Fans are still shocked and upset that Brian Griffin is dead. On Sunday night's (Nov. 24) episode of "Family Guy," Brian, the talking dog, was hit by a car and died from his injuries. Fans didn't like the plot twist and were hoping that it was just a bad dream or maybe the dog would somehow come back to life.

Even though fans are holding out hope it doesn't look like Brian will make some grand entrance back on the show. In the episode fans saw Stewie Griffin destroy his time machine right before the dog was killed.

He tried to find the parts he needed to put the machine back together but he couldn't do which means he can't go back in time to save his friend. Another clue that Brian is gone for good is the replacement character Vinnie.

Also during Sunday's episode, the Griffins got a new pet named Vinne (voiced by Tony Sirico) about a month after Brian's death. It took some time but the family is beginning to warm up to him. A source told TMZ that Sirico is set to appear in at least six episodes of the show and more episodes will probably be added.

The show's producer Steve Callaghan explained to E! Online that Brian's death was initially brought up in a meeting and they decided to do it because it would be a "fun way to shake things up."

"As soon as this idea came up, we started talking about what the next couple episodes could be and we got very excited about the way this change will affect the family dynamics and the characters," he said.

Callaghan went on to explain that they chose to kill off the dog versus one of the people because they felt like it would be less "traumatic."

"It seemed more in the realm of reality that a dog would get hit by a car, than if one of the kids died," he explained. "As much as we love Brian, and as much as everyone loves their pets, we felt it would be more traumatic to lose one of the kids, rather than the family pet."

What do you think of Vinnie, the Griffin's new pet?