The Simpsons once based an entire episode around the needless addition of a talking dog to a TV show (season 8’s ‘The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show’), while South Park made a similar joke about over-hyped new characters being used as cheap cash-ins (in season 5’s ‘Towelie’), but it appears that fellow animated comedy series Family Guy may not be getting the point of the long-standing message, with rumours that they are going to bring in another ‘talking dog’ character with little sense of irony.

Rumoured to be a potential ‘major new character’ for the show’s next season (season 12), Family Guy‘s executive producers have reportedly already written a script for an introductory episode to the character ‘Vinnie the Dog’.

In what couldn’t be a much closer match to the short-lived show-within-a-show character Poochie on The Simpsons episode broadcast in 1997, current rumours suggest that Vinnie will be ‘a pooch with attitude’, although instead of Homer Simpson/Dan Castellanetta, the new dog will be voiced by 70-year-old Tony Sirico (The Sopranos), whose voice is already planned to be included on the theme song as a ‘main character’ of the revised title sequence.

The background of Vinnie is said to be that of a canine ‘with possible criminal ties’, who will be bought from a local pet shop by the Griffin family in a season 12 episode, though at the moment it is obviously unclear how long he will be the 7th character in the fictional household, or how ‘respected’ he will be by the others.

Away from a move that could end in success or more likely tears (but presumably something inbetween), Family Guy can celebrate the fact that their more fan-friendly money-making venture has now launched, with video game Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse (PS3, Xbox 360, and PC) out in stores in North America as of yesterday (20 November), while the European launch arrives on Friday (23 November).

A trailer released last week for that game (fairly lately compared to other video game titles) can be seen below, along with a short (low quality clip) of Poochie’s finest hour on The Simpsons. Be quick about it, though, as it looks like Vinnie might soon have something to say… do you?

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