tax deductions, he and Bart receive a greyhound racing tip from Barney. At Springfield Downs, Homer bets all his money on a last-minute entry named Santa's Little Helper, a 99–1 long shot.

During breakfast, Marge discovers a loose tile on the floor and says that she will have to call a handyman. Homer gets the hint that he is not handy and decides to replace the tile himself. He succeeds with the help of an online tutorial, but soon realizes that he has trapped the family cat Snowball II inside the floor. He later manages to free the cat from the walls, but also traps Santa's Little Helper inside.

On the November 28 episode of SmackDown, Victoria teamed up with Natalya and Maryse to defeat the Bella Twins and Michelle McCool, before the feud ended. Followed this, her association with Victoria also ended after she retired from the company on the January 16, 2009 episode of SmackDown. at Armageddon (2008), Natalya, Jillian Hall, Victoria and Maryse lost to Maria, Kelly Kelly, Mickie James, and Michelle McCool in an Eight-Diva Santa's Little Helper tag team match.

In her love-induced stupor, she nearly kisses a running fan held by Maggie, until Marge finally intervenes by deciding that she wants Lisa back to normal, and should not take the pills anymore. She tosses them in the wastebasket, where they are promptly eaten by Santa's Little Helper. When Maggie holds the fan up to him, he licks the fan himself. Heartbroken, Bart is at the Kwik-E-Mart, drowning his sorrows on a couple of Shrek Squishees.

Bart stubbornly refuses and insists the incident is Lisa's fault, not his. After Homer expels Santa's Little Helper from the house for stealing a turkey drumstick, Bart and the dog run away from home. Bart tries to steal a pie cooling on a window sill at Mr. Burns's mansion, but Burns's hounds chase him away. While wandering the streets, Bart uses Homer's ID to sell his blood and visits a breadline that is serving Thanksgiving dinner to homeless people.

"Bart's Dog Gets an "F"" is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons' second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 7, 1991. In the episode, the Simpson family's dog, Santa's Little Helper, infuriates Homer and Marge by destroying a family heirloom and an expensive pair of shoes. When Marge and Homer want to get rid of the dog, Bart enrolls him at an obedience school to curb his bad behavior.

When Homer and Marge want to rid themselves of the dog, Bart and Lisa promise to train him so they may keep him. Santa's Little Helper attends an obedience school run by Emily Winthrop, an English woman. After seeing how misbehaved the dog is, she sternly suggests Bart use a choke chain to correct his behavior. Since Bart is reluctant to use firm discipline to train him, the dog fails to master basic commands like sitting and heeling.

"Judge Me Tender" is the twenty-third episode and season finale of The Simpsons twenty-first season. The 464th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 23, 2010. In the episode, Moe discovers his talent for judging in competitions and is invited to appear on the show American Idol. Meanwhile, Homer drives Marge crazy when he starts spending too much time at home, and Lisa tries to comfort Santa's Little Helper.

The Simpson family's dog, Santa's Little Helper, runs away from home to the dog racing track, where he mates with a female greyhound named She's the Fastest. She gives birth to a litter of 25 puppies after her owner, the Rich Texan, gives her to the Simpsons. They quickly become too difficult to manage, so Homer and Marge try giving them away. They soon find that the puppies do not like being separated, so Mr. Burns offers to take them all.

Ray apologizes to Homer for having not finished the job and promises he will stop by soon to work on the roof. Lisa, Marge, and Maggie arrive back at the retirement home, only to discover that Santa's Little Helper has become one of the old people. They permanently take him back home. After waiting a long while for Ray to show on the roof, Marge becomes worried about Homer, and tells him that Ray is just a figment of his imagination.

When Bart complains he never gets any mail, Marge gives him the family's junk mail. He completes a credit card application under the name of the family dog, Santa's Little Helper. Bart receives a credit card issued to "Santos L. Halper" after the company misreads his application. He goes on a spending spree, buying the family expensive gifts from a mail-order catalog: smoked salmon and a radio- frying pan for Marge, a golf shirt for Homer, pep pills for Lisa and several things for himself.

