Mrs. Brown's Boys became a runaway success upon its initial broadcast. Every episode aired won its timeslot for RTÉ, with an average viewership of 753,500 in January, 2011. One episode's rating beat that of RTÉ's own ratings giant The Late Late Show, with 856,000 viewers tuning in to watch. However, critics disliked the show. "The whole thing is entirely predicated on viewers finding a man dressed as a foul-mouthed elderly woman intrinsically funny," noted Bernice Harrison in the Irish Times. "If you do, you’re away in a hack (and the viewing figures are astronomical), but if you don’t, and you think that died out with Les Dawson and Dick Emery, then it’s a long half-hour." The Irish Independent said that Mrs Brown's Boys was the type of TV programme that "that makes you vaguely embarrassed to be Irish". The Daily Telegraph's Sam Richards noted that show's comedy has a "rudimentary nature", consisting of "an old-fashioned blend of silly voices and slapstick, played out in front of a live studio audience who collapse into giggles at the mere mention of the word “willy”.
A comedy trivia quiz based around pop music, originally hosted by Mark Lamarr up to October 2006, currently hosted by Simon Amstell. Te am captains Phil Jupitus and Bill Bailey (who replaced Sean Hughes in May 2002) are joined each week by different music stars. Popular rounds include one where team members have to identify song intros hummed to them and another where a bygone music star has to be picked out of a line-up of lookalikes. • Season 9 Episode # Air Date# Guests 9-01 10/Sep/01 Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot, Steve Strange, Matthew Meschery, Katy Hill 9-02 17/Sep/01 MC Harvey, Paul Ross, Fay Tozer, Ian Astbury 9-03 24/Sep/01 Ben Adams, Chris McCormack, Dara O'Briain, Claire Sweeney 9-04 01/Oct/01 Toyah Wilcox, Steve Lamacq, Captain Sensible, Kermit 9-05 08/Oct/01 Edith Bowman, Mark Steel, Kevin Simm, Terry Hall 9-06 29/Oct/01 Jo Breezer, Alesha Dixon, Rich Hall, Richard McNamara 9-07 15/Oct/01 Roger Sanchez, Brian Molko, Tony Mortimer, Jon Culshaw 9-08 05/Nov/01 Phil Alexander, Kiki Dee, Richard Fairbrass, Mike Wilmot 9-09 22/Oct/01 Jenni Falconer, Becky Hunter, Ricky Tomlinson, David Van Day 9-10 12/Nov/01 (9th series compilation) 9-11 30/Dec/01 Christmas Special
《迷失》第五季开播前就有编剧透露，将会有一名重要角色死去，而之前剧集中埋下了多重伏笔，也将会逐渐收拢，谜底慢慢揭开。这一季主要讲述“六位离岛者为什么要回去”。虽然《迷失》已经有六季完结的大框架，但是第五季的挑战也不小，在第四季那么多冲突制造完之后，剧情的节奏和爆点恐怕会有所放缓。《迷失》中依然有很多很多的谜底有待揭开，这也是剧迷一直牵挂的。和以往闪回闪前的叙事方式不同，第五季主要是岛外和岛上生活的叙事方式为主。
