I'm amazed at the rating of 9.4 I am seeing. It's original selling point was really being a parody of a certain Cork city demographic, something many cork people would recognise. However it's now trying to move on from that and doing it terribly badly. You can see where it's trying to go in it's feeble attempt to move the main antagonist towards responsibility and adulthood.
Unfortunately the show is simply NOT funny and all attempts at realism have been abandoned as it searches for laughs by making the characters too stupid to be anyway believable. The opening bike scene being a prime example. Unfortunately the writing would be reminiscent of something a teenager would write for a drama assignment and the actors appearing to know they are spouting terrible dialogue.
By trying to make the show grow up they are losing any appeal it originally had, hamstringing the script writer and the laughs consequently are very few and far between. But then again Mrs Browns boys is hugely successful so what do I know.