Realizing Santa's Little Helper is gone, the family bonds with Laddie, except for Bart, who fears for Santa's Little Helper's fate. When an exhausted Bart takes Laddie on one of his frequent walks, the collie saves the life of Baby Gerald. At the ceremony honoring Laddie's heroism, Chief Wiggum decides that he would make the perfect police dog. Bart gives him to the Springfield police force and breaks down crying while explaining to his family why they no longer have any dog at all.

Although Homer has inside information on which dog is the most likely to win, he instead bets on a last-minute entry, Santa's Little Helper (here despite being brown), believing the dog's Christmas-inspired name to be a sign. However, the greyhound finishes last. As Homer and Bart leave the track, they watch the dog's owner abandon him for losing the race. Bart pleads with Homer to keep the dog as a pet and he agrees after it affectionately licks him on the cheek.

In "Stop or My Dog Will Shoot" (season 18, 2007), Santa's Little Helper becomes a local hero after finding a lost Homer, and the Simpsons decide to enroll him in the Animal Police Academy. However, his new crime-fighting job makes him jaded and one day at home he bites Bart. The Simpsons must therefore send the dog away to live with officer Lou. However, he gets to return after saving Bart from a toxic smoke cloud at school and then leaving the police force.

The ice cracks, causing the car to sink and blow up. The next morning, a guilt-ridden Bart admits the truth to his family. Though furious, they go along with the lie when Brockman and his news crew arrive to do a follow-up story. When a cameraman, with help from Santa's Little Helper, finds the tree's remains, the family is forced to explain the truth; Springfield's citizens, feeling scammed, shun them in public and mail them angry letters demanding they pay back the $15,000.

Mizanin speaking at a United Service Organizations event in 2017 Mizanin played a small role in the film The Campaign in 2012. In 2013, The Miz starred in WWE Studios film The Marine 3: Homefront, replacing fellow wrestler Randy Orton, who was dropped from the role due to his bad conduct discharge from the Marine Corps. Mizanin starred in the ABC Family TV movie Christmas Bounty, which premiered in December 2013. In 2015, he starred in the WWE Studios Christmas film Santa's Little Helper.

After becoming the runner-up in the fourth season of Tough Enough and subsequently launching his WWE career, Mizanin appeared on Diva Search, Total Divas and Tough Enough and hosted several seasons of The Challenge. He and his wife Maryse also starred in their own reality show titled Miz & Mrs. that premiered in 2018. He has also come to star in several films produced by WWE Studios, portraying Jake Carter in The Marine franchise as well as starring in Christmas Bounty and Santa's Little Helper.

The second frame in the Bouvier family patchwork quilt depicts a poster for one of Buffalo Bill's Wild West shows. In addition, the photograph The Falling Soldier by Robert Capa is the third frame in the quilt. When the scene changes to Santa's Little Helper's point of view, a small explosion sound is heard; this sound is used in the film Predator, when the camera switches to Predator's point of view. The dramatic music from the film Jaws is used just before Santa's Little Helper attacks something.

One Winter morning, Homer wakes up in a pile of snow and does not remember the events of the previous day, commenting that he must have drunk heavily the night before. Homer goes home and finds his family absent and Santa's Little Helper attacks him, though Homer manages to subdue him before escaping. Homer travels to Moe's, where Moe informs him that he was there the previous night and wanted to forget an unpleasant memory. Moe explains he gave Homer a "Forget-Me-Shot", which wiped out the last 24 hours of his memory.

