While everyone was live-blogging/tweeting this year’s American Music Awards in order to get their snark on (and/or create the newest meme to top Miguel’s epic fail of a jump from this year’s Billboard Music Awards), another big pop culture event happened on Sunday’s game-changing episode of Fox’s long-running Family Guy, which featured the death of not just any popular character on the shows, but Brian Griffin, the alcoholic novelist (and the Laverne to Stewie’s Shirley). I didn’t pay attention to the news announcing the death of a beloved Griffin Family member during the annual San Diego Comic Con, nor did I come across any of the promos announcing that a death was taking place this week, so Seth McFarlane and gang seriously got my gullible ass with this sucker punch of an episode.
Just because Brian bit the dust didn’t mean that the entire episode was a somber one. The usual gags and cutaways where still in play, but toned down a bit. Brian’s funeral was well put together with an equally balanced tone of comedy and dramatics (after a character declared that everyone would miss Brian, the camera smartly panned over to Quagmire, who detested the talking dog, as he was watching a game on his cell phone). There was a sense of finality to it, but there was still hope upon hope that a Family Guy-esque paradox of sorts would reveal itself and still my rapidly beating heart over the possibility of Brian actually being dead.
Enter Vinny, the new talking dog the Griffins adopted as a replacement for Brian, who immediately grounded the hell out of my gears by just existing. When the episode faded to black with the Boston-based mutt planting himself under Stewie’s crib as if they were new besties, I knew that this jaw-dropping, heart-wrenching twist was here to stay. And my soul hasn’t felt right since 8:29pm Sunday night.
To cope with this tragic loss in pop culture canon, I’ve joined a Facebook group appropriately titled “R.I.P. Brian Griffin,” which have already created likable memes depicting the range of emotions from the fandom, such as outraged reactions to Family Guy worthy jokes involving Brian chilling with Tupac “on vacation.” I’ve also changed the avatars on my social media accounts to show my support for any campaign that might have launched in the last 24 hours in support of bringing the crooning dog back from the dead. I’ve ranted on friends’ statuses after they heard the tragic news, and consoled them afterwards. I’ve even made it top priority to watch old episodes of Family Guy despite that being a part of my regular viewing habits every night before bed. In short, it’s been a tough 24 hours getting over the fact that Brian Griffin, a beloved pop culture character who was there for me on many long studious (and completely wasted) collegiate nights up until now, was silenced after 12 years of acerbic wit, and cynical, but right-on-the-money, wisdom in a world that was just frothing with stupidity and the absurd.
Oh, I know this is only a cartoon show and that there are more pressing issues at bay, like panning Kanye West’s new video or slobbering impatiently over what latest ratchet stunt Miley Cyrus has up her sleeves (that is if she is wearing anything containing a sleeve), but screw all of that. The death of Brian Griffin signifies a drastic change in the Family Guy universe, one that we still have yet to witness.
But if Vinny the Bostonian mutt’s introduction is any indication of what is to come then Seth McFarlane and crew, who have yet to come forward as to why the death happened and if it will stick, might want to seriously reconsider trashing Stewie’s time machine. And I’m like seriously dead ass about that.
However…
A look on the official copyright website shows Family Guy scripts for yet to be produced episodes featuring Brian’s name in the title. So unless McFarlane used those titles as dummy scripts to hide the “Brian dies twist,” our beloved dog might make a triumphant return sooner than later. At least I hope so.
Until then, I think a dry martini and some Frank Sinatra is in order to send our old friend Brian Griffin off on a high note. Cheers to Brian!
Photo Credit: FOX
The Anti-Critic 
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