It is my understanding that the development cycle for most animated shows is so long that it is highly unlikely that they are bring Brian back due to fan backlash. They just wouldn't have had the time to put something together so quickly. It sounds like it was planned all along.
Yeah, the Simpsons cat isn't the same thing. No real personality besides generic cat personality. Does anybody really react that strongly to fan backlash? I know they did that thing in Atlantis with the doctor. But I know the South Park creators didn't give a crap about the fan backlash for the Cartman's dad troll, and MacFarlane seems like the kind of guy who wouldn't give a crap either.
I was reading an article in which one of the writers/producers said that Brian's character had devolved into a political soapbox, and he got really annoying pretty fast. That would explain the reason for killing him off. Whether that's temporary or permanent remains to be seen.
That's comforting to hear. But if they killed off Roger on American Dad, that would really suck! I'm not saying they will ...
Personally I hope it's not temporary. As much as I liked Brian, killing him took balls. I'd lose some respect for the show (yes, yes, I know...) if they hit the Reset Button.
I watched the episode, and found it hard to be emotionally moved, at all. Familly Guy has been trucking with cynical and heartless humor for so long that any attempt at showing real emotion and empathy just comes off as hollow to me. It was like, "Hey, let's make a big emotional moment when Brian dies. You know. The kind of emotion people with emotions feel -- it'll kill the audience! I think. But it'll get ratings!" I suppose, though, that I did feel for Stewie's grief. I'll admit that rang true enough.
I wasn't immediately emotional because I expected it to be reversed by the end of the episode, but as it started to become clear that wasn't going to happen I was a little upset by the whole thing. Stewie's reactions were definitely the most resonant, but that's hardly surprising.
Family Guy once killed off Meg at the end of one episode, only to bring her back alive at the beginning of the nest episode with no explanation whatever.
Cleveland and his family are re-joining the show in a future episode. I wonder how often they'll show the full cast?
I don't recall the specific incident, but I'm betting that that had the feel of a one-off gag at the time, which FG is well-known for. Brian getting hit by the car didn't feel like that at the time, but rather, initially, like something they'd probably reset within the course of the episode (the time machine being an obvious loophole). Of course, then they didn't.
Peter offed himself at the end of the latest episode (when he and Quagmire became a musical duo). But that's not permanent.