Although the dog's life is saved, the family begins to feel the strain of their sacrifices and starts treating him badly, causing him to run away. He ends up in the possession of Mr. Burns, who trains him to become a vicious attack dog. Several days later, Bart stumbles upon the trained Santa's Little Helper and is attacked, but the greyhound eventually recognizes his old friend and stops. In "The Canine Mutiny" (season eight, 1997), Bart uses a fake charge card to buy a well- trained rough collie named Laddie from a mail-order catalog.

When Homer learns his mean boss is not giving employees Christmas bonuses, he takes a job as a shopping mall Santa, but fails to earn enough money for presents. After losing all his Santa earnings at a dog-racing track on Christmas Eve, Homer lets Bart keep Santa's Little Helper when the dog finishes last and is abandoned by its owner. The episode was written by Mimi Pond and directed by David Silverman. "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" was nominated for two Emmy Awards in 1990 and has received positive reviews from television critics.

Milhouse tries to alert Marge that Bart has gone crazy, but Bart thinks he is making a move for the comic and tackles him. Milhouse falls over the side of the treehouse, but Bart catches him precariously by his sleeve. When a gale of wind takes hold of the comic, Bart is forced to decide between grabbing it and rescuing Milhouse. After Bart pulls Milhouse to safety, the comic blows out the door and onto the ground, where it is shredded by Santa's Little Helper and struck by lightning.

In the episode, Santa's Little Helper has puppies with a dog that he met at the greyhound racetrack. The episode is inspired by Walt Disney Pictures' 1961 animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians. The producers decided to have Mr. Burns communicate his horrific plan of making a tuxedo from the puppies through a musical number, "See My Vest", after determining that it would be a "fun and light" way to convey his plan of killing the greyhounds. "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds" received a generally positive reception from television critics.

He discovers that the only thing that has made him happy was hunting down Bart for 24 years, so he builds a machine to bring Bart back to life so he can kill him over and over. Bob's machine is discovered by Santa's Little Helper, and the Simpson family break into his basement and reanimate Bart. Bob appears with a shotgun and has the legal right to kill the intruding Simpsons. Homer attacks Bob with a lamp, ripping his head off, and Marge decides that Bart can keep Bob's remains.

In order to make it sound accurate, Hank Azaria, who portrays Kitenge in the episode, was taught to sing the song phonetically by a professor in Swahili in the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Joan Bushwell, the "Jane Goodall-type" character in the episode, was portrayed by American voice actress Tress MacNeille, who also voices Lindsey Naegle among other characters in the series. All animals' noises (except for Santa's Little Helper, who is voiced by main cast member Dan Castellaneta) were done by American voice actor Frank Welker.

Ray leaves later and, as Homer runs on the roof, he crashes through the small part of the roof that they fixed, making the hole bigger. Meanwhile, Marge and the kids leave Santa's Little Helper with Grampa and the Springfield Retirement Home residents, because they seem to like him. When Marge sees the hole, she tells Homer to fix it himself, because she sees no reason to believe that his friend will. The next day, Bart and Homer go to the Builder's Barn, and Homer meets Ray there.

As Homer heads out with his family, he notices that Flanders' home is worth more than his home, so in order to up the value on the property, Homer snatches Flanders' flowers and plants them on his yard. Through Homer's goggles, he sees that the value shoots up, before Santa's Little Helper urinates on the plant and value drops. During Homer's snuggle time with Marge, he cannot take off his goggles, prompting Marge to walk out on him. Homer desperately asks the goggles to find a gift for Marge under five dollars.

After a rat infestation, Homer takes Maggie and Santa's Little Helper to the store so he can get rat poison. Bickering between the baby and the dog causes the family's car to fall off a bridge on the way back home. Homer tries to get them all across a lake in a small boat (a reference to the fox, goose and bag of beans puzzle). He first takes Maggie across and puts her on the doorstep of a convent, where the nuns take Maggie in and refuse to give her back.

