So. Brian is back on Family Guy.
That was short lived. Or dead. However you want to put it.
So really, what was the point of all this? According to last night’s tweets from series creator Seth MacFarlane it was all a life lesson.
“Never take those you love for granted, for they can be gone in a flash. 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.”
Really? Well kudos to you Seth if that was your real intent but I’m just a bit too cynical to believe it.
Could all of this be a one up on the news that The Simpsons are killing off a beloved character this season? Could it be a PR stunt for ratings? Could they have succumbed to a world wide petition to bring back the beloved pooch? Only the FG team will probably ever know the real reasoning, but here’s my thoughts.
The Simpsons is Family Guy’s only rival, even though it’s on the same network, and they are both massive forces to be reckoned with in the prime time animation field. They both have large devoted fandoms and both are massive money spinners for the Fox network so it only makes sense that think tanks at FG would surprise their fans by killing off their most beloved character without any warning.
Check. Mate. Simpsons. They’ve beat you at your own game.
Was it necessary? Not really. For the most part FG out performs The Simpsons week to week, albeit, only by a few points but everything counts in the ratings wars. Unfortunately though the same can not be said for MacFarlane’s other creations. American Dad is getting set for a move to TBS in the fall, The Cleveland Show didn’t fare well at all and has since been cancelled and then of course there’s Dads( which is a blog post unto itself) so a safe bet would be to turn everyone’s attention away from the bad and back to the great! “Hey guys! Family Guy is still on and it’s still funny!” Yup, anyone that watches the show will know this and anyone who doesn’t won’t really be interested, dead dog or no dead dog.
Then there’s the fans. As I said before, and as I’m sure you all know, Family Guy has a very loyal following so obviously the news of Brian’s demise prompted an international out cry. A petition was started hours after the original episode aired on November 25th and was signed by thousands urging the writers to bring back the character. They did. Great. Did they listen though, or was this all apart of the master plan? Both could be argued.
Brian’s death actually could have been the death of the show. He was the most loved character and that fact will not have gone unnoticed to Seth and his team so had they been firm in their decision to end Brian’s television career the backlash would and could have brought down a very lucrative empire. This is a business after all and making money is the top priority so when you anger and alienate your core audience are they going to keep watching? Probably not. Are they going to keep buying the merchandise? Probably not. Will the network still want you on the air when your ratings drop? Definitely not.
Whatever the reasons are I think we can all agree, we’re happy to have you back Brian!
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