Family Guy Resurrects McGruff the Crime Dog

Family Guy played to viewers' nostalgia last night when it inserted Brian, the Griffin family's dog, into a McGruff the Crime Dog ad from the 1980s. While trying to convince Mayor Wild West (voiced by Sam Elliott) of his good guy past, Brian revealed that he was once McGruff's sidekick, Sergeant Bark. The FOX comedy then cut to a McGruff ad featuring the hapless Sergeant Bark, who promises to "bark at crime," but doesn't seem quite as competent as his older counterpart.

Fans applauded Family Guy's throwback online, but no one was more pleased than the National Crime Prevention Council, which happily shared McGruff and Brian's "very important message" on Twitter.

Family Guy airs Sundays at 9:30 PM ET on FOX.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.