After a particularly bad day -- Santa's Little Helper eats his homework and he forgets his permission slip for a school field trip to a chocolate factory -- Bart loses control of his skateboard during a downpour. He crashes down the stairwell of the Legitimate Businessman's Social Club, a Mob bar owned by the Springfield Mafia. At the club, Mob boss Fat Tony and his henchmen, Legs and Louie, are inhospitable towards Bart at first. They are soon impressed by his ability to pick winning horses and make excellent Manhattans.

An opening scene features Lisa warning viewers about the following segment’s disgusting content, proclaiming, "What you're about to see is so disgusting, you'll watch Game of Thrones to calm down!" The segment, a parody of "Survivor Type", then begins when Homer remains home while the rest of the family go on vacation with Patty and Selma. Homer gets comfy, but ends up eating his food supplies, ending up with only vegetables before finding a frozen hot dog. Losing the hot dog to Santa's Little Helper, Homer accidentally cuts his finger off while grilling.

Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa are forced to play with one another when Marge goes shopping (she notes that the mall is deserted when the townspeople are rioting, as is the case with Burns' trip to prison). When the two fight over Lisa's ant farm, it breaks and Santa's Little Helper eats all but one of the ants. The experience brings Lisa and Bart closer together, and they name the ant Annie (as in Little Orphan Annie, as well as the layman's term ant itself). They care for her as they would a child, but realize that she is near death.

Santa's Little Helper is a greyhound dog that appears on the animated television sitcom series The Simpsons and is the pet dog of the Simpson family. He can often be seen on the show in minor appearances, although there have been some episodes that feature him heavily, including the first episode of The Simpsons. In that episode, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" (season one, 1989), Homer discovers that he has no money to buy Christmas presents for the family. Desperate for a miracle, he and Bart go to the greyhound racing track on Christmas Eve in hopes of winning some money.

In this episode, Barney had blonde hair which was the same color as his skin, but that was later dropped because of the belief that only the Simpson family should have such hair. Seymour Skinner, Milhouse Van Houten, Sherri and Terri, Moe Szyslak, Mr. Burns, Barney Gumble, Patty and Selma, Ned and Todd Flanders, Santa's Little Helper, Snowball II, Dewey Largo, and Lewis all make their first appearances in this episode. Snowball I is mentioned for the first time and Waylon Smithers can be heard over the speaker at the power plant, but he is not seen.

Downstream is the river's largest wave, called Santa Claus, with an aggressive hole 30 yards below it (dubbed "Santa's Little Helper"). The section finishes off with Canoe Meadows Campground on the right hand shore, with a large "V" wave popular with river surfers, a second wave called the Green Tongue, and a very developed slalom course. Nearly every rapid on this stretch of river was either created or manipulated by man-made boulder placements. The exit of the river to get back to the take-out is anywhere on the right hand shore after the last slalom gate.

Bart then finds himself back in the therapist's chair, and learns that what he experienced was just a neural implant. Bart and Lisa visit Marge and find out that she and Homer have finally gotten back together, and she gave him a new robot body and personality. Bart recommends Lisa try moving on if things do not work out with her and Milhouse, but Lisa points out that Milhouse is still a zombie and there is no cure, much to her own affection, and Santa's Little Helper (who is now a hybrid of him and the family cat, Snowball) is seen talking.

Lisa shows Homer her project for the school science fair, a grammar robot named Linguo, which Homer breaks by pouring beer down its throat. Shortly after, Marge accidentally severs Homer's thumb as she is cooking, and Santa's Little Helper runs around with the severed thumb, forcing Homer to chase him for it. Marge calls the police, but when they mistake her for an attempted murderess, she gives them a fake address. After Homer retrieves the thumb, he and Marge drive to the hospital; along the way they crash into Rainier Wolfcastle's car and then steal it.

While Marge takes Maggie to the hospital after Maggie swallowed an issue of Time magazine whole, Homer, Bart and Lisa go grocery shopping. Homer and other shoppers at the store mistreat the bag boys, which results in every bag boy in Springfield going on strike. Presumably and strangely having no ability to shop without bag boys to pack their bags, they are unable to buy more food. When the Simpsons run out of food in their home, the family follows Santa's Little Helper into the attic, where he finds a 30-year-old box of animal crackers.

