10 TV Deaths That Totally Trolled Audiences

10. Brian - Family Guy

It's risky to kill off a major character on any show, but it's also a strange thing to do in an animated series like Family Guy. Nearly all of the characters are voiced by the show's creator, Seth MacFarlane, so there wasn't an issue with the talent being absent, but they decided to kill off Brian anyway, and the fans didn't like it one bit.

The death was shocking, as it happened in a rather pedestrian manner. Brian was hit by a car, which is sadly a fate that befalls many a four-legged friend IRL, so there was a great deal of emotion to the scene.

The real question here is, why did they bother to kill off Brian? The answer is one that is all too familiar these days; it was meant to shock the audience. This was confirmed by the voice of Brian, who said he chose to kill Brian because "It did what it was designed to do — it reminded people this is still a show where anything that can happen despite the fact it’s been on for a while."

Of course, Brian was brought back a few episodes later, and everything went back to normal, but for a little bit, MacFarlane trolled the hell out of his audience, and most of them were angry about it. He commented on the reaction as well:

“We were all very surprised, in a good way, that people still cared enough about that character to be that angry. We thought it would create a little bit of a stir, but the rage wasn’t something we counted on.”