Mrs. Brown's Boys

[soliloquy]

There must be thousands of viewers who watch this programme. I switched it off after less than five minutes. When I was about 10, I might have found the vulgarity and the rude words funny - but that would have been several decades ago. What is its appeal?

[allenlondon]

It’s very British. The idea of men dressing up as women might have been hilarious 75 years ago.

Now it’s just... peculiar.

[calmck]

Just seen it got worst ratings ever. Have watched once or twice but don't find it that funny. Too old maybe

[Ken4155]

^
Yet still finished in top ten most watched programmes. Queen's Speech watched by 8m, 2nd was Call The Midwife with 5.4m. Then; Blankety Blank, Strictly, The Wheel, Corrie, Mrs Brown's Boys, Emmerdale, Eastenders and The Chase.

[Caran]

I still love it. I find it so funny.

[gness]

I did in the beginning, Caran because there was so much I could relate to. We've gone off it a bit but may give it another go....could certainly do with laughs now....which reminds me...did MrCaran cause merriment over Christmas?... ;-)

[burlyshirley]

Watched my recording last night. Not the best episode at all, wonder if he's running out of ideas. I was bored in places !

[andy-hughes]

No matter how wonderful a piece of continual entertainment is, it cannot sustain the levels of its early input, it's simply not possible.

Almost no musicians, composers, playwrights, comedians and so on, have managed to sustain the levels of appeal that their early work attracted.

That is for two simple reasons - the initial creative drive and spark are not sustainable, and the further on the work progresses, the weaker it becomes. There may be occasional flashes of the original brilliance, but the overall trend is only ever going to be getting weaker and weaker.

Add to that the simply human need for new and fresh experiences, and the audience for the work also dilutes as it either becomes accustomed by time to what was initially fresh and exciting, or it moves on to something that is actually new and worthy of more attention.

So the decline in the appeal of Mrs Brown's Boys simply follows the way of the world - any art will dilute over time if allowed to do so.

That is the genius of Fawlty Towers, The Office, Extras, NYPD Blue, and others, they either shone with a brightness equal to their brevity, and simply never got old or familiar, of they realised that they had run their course, and stopped with dignity intact.

Hopefully the Mrs Brown's Boys team will accept that their race is run and it's time to stop before the good reputation they have built up is killed off by letting it go on too long - they need to avoid jumping the shark.