Are ‘Family Guy’ producers really considering a Brian spin-off?

The media machine has been in overdrive over the past several days when it comes to “Family Guy,” and it’s really all courtesy of the stunning news that Brian, the beloved family dog voiced by Seth MacFarlane himself, died during the episode Sunday night that nobody really saw coming. The internet has made its presence felt ever since then, and a whopping 100,000 people or so have signed a petition urging the show to bring the character back. (That’s pretty huge for a petition that’s just floating around online.)

So what’s the crazy story out there now? That Fox is somehow gauging all of this attention for a spin-off show that is specifically all about Brian. The source that is reporting this is HollywoodLife, and we’ll let you see what their “insider” has to say:

“They didn’t anticipate this much negative outcry over the death of Brian … And they didn’t initially have thoughts of doing a spin-off show, but now, those discussions have started ever so slightly. It’s nowhere [near] a lock, but a discussion has [happened.]”

There are some parts of this quote that we believe, including that the producers may not have thought that the twist was going to bring as much national outrage as it did. Also, we believe that there may have been talk about a spin-off … in jest.

The truth is, we don’t think that there can be a spin-off, mostly because we believe that Brian will find a way to get back to “Family Guy”. This is the most genius stunt out there even if the character isn’t coming back, if for no other reason than it’s made fans passionate about the show again at a time when it wasn’t really at the top of everyone’s viewer plate. This is most likely a move to just stir up conversation, and then either at the end of this year or during the February sweeps, Stewie will find a way to get him back. There’s already evidence out there that it could happen. As for the new dog in Vinny, who knows? Maybe he’ll become a new villain and he and Brian will fight it out.

Maybe we’re just delusional as someone who thinks that Brian is the best part of the show … but there is no way that producers were oblivious to the love that was out there for this snarky pooch before deciding to kill him off.

Photo: Fox