# Family Guy: seriously, WTF? (Major Spoiler) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 25, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754 "2013-11-25T14:46:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/61 "2013-11-27T18:16:34Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’m sorry; I thought this was the thread about Mayor West being dead. > [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > I was confused by this too. Did I miss him dying somewhere? Without going back to check the exact wording, Mayor West is at Brian’s funeral, says something very roughly akin to “What about me?” stands up, turns around, turns transparent and fades away. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/62 "2013-11-28T04:38:12Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > I was confused by this too. Did I miss him dying somewhere? The Mayor West character as always been ‘loosely’ defined. He’s at best a senile, semi-psychotic looney, at worst some kind of god-like being (witness only him & Rob Lowe existing in the total ‘zoom-out’ of the FG universe). Don’t take anything about him literally… ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/63 "2013-11-29T01:15:02Z")
Which two popular Family Guy characters died this year? If you said “Brian Griffin and Mayor Adam West”, you’re wrong. They were never popular! ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/64 "2013-11-29T02:29:40Z")
> [@Lare](#): > > Without going back to check the exact wording, Mayor West is at Brian’s funeral, says something very roughly akin to “What about me?” stands up, turns around, turns transparent and fades away. Yeah…that’s where my confusion came from. He was alive last I saw him, before that clip. > [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > The Mayor West character as always been ‘loosely’ defined. He’s at best a senile, semi-psychotic looney, at worst some kind of god-like being (witness only him & Rob Lowe existing in the total ‘zoom-out’ of the FG universe). Don’t take anything about him literally… True…he does seem to live a little bit - outside? - of the real world. More so than the rest of the characters, at times. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/65 "2013-11-29T03:47:56Z")
I wouldn’t read much into the Mayor West gag. No doubt some writer thought of the bit where West makes his “I wish this amount of people showed up at my funeral” line, which works on its own, but then to confound the viewer’s expectation they made him a ghost. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/66 "2013-11-29T11:14:16Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Which two popular Family Guy characters died this year? > > If you said “Brian Griffin and Mayor Adam West”, you’re wrong. They were never popular! Pi Bite your tongue\*. Adam West is the greatest denizen of Quahog there is, just as he was the sine qua non of Batmans. \*But do it gently and carefully, so you are not harmed. You’re still a Doper, and rules is rules. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/67 "2013-11-29T11:40:05Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Frankly, I can imagine them not explaining it at all. > > “Hey, Brian.” > “Hey, Stewie.” There’s an episode of American Dad where they lampshade the fact wacky stuff happens all the time and never gets explained. As I recall, in that particular episode, more than one of Roger’s personas had been killed by someone else, yet Roger himself shows up alive and well at the end At least one other character comments on this, to which Roger replies that he’d _looove_ to explain it, but they’re out of time - and the show cuts to the credits. There’s a lot of questions about Roger’s personas which they’ve never even attempted to address so, given McFarlane’s involvement with both shows, I don’t think Brian’s permanently dead so much as been “[put on a bus](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PutOnABus)” of sorts. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/68 "2013-11-30T00:50:03Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Pi > Bite your tongue\*. Adam West is the greatest denizen of Quahog there is, just as he was the sine qua non of Batmans. > > \*But do it gently and carefully, so you are not harmed. You’re still a Doper, and rules is rules. Greatest, perhaps, but greatness is not always appreciated by the masses. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/69 "2013-11-30T01:19:22Z")
The Mayor West ghost thing had the feel of an off the cuff gag and he could appear in the next episode with no explanation. Brian’s return would take a good deal of explaining. Even if he is gone for good it still needs some explaining. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/70 "2013-12-02T09:44:54Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > There’s an episode of American Dad where they lampshade the fact wacky stuff happens all the time and never gets explained. > > […] > > …, I don’t think Brian’s permanently dead so much as been “[put on a bus](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PutOnABus)” of sorts. Which was itself lampshaded in American Dad when they killed off vast numbers of ancillary characters by putting them on a bus…and then driving the bus off a cliff. ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/71 "2013-12-03T17:29:19Z")
Didn’t see this episode, and instead got spoiled by some news article in my RSS feed. I’m also of the opinion that Brian isn’t gone for good. As so many others have pointed out: there are a lot of loose ends. Additionally, in the FG movie, I recall a scene with Brian in Heaven explaining that he died after he got into the trash and ate some chocolate. While I certainly don’t expect the show to follow its own continuity to that level, it is still a plot hole (unless Stewie’s actions at the end of the movie caused a tangential timeline). I don’t really follow FG anymore, though I do occasionally watch old episodes on Netflix. I’m still curious as to how the whole Brian thing is going to work out, so I suppose it functions fairly well as your garden-variety publicity stunt. > [@Gyrate](#): > > At which point Brian and Stewie basically admitted that the audience was probably pissed off about being screwed around with. > > I’m less worried about character continuity than I am about these entire freaking music videos that they keep putting in episodes. I mean, I don’t mind a little Conway Twitty but a whole song is just taking the piss. And there’s absolutely no excuse for that “Dancing in the Streets” video. Agreed. I hated that gag. Every now and then, the writers seem to think that they if they take an unfunny joke and keep it onscreen for ten times the normal length, then it becomes funny. It doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/72 "2013-12-06T17:22:34Z")
[Brian is coming back](http://www.avclub.com/article/family-guy-to-bring-back-brian-in-obvious-testamen-106284?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=LinkPreview:1:Default). ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/73 "2013-12-06T17:38:14Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > [Brian is coming back](http://www.avclub.com/article/family-guy-to-bring-back-brian-in-obvious-testamen-106284?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=LinkPreview:1:Default). YAY! We forced Seth to do exactly what he was planning from the beginning! We did it Internets! ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/74 "2013-12-06T18:20:48Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > YAY! We forced Seth to do exactly what he was planning from the beginning! We did it Internets! Ya’d think the fact that there’s apparently an upcoming episode called “Brian’s a Bad Father” might have been a bit of a hand tip. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/75 "2013-12-07T07:01:01Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > YAY! We forced Seth to do exactly what he was planning from the beginning! We did it Internets! In honor of Nelson Mandela, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/76 "2013-12-07T22:13:08Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > On top of everything else, the episode (IMO) wasn’t funny, it was more like one of those "Very special episodes’ we got to see back in the 80’s when a family member died or tried a sip of beer or got in to trouble at school for smoking. [Alex P. Keaton ( Michael J. Fox ) on speed.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVKFLbld9dY) ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/77 "2013-12-16T02:29:40Z")
well, that didn’t last very long. ---
**Author:** ![ScatteredFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@ScatteredFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScatteredFrog)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/78 "2013-12-16T03:43:09Z")
Here’s the thing: it was said a major character would be killed off. So far, we’ve had: - Meg dying in one episode - Brian, of course - Last week Peter shot himself _Full Metal Jacket_ style. They’re definitely effing with us! ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/79 "2013-12-16T06:52:28Z")
This isn’t the first time he was killed off. Both Stewie and Brian were killed in a duality episode. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754/80 "2013-12-16T07:19:19Z")
At least they went to the trouble to change the show opening to switch dogs in the episode after they killed him. Wasn’t even thinking of that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-seriously-wtf-major-spoiler/674754.md?page=5)