Sideshow: Brian's back! Bow wow wow!

Well, it happened. It can, in the world of cartoons. Brian, the dog in Family Guy, has been restored to life. Brian was killed in the Nov. 24 episode "Life of Brian," victim of a hit-and-run. Consternation! Indignation! Feelings running high! About 128,000 fans signed a petition on Change.org - and Brian has been saved! In Sunday's episode, "Christmas Guy," the time machine helped rescue him. Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy, went on Twitter to say: "I mean, you didn't really think we'd kill off Brian, did you?"

Nude selfies of Dylan Sprouse, former star, with twin bro Cole, of Disney's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, appeared on Tumblr this weekend. Dylan, now 21, wrote on Tumblr: "To be blunt, I was proud of my progress in the gym, thought I looked hot, and wanted to share it." He sent it to someone he dumbly trusted - and guess what that someone did? Dylan says he has gained 200,000 Twitter followers.

OK, only three days after its surprise release, the new Beyoncé video/music thing, titled, wait, oh yeah, Beyoncé, set an all-time iTunes record for a first week, with 828,773 purchases. Of those, 617,213 were U.S. buys, also a first-week record. OK, fine, she gets everything. . . .

The most-liked Instagram picture of 2013 was that of Justin Bieber posing with Will Smith. According to Twitter, the most retweeted (more than 408,000) tweet was that of July 29, after Glee star Cory Monteith died and Lea Michele thanked fans for their support. Also above 400K was the announcement, from Paul Walker's staff, that the Fast and Furious star had perished in a crash. The number-one hashtag for 2013 was #love.

Who are the 10 Most Generous Celebrities? Amazing you asked, because we have that right here. Why I Give now gives us the 10 sharingest celebs. Not dollar-for-dollar philanthropists (that's a Forbes list!) but those who work with fund-raising efforts for good causes worldwide. In no order, they are: Matt Damon, Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie, Ben Affleck, Alicia Keys, Madonna, Michael J. Fox, Bono, Sir Elton John, and Jackie Chan. Nice!

Emily Blunt, who is with kid, celebrated a celebrity celebration of her baby shower in L.A. on Saturday. Jennifer Aniston, Amy Adams, and Kristen Bell, among others, brought prezzies.  Jen's fiance, Justin Theroux, drove her to the do, but, bowing to tradition, said hi, then bowed out. No males allowed! . . . Likewise fertile is former American Idol contestant (more and more of those!) Gina Glocksen, expecting her first progeny with hub Joe Ruzicka, according to People mag. . . . Neal Schon, guitarist for the band Journey, has married Michaele Salahi, White House party-crasher and regular on Real Housewives of D.C. It was - get this - a pay-per-view wedding! Whaaa? You could pay $14.95 to view the Winter Wonderland Wedding and Music Event. What do you mean, you missed it? . . . How to Keep Tongues Wagging, Lesson 4,000: Hours after filing for divorce from feckless husband Lamar Odom, Khloé Kardashian was seen in the gym with beautiful baseballer Matt Kemp. She swears, swears, I tell you!, that they are just gym pals. . . .