Along with the show’s usual brand of off-color humor, fans had another reason to tune into the Dec. 15 Christmas episode of Family Guy: the promise of Brian Griffin’s (Seth MacFarlane) return from the dead! Following speculation that Stewie would wish his best friend back to life on the holiday special, faithful viewers’ questions were finally answered this Sunday.
As expected, Brian did return to the Griffins, thanks to a little help from (yet another) alternate timeline. After realizing that Stewie would never be able to bring Brian back on his own, Vinny took him to the mall to lift his spirits, where they ran into another Stewie — one who had traveled from the past, before he destroyed his time machine.
[hl_youtube src=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQmCjG980W4″ link=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQmCjG980W4″ text=”Brian Dies On ‘Family Guy'”]
So present-day Stewie traveled back to the day of Brian’s car accident, putting a stop to it before his best friend was crushed. Multiple times.
Of all the controversial story lines Family Guy has served up in recent years — including the time Stewie and Brian went back in time to cause the attacks on the World Trade Center — Brian’s death was easily the one met with the greatest public outcry.
Adding fuel to fans’ rage was the decision to immediately replace with Brian with a new dog, an old Italian fella named Vinny, voiced by The Sopranos‘ Tony Sirico. And to add insult to injury, Vinny also took Brian’s place during the show’s opening credits.
HollywoodLifers, were you expecting to see Brian return on the Christmas episode? Were you satisfied with the way it happened? Drop a comment with your review of the Christmas episode, as well as your thoughts on the Brian-Vinny controversy.
— Andy Swift
Follow @AndySwift
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