Family Guy Should Never Have Resurrected Brian
"Family Guy" doesn't tend to be associated with warm, fuzzy emotions for fans, but the death of Brian (Seth MacFarlane) actually provoked a lot of intense feelings from audience members.
His passing — which comes after a graphic, brutal car accident in the middle of the episode "Life of Brian" — is handled seriously within the show. The grief of the Griffin family is explored in a semi-serious but surprisingly respectful manner. The feelings of Stewie (also MacFarlane) in particular are deconstructed in a way that is genuinely tender. The show then brings in Vinny (Tony Sirico), a dog with a Yonkers accent, for a few episodes to act as a stopgap character — and he adds a new wrinkle to the show's established dynamics, that freshens up the sitcom in an intriguing way.
Then the series literally pressed the reset button, undoing Brian's death. And looking back, this was a big mistake.
This was done, according to series creator Seth MacFarlane, because Brian's death was so upsetting to the audience. In the series, Vinny steps aside gallantly, and everything goes back to the way it was before Brian died. Nine seasons have passed by since "Christmas Guy" first aired, and none of the directions in which the show has taken Brian's character suggests that his resurrection was a worthwhile idea. Frankly, "Family Guy" hasn't done anything interesting with Brian since bringing him back to life, miring him in tired plotlines revolving around his wannabe ladies' man status or his failed writing career. One can't help but mourn the opportunities lost when Vinny left the series. All of that points up the fact that the show's use of Vinny was underbaked, and that the choice to bring back Brian in a big "gotcha" to the audience a bad idea.
Vinny never got a chance to become part of the family
At first blush, Vinny might just feel like a New York stereotype. But this is "Family Guy," land of the broad caricature, and adding a New Yorker to the cast at least provides an amusing twist to the show's landscape. During his time on "Family Guy," too, Vinny manages to develop beyond either a one-note joke or a Brian clone. He establishes a vibrantly warm presence. He cares about Peter (Seth MacFarlane)'s health and well-being. In spite of Stewie's eventual rejection of his companionship due to his yearning for Brian's return, Vinny tries to be a good friend to the baby, and he even tries to modify his behavior to behave more like Brian would. Stewie and Vinny manage to part as friends, which is hard to do when you're interacting with the usually hostile youngest Griffin.
Vinny manages to be nice and witty, making for a major breath of fresh air ... albeit, one who isn't allowed to breathe for a very long time before the show swaps him out to reestablish the status quo. And those are dynamics that the show sorely needs, especially when one really thinks about how many interesting things Brian's resurrection undid.
Brian's death was a poignant moment in a show where death is cheap
"Family Guy" generally has the exact same problem as every other animated Seth MacFarlane series, and that is its unwillingness to be honestly emotional. Occasionally, though, a beating heart fights to break free.
Undoing Brian's death excised a rare serious, poignant moment in "Family Guy" history. There are a couple of laughs to be had during his final scenes; a squirrel kicking him while he's down, the notion of he and Stewie becoming wind surfers, and the sight of an animal waiting to be treated for injuries so severe that he's been left headless. But when the Griffins are told that there's nothing the doctors can do for Brian, they gather sadly around him and watch his final moments with tears in their eyes. There are no jokes to break the tension. No cutaways. No pop culture references to soothe the sadness away. The show allows the moment to be realistic and then allows it to weigh heavily on the characters until the deus ex machina is applied.
The show never walks back how revolutionary the moment is to the Griffin family, and it never tries to minimize the shock of what everyone's been through — but it's hard to deny that bringing Brian back completely erases the impact it has on every single character in the storyline. For a sitcom that rarely allows itself to get this serious, it besmirches a huge moment that could have changed the direction of the show if given the chance.
Brian's post-resurrection stories haven't been worth what was lost
The saddest thing about Brian's exit is that it did not pave the way for better stories for the character. Before his death, Brian was the family's voice of reason ... until the show decided to diversify his storyline portfolio. They chose to do this by putting him in a series of terrible relationships which ultimately ended up making Brian look like a terrible dog.
Then there's his writing career, which has netted him nothing but humiliation and the ability to pontificate at great length about techniques the show blatantly tells us he doesn't use. His plotlines with Stewie tend to follow a constant pattern of Brian betraying his best friend. When they leave that holding pattern, they fall into other routines that are just plain gross (the less said about the time Stewie became pregnant thanks to Brian and a whole lot of scientific monkeying about, the better).
"Family Guy" rarely allows its characters to change and develop — that they've allowed Meg (Mila Kunis) to change from an average teenage girl to the family's meek doormat back into a raunchy, devil-may-care women is a kind of miracle — but Brian has devolved, if anything. Ultimately, there's no real concrete reason for Brian's resurrection, other than the audience simply wants him to be there, interesting plotline or not.
Maybe Vinny isn't an entirely lost cause?
Vinny's voice actor, Tony Sirico, has passed away — thus making Vinny's return incredibly unlikely, as the cast and crew of "Family Guy" loved working with the actor so much they brought him back to play himself after his time as Vinny ended.
That said, let's say that the show chose to recast Vinny, and give him another chance at the top of the Griffin food chain, a plot revolution could result. It could result in the family's loyalties being divided between dogs. Vinny's presence would give Brian a reason to shape up and start taking his life seriously again. The addition of Vinny to the main cast might result in fresh plotlines for everyone, and some brand-new ideas in the writer's room. And plenty of families have two dogs, right? So the Griffins being a two-dog household isn't especially hard to imagine.
With so many seasons in the tank, it's about time that "Family Guy" freshen itself up. In any event, now that so much time has passed since Stewie turned back time to save his best friend's life, one important thing is evident — bringing back Brian was the wrong choice.