 Groening was happy with the episode because it felt like a callback to the first episode of The Simpsons , " Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire " , and because it features references to One Hundred and One Dalmatians . The Disney film thrilled Groening as a kid , and was one of the reasons for why he was first interested in animation and cartooning . In One Hundred and One Dalmatians , the puppies watch cartoons on television several times ; the idea of a cartoon within a cartoon thrilled Groening , and said that this idea inspired him to create The Itchy & Scratchy Show , a fictional television show within the Simpsons universe . 