M'Cool was the alias of Richard Doyle (March 30, 1940 - January 19, 1990), a Los Angeles-based stand-up comedian and talk show host, who previously recorded a novelty song in 1973 called "Santa's Little Helper, Dingo". In 1981, he revived the M'Cool alter ego to record "American Memories", a single he recorded under his own label, Perspective Records. Pressing only ten copies of the record, he sent it to local Los Angeles radio stations with the assurance that the song would get promotion. However, the program directors who promised this had gone on vacation, and the song faded from memory.

He is married to Marge Simpson, a stereotypical American housewife and mother. They have three children: Bart, a ten-year-old troublemaker; Lisa, an eight-year-old child prodigy; and Maggie, a 1-year-old baby who rarely speaks, but communicates by sucking on a pacifier. The family owns a dog, Santa's Little Helper, and a cat, Snowball II. Both pets have had starring roles in several seasons. Despite the passing of yearly milestones such as holidays or birthdays, the Simpsons do not physically age and still appear just as they did at the end of the 1980s.

Matt Groening, the series' creator, wanted Ullman to make a guest appearance in one of the shorts, but was told that she was too busy with the rest of The Tracey Ullman Show. When her show was canceled in 1990, Ullman agreed to do a guest appearance on The Simpsons after being asked by Groening once again. The animal noises for the episode, including those by Santa's Little Helper, were performed by Frank Welker. It was the first The Simpsons episode Welker worked on and he became a recurring voice actor on the show, before leaving in 2002.

Homer and Marge then come home, and Marge tells Lisa she is breaking her promise. Marge and Homer then spend a night in Lisa's room and find out how scary the view really is. Marge and Homer then contact a psychologist, and find out that it is expensive and her fears are mostly going to be solved by herself, as she was not nurtured enough as a baby. Lisa, however, does not want to go see a therapist, and goes with Bart and Santa's Little Helper to overcome her fears at the cemetery, but Bart and Santa’s Little Helper leave.

Bart feeds marshmallows to Santa's Little Helper while Lisa edits a video of Marge and Homer's rejection letter openings, which they also recorded, and shows it to the producers at an in-person audition. The producers are attracted to the idea of rewarding an ultimate fan of the show and the show’s host Tad Tuckerbag joins them at home to deliver the news. At the first trial, while still at “The Amazing Place”s tarmac, the contestants play “Suitcase Stowaway” to find an item in their own luggage that doesn’t belong. Marge and Homer immediately lose and are “shelliminated”.

"The Way of the Dog" is the 22nd episode of the thirty-first season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, and the 684th episode overall. It is the season finale and debuted on Fox on May 17, 2020. In this episode, Santa's Little Helper bites matriarch Marge, causing the family to reflect on the difficult life that the dog led prior to being adopted by the family and they end up reuniting him with his mother to avoid having to euthanize him. The episode is dedicated in memory of Little Richard, who previously appeared in the episode "Special Edna" and had died on May 9, 2020.

After Santa's Little Helper swallows the TV remote while Homer watches the TV, he ends up changing the channel every time he barks. While the dog escapes and Homer chases him, Bart sees a commercial about a rap concert held by a hip hop artist named "Alcatraaz". He asks for Homer's permission, he nonchalantly agrees when Bart says he will pay for the ticket himself. However, as he tries to leave for the concert, Marge is infuriated and forbids him from going; and Homer is forced to agree with her, to the point of singing a rap song with Marge about Bart's immaturity, much to his distress.

