Brian Griffin's Family Guy Return Heralded and Dissed By Fans—What Does Seth MacFarlane Have to Say?

Was it a Family Guy miracle or a total cop out? The Fox animated hit brought the beloved dog back to life in the Dec. 15 Christmas episode, causing the Internet to have some varied opinions

By Chris Harnick Dec 16, 2013 4:00 PMTags
Family GuyFOX

It was a Christmas miracle on Family Guy: Brian Griffin rose from the dead. Well, sort of. Thanks to Stewie and his time traveling ways, Brian Griffin never died.

Here's what happened: The youngest Griffin ran into a version of himself who had traveled into the future before Brian was hit by a car. He distracted him with the help of the Griffin's new dog, Vinny, and went back in time to warn Brian. But because he did that, his timeline never existed and future Stewie ceased to exist.

Complicated? Sort of, but Brian's back!

Seth MacFarlane, the show's creator and the voice of Peter/Stewie/Brian, took to Twitter after the episode aired.

"And thus endeth our warm, fuzzy holiday lesson:  Never take those you love for granted, for they can be gone in a flash," he wrote. "I mean, you didn't really think we'd kill off Brian, did you? Jesus, we'd have to be fucking high. Oh and hey... thanks for caring so much about the canine Griffin. He is overcome with gratitude."

Most fans were elated the cartoon canine returned to the fold.

Twitter lit up with the news of Brian Griffin's revival. A sampling of the feedback:

stewie time traveled and saved brian from dying so he's back! thank you, that new dog was so wack! #FamilyGuy

— OG TONY (@tonyloney) December 16, 2013
Family Guy, Brian is back from the dead and all is right with the Griffin family.

— Rebo punk (@Rebopunk) December 16, 2013
Family Guy brought Brian back! Now all is right with the world!

— Marcus Stroud (@marcusstroud99) December 16, 2013

But not all fans were pleased to have Brian back on the show.

Family Guy is such an unbelievable cop out now. #StickToYourGuns

— Stuart Smith (@Stuart__Smith) December 16, 2013
So Family Guy decided to bring back Brian by way of Stewie and a time machine. Total cop-out

— Micah (@MicahNotMicha) December 16, 2013

What do you think about his return? Did Family Guy cop out or are you happy Brian Griffin is back? Sound off in the comments below.

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