10 TV Characters Killed In Desperate Attempts To Boost Ratings

Easily the most infamous of any controversial TV death, the level of attention and outcry Brian's death got following the season twelve Family Guy episode 'Life of Brian' was unlike anything seen before. This cartoon canine's death came about from a rogue hit-and-run courtesy of a reckless driver, after Stewie decided that he was going to stop travelling back in time to change the course of past events.

The episode not only brought with it huge waves of opposition from fans, criticism directed at everyone from the production staff to Seth MacFarlane, but it also helped to create one of the largest Change.org petition ever with 120,000 signatories in just a couple of days.

Unlike other TV shows in this list, Family Guy wasn't necessarily on the way out when The Life of Brian aired, but the whole controversy certainly turned out to be one of the best moves the show could have ever made in breathing in new interest from its fanbase.

Viewership rose from 5.2 million average viewers at the start of the series to 6.37 for the episode immediately after The Life of Brian and it was the highest rated episode of season twelve. However, if the show's more recent stodgy numbers are anything to go by, fans could be in store for more resurrection storylines courtesy of Seth and co.