Some TV scheduling decisions are easier than others. Strictly belongs on Saturday evening in the same way that Thursday night is the obvious home for Question Time. Surely then, you would assume that Friday Night Dinner should air on, well, Friday night. Not according to Channel 4.

The broadcaster's decision to move the family comedy to Sundays for its second series may be puzzling – but it doesn't seem to have distracted from an increasingly confident show. Five episodes into the second series the Goodman family home has played host to angry pensioners, older girlfriends, embarrassing cars and a dream featuring milk baths and Princess Diana. Brothers Adam (Simon Bird) and Jonny (Tom Rosenthal) immediately retreat into childhood rivalries as soon as they step across the door; Dad (Paul Ritter) remains permanently "boiling" and subsequently topless. Only Mum (Tamsin Greig) exists as a beacon of calm.

Series two builds on many of the strengths of Friday Night Dinner's first outing, with Adam and Jonny's relationship at the centre of the comedy. Bird and Rosenthal perfectly capture the instant regression of otherwise fully functioning twentysomethings upon entering their parents' home. Pranks have ranged from dead legs and inappropriate ringtones to a set-piece in the first episode that saw Jonny rigging up Adam's bedroom so that everything fell of the shelves when he opened the door.

In some ways that scene highlighted the biggest change in the second series of Friday Night Dinner: a broader, more slapstick approach that has replaced much of the nuance and realism. The comedy was never completely rooted in reality – but neither was it reliant, as in the most recent episode, on Grandma being locked in a car boot and towed away by the council. And the sheer joy of Mark Heap's performance as neighbour Jim, scared of his dog Wilson and harbouring affection for Jackie, has been largely lost this series – with the character feeling forced and rather crowbarred into scenes.

Where Friday Night Dinner continues to succeed, however, is in its gag-rate: at times Robert Popper's fine scripts still leave me gasping with laughter.

Episode two was particularly impressive with the introduction of Grandma's boyfriend Mr Morris (Harry Landis), a furious man who crashes his car into the family home, drinks their champagne and wipes his dirty hands on the curtains. His intentions toward Grandma clearly extend beyond dinner, as highlighted by an excruciating scene in which Morris asks Jonny and Adam to buy him condoms ("Not those, they're too loose.") Similarly, Adam's revelation that he split from a girl because "she smelled like Mum" and Jonny getting out of his depth with an elder woman, his boss no less, have provided many laughs.

Episodes whizz by, with Ritter's brilliant performance growing with each episode. Occasionally painted as an odd and disgusting character in the first series, Dad has been revealed as a man out of step with the rest of his family and, in many ways, society in general. All he wants is to dry some fish, count his fossils and send a fax in peace. Without a shirt on, naturally.

So what have you made of this second series? Has Friday Night Dinner been living up to expectations this time around?