The episode was directed by Bob Anderson and written by guest writer Simon Rich.
In this episode, Marge gets parenting advice to give out participation trophies over Lisa's objections.
Rich was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Animation for his script to this episode.
Two recently deceased frogs meet in heaven and say they are proud to have died for a noble cause: so Bart can dissect them in science class for the pursuit of knowledge.
[1] Rich met executive producer Matt Selman at a Fox event and asked to pitch ideas for the show.
[2] Vanessa Bayer was cast as an expert Marge hires to encourage giving participation trophies.
Rob Riggle was cast as an expert Lisa hires who holds the opposite view.
'A Father’s Watch' improbably winds together three story strands into a satisfyingly unified whole episode.
I say 'improbably' because The Simpsons’ latter-day tendency to cram three potentially show-carrying plot devices into one undercooked outing is a constant, baffling weakness.
Credit goes to first-time Simpsons writer Simon Rich, of Saturday Night Live and Man Seeking Woman fame, who roots each storyline's comic turns in the characters, all while coming up with some plain old good jokes, both in the meat of the episode, and in the fiddly bits around the margins...There’s a care in all the aspects of 'A Father’s Watch' which is most refreshing.