20 Most Important TV Deaths This Decade

9. Brian Griffin - Family Guy (Season 12, Episode 6)

Last year, Seth MacFarlane created a Twitter firestorm when he appeared to kill off Family Guy's beloved dog, Brian Griffin, in an early season 12 episode. Brian is injured in a hit-and-run accident, with him eventually dying at the vet clinic. Brian is then replaced with another dog, Vinny (voiced by Tony Sirico aka Paulie Walnuts from The Sopranos), to the point that Vinny even hilariously takes Brian's spot in the show's opening credit sequence. The decision was largely ridiculed by fans, who even drafted online petitions to bring Brian back from the dead, while others (rightly) speculated that the "death" was merely a stunt to boost ratings. Two episodes after Brian's death, following an interaction with a past self, Stewie manages to travel back in time and save Brian, causing everything to comfortably go back to normal. MacFarlane later Tweeted about the decision to bring Brian back, declaring, "you didn't really think we'd kill off Brian, did you? Jesus, we'd have to be f***ing high." Many may have seen the death for what it was, but its fallout is a testament to the obsessive fandom that TV can bring out in people, and the immediate response that social networking services such as Twitter allow in today's age. Can you imagine if people had Twitter when Bobby Ewing stepped out of the shower in Dallas?