When Comicbook.com first reported on a fan petition to bring back Brian Griffin yesterday, the petition had just been launched and only had a couple thousand signatures. In just around a day though, the “Bring Back Brian Griffin to Family Guy” petition has exploded with tens of thousands of new signatures being added.As of the time of this article, the “Bring Back Brian Griffin to Family Guy” petition has reached over 35,000 signatures. The petition also seems to be adding a couple thousand signatures every hour, so the petition is on pace to reach 100,000 signatures in only a couple more days. With more news sites now also reporting on the petition, it could cross 100,000 signatures even faster than anticipated.A Facebook fan page called “R.I.P. Brian Griffin from Family Guy” tied to the petition has also grown from around 100,000 likes yesterday to over 370,000 likes today. The Facebook fan page is currently on pace to cross a million likes in only a couple of days.Of course, petitions don’t always convince studios and networks to change their minds. A recent petition to have Ben Affleck replaced as Batman failed to sway Warner Bros. Studios despite garnering over 90,000 signatures. In the case of Ben Affleck though, there was also a huge amount of support for his casting among the media and others in Hollywood.With the case of Vinny the Dog, he doesn’t exactly have a lot of Hollywood friends or a recent Best Picture Oscar that he can point to, so it might be easier for fans to get the Fox Broadcasting Company and Seth MacFarlane to respond. In fact, recent news that the voice actor for Vinny the Dog signed a six episode deal with an option for more, sort of suggests that MacFarlane and Fox might have intentionally been waiting to judge fan reaction before deciding if the replacement of Brian Griffin would be permanent.
