As many expected, central character Brian Griffin appeared on Family Guy this Sunday evening.
The hard-drinking, literary-aspiring Brian was “killed off” in the November 24 episode, “Life of Brian,” resulting in an online fan-based campaign to bring him back.
Many speculated that the campaign was successful as the listing for the Sunday, January 14th episode read: “Stewie devises a master plan to get the one and only thing he wants for Christmas.”
But since each episode takes roughly 10 months to create, it’s more likely that the show had planned this all along as a clever ratings ploy for holiday season episodes of the show.
Either way, Brian returned Sunday evening.
SPOILER ALERT: Family baby and evil genius Stewie Griffin caught a younger version of himself at the mall purchasing a toy, after having traveled to present day via time machine. Current Stewie stole the time machine and — voila — the dog is saved.