Say it ain’t so!
“Family Guy” shocked its fans Sunday night when it killed off Brian, the Griffin’s talking, sarcastic, cocktail-swilling dog voiced by series creator Seth MacFarlane for all 11 seasons of the Fox toon.
In the episode titled “Life of Brian,” the beloved pooch was hit by a car and died from his injuries, telling his teary family from the operating table “You’ve given me a wonderful life. I love you all.”
To help baby Stewie recover, the Griffins got another dog, Vinny — whose voice is provided by Tony Sirico, aka Paulie Walnuts from “The Sopranos.”
But “Family Guy” fans aren’t moving on so quickly, with many taking to Twitter to voice their disapproval — using the hashtag #BringBackBrian.
“#bringbackbrian I’m done. He was my favorite character . . .” tweeted Corbin Bergmann (@cdbstl76).
“@FamilyGuyonFOX #BringBackBrian this must be a joke. At least I found a show I can delete off my DVR,” wrote Mike Moore (@MikeMoore5) on Twitter.
Fans even launched several petitions on Change.org on Monday demanding Brian be brought back to the show, the largest of which had collected more than 1,500 signatures Monday.
So why did “Family Guy” make the shocking decision to kill off one of its main characters?
“This was an idea that got pitched in the writers room and it sort of caught fire, and we thought it could be a fun way to shake things up,” executive producer Steve Callaghan told E! Online. “We got very excited about the way this change will affect the family dynamics and the characters.”
But others aren’t convinced this was Brian’s final goodbye. Though Stewie’s infamous time machine was broken at the beginning of the episode — ensuring he couldn’t go back in time to save his best friend — some fans were sure the producers would find a way to reunite the two.
“It’s obviously just a publicity move to scrounge up more views, and deliberately cause a ruckus,” wrote Jack Michealson on YouTube, where Fox posted a tribute video to Brian Sunday night. “Guarantee this is going to be the beginning of some multi-week story arc in which Brian comes back at the end.”
Some fans pointed to upcoming episode titles like “Brian the Closer” and “Brian’s a Bad Father” registered with the US Copyright Office as proof his absence would be short-lived. Others recalled when another animated character — Kenny from “South Park” — was (finally!) killed off in 2001, only to return the next season.
Callaghan told E! Online he’s unconcerned about backlash from disgruntled fans. “I’m not [worried], only because our fans are smart enough and have been loyal to our show for long enough, to know that they can trust us,” he said.
“We always make choices that always work to the greatest benefit of the series.”