However, Bart and Lisa decide to investigate the crime themselves when they notice Homer is so distraught over the theft that he is even refusing to get drunk. They investigate the yard and discover that the thief gave Santa's Little Helper a jar of natural peanut butter to distract him, so he would not bark. The duo then proceed to the one store in town that sells natural peanut butter, where they use some violence to "convince" a worker to let them see the security camera footage, which shows Nelson purchasing the peanut butter. Bart and Lisa go talk to Nelson in a park, where he's playing a tablet game called "Clash of Castles" with some expensive upgrades.

Dax (The Miz) is a greedy, materialistic corporate hatchet-man, who we first see while closing down a community youth center just days before Christmas. Dax is subsequently fired in a corporate powerplay and, as he has been living beyond his means, loses his girlfriend, car and will soon be evicted from his house. Meanwhile, at the North Pole, Santa Claus (Eric Keenleyside) is looking to replace Santa's Little Helper, the second-in-command. Eleanor (Paige), the daughter of the outgoing Ho-Ho-Ho believes the job should be hers, but Santa, believing the North Pole could use a human influence, tasks Billie (AnnaLynne McCord) with reviewing Dax as a possible candidate.

Dax returns home, having stolen a magic bell that can make wishes come true and plans to use it to save the Youth Center. Santa intercedes and halts his attempts at using magic, so Dax gives a rousing speech to rally the community and save the Youth Center from a wrecking ball and capture the director who really stole the money from it. Santa places Eleanor on the naughty list for her poor sportsmanship during the competition, thus disqualifying her from the position, and reveals it was Billie he was testing for the position of Santa's Little Helper all along. Dax and Billie then share a passionate kiss under a magical snowfall.

One morning, the family is visited by Dr. Hibbert, who says that Santa's Little Helper has impregnated his purebred poodle, Rosa Barks, and he gives the puppies to the Simpson family, making them their problem. Bart and Lisa give out the puppies to people, including Krusty the Clown, who takes his new puppy for a walk to his old neighborhood in the Jewish community of Springfield, where he sees the Jewish Walk of Fame. He finds out that he does not have a star on the sidewalk, and goes to register for one. However, when the person Krusty goes to asks for the date of his Bar Mitzvah, Krusty confesses that he never actually had a Bar Mitzvah.

In The Simpsons episode "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds", Mr. Burns plays the role of Cruella De Vil, but unlike her in the movies, where she steals the Dalmatian puppies to make them into fur coats, he steals Santa's Little Helper and the puppies he sired to make them into a tuxedo. And unlike Cruella, who has no hesitation in killing the puppies, Burns cannot bear to kill the puppies himself, because they are too cute. Declaring that he will never kill any animal that can perform good tricks again, Burns pays the Simpsons for the puppies, and he trains them to be world-class racing dogs. The episode also included a parody of the song, "Be Our Guest" from another Disney film Beauty and the Beast.

The family also owns a dog, Santa's Little Helper, and a cat, Snowball V, renamed Snowball II in "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot". Both pets have had starring roles in several episodes. The Simpsons sports a vast array of secondary and tertiary characters. The show includes an array of quirky supporting characters, which include Homer's co- workers (also friends) Lenny Leonard and Carl Carlson, the school principal Seymour Skinner and teachers Edna Krabappel and Elizabeth Hoover, neighbor Ned Flanders, friends Barney Gumble, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Moe Szyslak, Milhouse Van Houten, and Nelson Muntz, extended relatives Patty and Selma Bouvier, townspeople such as Mayor Quimby, Chief Clancy Wiggum, tycoon Charles Montgomery Burns and his executive assistant Waylon Smithers, and local celebrities Krusty the Clown and news reporter Kent Brockman.

At the Springfield Post Office, Fat Tony asks Marge to redecorate it. At the Get It and Regret It Hardware store, a family tries a couch, imitating the family's couch gags, and Squeaky Voice Teen tells them they have to buy it after trying the couch, while Marge buys stuff to redecorate the post office, but she discovers that Fat Tony turned it into a whorehouse. The family, reunited to eat, is hiding secrets from each other, including Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II kissing each other. Homer brings Maggie to Channel 6, where the Hot Shot Tots Springfield Audition is held, and finds out how show business works and tries to convince Maggie to stop but she refuses, while the women discover what happened to the post office.

