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Forget nuclear brinkmanship.聽The question driving serious news hounds this Thanksgiving week is: Will 鈥�Family Guy,鈥� the long-running animated TV hit, bring back Brian the dog?

The talking, martini-swilling pooch put four paws up on Sunday night鈥檚 episode after being hit by a car.聽Adding insult to the injury of losing a beloved TV canine is the announcement that "Family Guy" plans to replace Brian with a new pooch named Vinnie, voiced by 鈥�The Sopranos鈥� star Paulie 鈥淲alnuts鈥� Gaultier.

More than 39,000 fans have already signed an online petition urging the show's creator, Seth MacFarlane, to resurrect the Griffin family pet.聽

Brian may not sleep with the fishes for long, say TV analysts. After all, this is a postmodern animated sitcom in which baby Stewie once offed his mother, in an episode entitled 鈥淪tewie Kills Lois.鈥� Both characters are still around.聽

鈥淔rankly, this is already a show where a main character is a talking dog who drinks martinis,鈥� says Bob Thompson, founder of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University in New York. Bringing Brian back from the dead, he adds, would be a walk in the park.

However, if recent TV trends are any guide, fans may be barking up the wrong tree in their bid to revive Brian.

The cognoscente already knew that at least one Griffin family member was a marked man this fall, having been tipped off during this past summer鈥檚 Comic Con in San Diego. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to kill off a member of the Griffin family and replace them with a different character,鈥� showrunner Steve Callaghan told a panel audience in July.

Snuffing out central characters can help to revive interest in programs that are getting a bit long in the tooth, notes historian and pop culture expert Julian Chambliss, from Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla.

鈥淜illing Brian is just a way to make the story more engaging to a media-saturated audience,鈥� he says. 鈥淔amily Guy" has always played with the idea of death, he adds, 鈥渂ut this moves the show to the forefront of popular conversation.鈥�

Indeed, the show鈥檚 ratings are down some 19 percent from this time last year. The need to keep shows relevant to audiences who have more entertainment options than ever trumps most other considerations, says Mr. Chambliss.

鈥淭he modern audience has seen everything, so placing these beloved characters in a place that makes us evaluate why we care is the creator's way of reengaging,鈥� he says. Viewers can still be shocked, he adds, because committed fans have come to depend on these characters.

Sometimes viewers know something bad will happen to certain characters because those actors announce that they're moving on to other projects, says Deborah Jaramillo, assistant professor of television studies at Boston University. 鈥淒ownton Abbey鈥� is one example, she says, citing last season's sudden death of leading man "Matthew." The slow demise of Dr. Green on 鈥淓R鈥� was certainly not a surprise, she adds.

But when a character's loss does come as a聽surprise, it can seem quite cold, she says via e-mail. But it's also 鈥渁ctually pretty riveting.鈥�

鈥淢ad Men,鈥� 鈥淭he Walking Dead,鈥� 鈥淕ame of Thrones,鈥� 鈥淒exter,鈥澛燼nd others have all done it, says Ms. Jaramillo. The first episode of "Oz" in 1997聽鈥済ruesomely dispensed with a character we thought we might follow for a while,鈥� she says.聽

In fact, she notes, very few characters on TV are entirely protected these days. Even then, consider Tony Soprano's fate in the finale of "The Sopranos," she adds.聽鈥淭his trend can keep viewers in a constant state of anxiety about who will stay and who might go.鈥�

It can also work the other way, Jaramillo says. Sometimes, when a central character should be killed off (see 鈥淒exter鈥�), the network won't allow it.

鈥淭here's a financial reason for keeping some characters alive,鈥� she adds.

Prime-time as well as day-time soap operas have a long tradition of killing off main characters and then bringing them back. Consider the infamous return of Bobby on 鈥淒allas,鈥� notes Mr. Thompson.

The point, however, is that TV programming is experimenting. 鈥淵ou don't have to care about this or that character being killed off, but you should care that TV, which has been reviled for so long for being formulaic and predictable, is increasingly shaking things up," says Jaramillo. "Brian simply took one for the team.鈥�

This is a sign of a more dynamic media landscape, agrees Chambliss. It has evolved to embrace both continuity and change, he says. Long-running hits such as the British import 鈥�Dr. Who,鈥� now celebrating its 50th anniversary, have demonstrated this: "Dr. Who" has had multiple incarnations of the central character 鈥� a move that has enabled the overarching narrative to endure but that has kept the show fresh.

鈥淟aw & Order鈥� is among the TV shows that have managed to pull off the same feat, axing some key roles while introducing new ones, says Thompson. The main series ran for two decades. But some shows have failed after a central character's departure, he notes. 聽

鈥淥nce Don Knotts left "The Andy Griffith Show," it never really worked,鈥� he says with a laugh.

Whether Brian permanently bites the dust or not, the hands that feed "Family Guy" will certainly milk this moment, says Chambliss.

鈥淚 assume the creators for 'Family Guy' will use this as an opportunity to push the story forward and attract new fans,鈥� he says.聽