Family Guy - Major change

[SebC]

Spoiler!

He's back?

Last month the world was rocked, or at the very least gently nudged, by the sudden demise of one of Family Guy's most beloved characters, Brian.

The faithful hound had been with the show since it started, was voiced by creator Seth MacFarlane, and was as popular for his singing as his dialogue. Following the death, we polled you guys about what you thought and the overwhelming consensus was that it's a bad idea.

It appears the Family Guy writers were listening, as Entertainment Weekly reports that Brian is set to return to the cast full time on December 15.*

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2013/12/0...turn-very-soon

[CaptainCrunch]

Ugh, figured as much.

Its the same as the Superman dies series, they hyped the crap out of that, got people emotionally invested in Superman dying. Sold a ton of comic books, and then turned around bent the fans over, lubbed it up and comic raped them by bringing Superman back in a matter of weeks.

Either the backlash was huge when they killed Brian and Seth is a bit gutless, or this is Seth's idea of a middle finger to his fan base.

[Fire]

Don't they make these cartoons months in advance? I would assume this was all plan from the start.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by Fire

Don't they make these cartoons months in advance? I would assume this was all plan from the start.

Yep. South Park is the only animated show that I know of whose production cycle overlaps with the current season. Most of these shows have to record the voices, send them overseas for animation, then do final production back in studio.

I can say with 99% confidence this was all a part of the plan from the beginning. Long before the backlash or reaction came about. And the plan worked, I tuned in to see if they were going to bring him back last night (because I knew it was coming).

[Ozy_Flame]

Off topic, but related to the previous post . . . Anyone see the entirety of the South Park "Black Friday" three-part series? The parodies on American consumer culture were just awesome.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by SebC

Spoiler!

He's back?
http://ca.ign.com/articles/2013/12/0...turn-very-soon

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Off topic, but related to the previous post . . . Anyone see the entirety of the South Park "Black Friday" three-part series? The parodies on American consumer culture were just awesome.

Yeah, it's been discussed at length in the South Park thread, strangely enough.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Ugh, figured as much.

Its the same as the Superman dies series, they hyped the crap out of that, got people emotionally invested in Superman dying. Sold a ton of comic books, and then turned around bent the fans over, lubbed it up and comic raped them by bringing Superman back in a matter of weeks.

Either the backlash was huge when they killed Brian and Seth is a bit gutless, or this is Seth's idea of a middle finger to his fan base.

Didn't it take about year? But yeah, I agree. I don't think it's so much a middle finger to the fans, but a unhonest way to build interest.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

I wouldn't bank on it being permanent.

There are 2 episodes remaining this season with Brian's name in the title, and there was an episode discussion for the next season earlier this year that had a Brian-centric plot. This doesn't even mention the fact that Tony Siroco is 71 and way too old to play a regular character unless they want to kill him off in a few years too.

6th post on page 1.

[RW99]

I don't have a problem with this anymore. There was no hype or other media before the episode and it's a cartoon. It is keeping me interested. In hindsight with all the time travel episodes, I'm suprised this hasn't happened yet. The guy likes his Star Trek. And as long as it is not a red shirt, there is always a chance of a character coming back from the dead

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Its the same as the Superman dies series, they hyped the crap out of that, got people emotionally invested in Superman dying. Sold a ton of comic books, and then turned around bent the fans over, lubbed it up and comic raped them by bringing Superman back in a matter of weeks.

Anyone who thought Superman was dead forever and would never return is quite frankly stupid, and not worthy of lube *or* lubb.

[Daradon]

Funny enough, the episode last night was pretty good. A lot of the songs were pretty funny I thought.

I've thought for a while the episodes had been becoming too Stewie and Brian-centric. The 'journey' episodes had stopped being funny a long time ago (multiverse one being an exception)

Course, a lot of the non Stewie and Brian episodes have been crap too,

[ranchlandsselling]

Originally Posted by Daradon

Funny enough, the episode last night was pretty good. A lot of the songs were pretty funny I thought.

I've thought for a while the episodes had been becoming too Stewie and Brian-centric. The 'journey' episodes had stopped being funny a long time ago (multiverse one being an exception)

Course, a lot of the non Stewie and Brian episodes have been crap too,

LOL, I was thinking about posting in this thread last night as I ff'd through all the songs. I usually do that through most songs on TV with the exception of Brian and Stewie.

[Daradon]

Yeah, I usually don't like a lot of the songs on the show. Too showtuney, musicalish for my liking, and the jokes aren't very good. Often it just feels like filler, or another attempt for Seth to come out of the closet, haha.

But the lyrics last night in the songs were pretty good for the most part. I chuckled pretty hard at the 'poop in public places' one.

That's another plus in the South Park column I think. When Matt and Trey do a song, it is fricken hilarious. The songs on Team America are laugh out loud good. They really hit the satire on them for the most part both with the topic, and the style of music.

The Seth ones often just feel like a small grin worthy nod from a average dinner theatre play. A small recognition at a little bit of clever, but no real guffaws.

But I will admit, I did enjoy the ones last night.

[trumpethead]

Originally Posted by ranchlandsselling

LOL, I was thinking about posting in this thread last night as I ff'd through all the songs. I usually do that through most songs on TV with the exception of Brian and Stewie.

I would submit that last night's "I can't poop in strange places (home bowl, home bowl)" was the greatest FG song ever. Classic.

[trackercowe]

I thought it sucked. American Dad on the other hand was great last night. A solid return to form in an otherwise meh season.

[Machiavelli]

I liked the songs. I laughed extra hard at the Asian driver one, particularly because I had a highway accident a couple of years ago that I completely blame on a stupid driver in the left-hand lane.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by trumpethead

I would submit that last night's "I can't poop in strange places (home bowl, home bowl)" was the greatest FG song ever. Classic.

Those songs really spoke to me, too. It's like they followed me to a strange bathroom and read my mind.

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

Wow they couldn't even make it through five episodes before losing interest on Vinny and bringing back Brian. Oh well. I'm glad he'll be back.

I only caught part of Family Guy on Sunday while flying from Edmonton to Calgary so I only caught 2 or 3 of the songs. I'll have to pop over to Youtube at some point and see if the others have been posted. I enjoyed the few I heard.

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

And this thread is now totally pointless lol.