Mr. Burns's drilling operation causes distress to many Springfield citizens as Willie and Puente are laid off; Moe's Tavern is closed due to the harmful fumes from the drilling, enraging Moe and Barney; the drilling destroys the Springfield Retirement Castle, forcing Grampa to move in with the Simpsons; and Bart's treehouse is destroyed by a burst of oil from the rig, which also injures Santa's Little Helper. Burns reveals to Smithers his grandest scheme: the construction of a giant disc that will permanently block out the sun in Springfield, forcing the residents to continuously use the electricity from his power plant. When Smithers says he has gone too far, Burns fires him. Homer, driven to insanity by Burns not knowing his name, sneaks into his office and spraypaints "I am Homer Simpson".

A redesigned version of Santa's Little Helper can be seen sleeping atop his dog house a la Snoopy, while Homer is seen sleeping on top of the family house in a similar manner. When Marge first speaks, her voice is replaced with a muted trombone sound, a parody of the "wah wah wah" voice that is used for adults in all Peanuts specials. The dance scene during the Halloween party is a parody of the dance scene in A Charlie Brown Christmas right down to Kang and Kodos in a nonspeaking cameo as the twins "3 and 4". Parts of the segment had music by Vince Guaraldi (best known for composing music for animated adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip), which they had obtained the rights to use.

Homer is driving in his usual manner and style (ineptly and recklessly) when he carelessly drives into an alleyway, with no room to maneuver and faulty brakes, where Santa's Little Helper and the now-homeless Gil are eating out of trash cans. Homer is horrified by the notion of hitting a sweet and lovable dog, so he slams into Gil instead, who ends up with a serious neck injury and plans to sue the Simpsons for everything they've got. The jury accepts the defense argument that dogs are not only as good as humans, but better in many ways, and they dismiss Gil's case. Mayor Quimby decides to ride the pro-pooch sentiment by instituting measures that cater to canines and punish humans who do such things, like round up strays and even run animal medicine places like the poor Dr. Budgie, who gets arrested and put into shackles.

That same year, she had a small role as Santa's little helper, Charlyne, in the Christmas comedy film Fred Claus, co-starring Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti. In 2008, she played the ex-wife and mother of the daughter of Ryan Reynolds lead in the comedy film Definitely, Maybe, alongside Isla Fisher and Ryan Reynolds, starred with Seth Rogen as the eponymous female lead in the Kevin Smith comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and played United States First Lady Laura Bush in W., Oliver Stone's biopic of George W. Bush. Banks at the What to Expect When You're Expecting premiere in 2012 In 2009, Banks appeared in the horror film The Uninvited, a remake of the South Korean film A Tale of Two Sisters. The film was about an intrusive stepmother who makes life miserable for the teen daughters of her new husband.

Maryse began a rivalry with Michelle McCool in September 2008, challenging her for the WWE Divas Championship at Unforgiven, and in a rematch the following week on SmackDown, but failed to win on both occasions. On the September 23 episode of ECW, Maryse defeated McCool in a non-title match. After a month-long absence, Maryse returned at Survivor Series pay-per-view event in November, participating in a five-on-five Divas elimination tag team match, eliminating Kelly Kelly, Mickie James and Candice Michelle; Maryse was the sole survivor of her team, but was ultimately eliminated by Beth Phoenix. At the Armageddon pay-per-view on December 14, Maryse teamed up with Jillian Hall, Victoria and Natalya in a losing effort to McCool, Maria, Kelly Kelly and Mickie James in an Eight-Diva Santa's Little Helper tag team match. On December 19, Maryse pinned Maria to become the number one contender for Michelle McCool's Divas Championship.