Again, not all changes have to be bad ones. "And Then There Were Fewer" was perhaps the last great Family Guy season opener. It had James Woods, a murder mystery, and several dead characters - who would not return. As confirmed by Seth MacFarlane on Twitter later, the deaths in "And Then There Were Fewer" - which was the season opener for the ninth season of the show - were cannon. Those who were dead would stay dead (with the exception of Woods, who appears to die in the episode but is later revealed to have been saved at a secret medical facility). The characters that were killed off were honestly ones that were either annoying (Muriel Goldman) or easily replaced (Diane Simmons). The reason we like this change is - as mentioned, it's staying in the cannon. Animated shows so rarely kill off characters, and we can't recall a time when they off'd a couple at once. Good job, Family Guy.