Seasonal Rot

NOTE: Please read the discussion for rules.

"''Bart: Dad, how come they're taking The Cosby Show off the air?
Homer: Because Mr. [Bill] Cosby wanted to stop before the quality suffered.
Bart: Quality, schmality! If I had a TV show, I'd run that sucker into the ground!
Homer: Amen, boy. Amen. "

— Homer and Bart Simpson, from an April 30, 1992 rerun of The Simpsons season 2 episode "Three Men and a Comic Book"

Seasonal rot in a nutshell.

Seasonal rot is a phrase used for any long-running franchise that experiences a gradual drop in quality after several seasons, to either later becoming bad or not as good as originally and before, even though the show can still make good episodes and stories, even if they are gone from grace, or just not make as many good episodes and make more duds/bad episodes and stories as possible. This trope has become more common since the 2010s.

Background

There are many great shows now and again. However, if a show runs long enough, seasonal rot always sets in and writers should always think of the right moment to either end the show (good way or bad way) or bring it back on track while it's still good, or the show can just start a new writing team to improve the series and make everything better in the future.

Sometimes it's a temporary dip from which the series recovers by bringing in new writers (ones that either hardly know anything about the source material at all, or are very bad) or choosing by ignoring all of the past events of the inferior or best seasons. Other times, it can be irreversible and grows with each new season at the point when the series has "jumped the shark" or lost its charm.

This can include the flanderization of really lovable characters (characters becoming out of character), making a few or a heck-load of filler/bad episodes, and animation changes (even though, the animation would still be good, but could also turn ugly), come up with really stupid and inexcusable plots, take gross-out jokes gone wrong, make the characters take a step too far, make episodes that don't even try, drag on everything for far too long, overuse the unfunny/poor comedy and jokes, make up poor attempts to go in a new direction and declining production values, throw in the three strike formulas used in every episode to make it as bad as possible, make the characters never learn their lesson, and also make the episodes use the same story repeated every episode.

There are some ways to avoid (or end) seasonal rot. One way is to temporarily postpone the series and come up with more ideas at a slow pace, keep the show as fresh and strong as possible, or just come up with new inspirations.

Making a seasonal rot worse is if the creator of the show is still heavily involved.

Notable Offenders

• The Simpsons (seasons 11-31, 1999-2020): The one that started this trope. Although not always as bad as Family Guy and South Park, it's still hit-or-miss with most of the cast becoming flanderized and more gross-out humor. However, seasons 11-20 are the least bad out of all and the show got back on track since season 32.
• Family Guy (seasons 8-present, 2009-present): Also known as the king of seasonal rots and one of the worst cases of seasonal rot ruining a formerly good show; the show went massively downhill since season 8's "Peter ass-ment" and has not recovered due to heavy flanderization, terrible and hurtful morals, tons of mean-spirited moments, overuse of even more cutaway gags that are not funny anymore, and gross-out humor. In addition, in desperate and shallow ratings grab, the show killed off Brian in "Life of Brian" only to bring him back three weeks later in "Christmas Guy".
• South Park: The most controversial seasons, especially the season 20, making it a cash cow to Comedy Central. The show not only flanderizes the main cast, but also adds more mean-spirited moments and overuses of even more inappropriate humor than the previous seasons. Since Season 23, Randy Marsh gets way too much screen time than the main boys. While seasons 21 onwards are okay, these seasons are polarizing as they still share the same issues as Season 20, as after the Tegridy Weed plot, this is a sure sign that the show is now going through the same fate as The Simpsons and Family Guy, and the main boys have hardly, if ever, recovered from their flanderizations. It is also announced that in 2024, there would be no new episodes until at least 2025, due to Trump’s election (which occurred in Season 20).
• American Dad! (seasons 11-13; 2014-2017): Beginning with the fourth episode of Season 11, the first three seasons of when the show was moved to TBS would see several flanderization from Stan, Francine, and Roger. Not to mention, the flanderized characters would act like clones of characters from Family Guy. The seasons would try to have attempts at being edgy much like the later seasons of Family Guy and had several recycled plots from previous episodes. However, unlike Family Guy, the show has returned to form once Season 14 rolled around.
• Two and a Half Men (seasons 9-12; 2011-2015): Following Charlie Sheen's infamous meltdown, the series replaced him with Ashton Kutcher. This aged badly with fans of the first 8 seasons.
• Game of Thrones (season 8; 2019): The overall story is a disjointed and clichéd mess. The way the season concludes various plots felt either very rushed or were never concluded at all.
• Angry Birds Toons (season 3, 2015-2016): The writing has gone downhill, many characters have been flanderized and these seasons resulted in many bad episodes.
• The Office (seasons 8 & 9; 2011-2013): The show went downhill after Steve Carrell left.
• Turma da Mônica (2009-2016): Severe flanderization of the characters, stiff animation, and many bad episodes.
• Something Special (seasons 3-present; 2008-present): This show jumped the shark in Season 3 with the introduction of the "Out and About" format and hasn't recovered since. However, season 3 is the least bad.
• SpongeBob SquarePants (seasons 6-8, 2008-2012): There was a massive amount of flanderizaton for most of the characters, and the characters became more and more mean-spirited, the animation became cheaper with a duller color palette and there was much more gross-out humor compared to the first five seasons. Luckily since season 9, the show got back on track.
• Voltron: Legendary Defender (seasons 7 & 8; 2018): Seasons 7 and 8 were not well-received by audiences due to mass flanderization, serious plot holes, and the killing-off of Allura in the final episode.
• The Fairly OddParents (seasons 9 & 10, 2013-2017): It completely ran out of ideas altogether, became filled to the brim with bad episodes, completely abandoned continuity, suffered from lazier, generic, and unoriginal writing primarily because of it often rehashing older plots, and the characters themselves have all either been dumbed down to their stereotypes or demoted to extras. Aside from all that, Season 9 introduced a pointless new main character, Sparky, but due to negative reception, he was removed in Season 10, only to be replaced with yet another new main character, Chloe Carmichael, who was even worse. The show's budget was also slashed, forcing Frederator to switch animation studios from South Korea to Canada. This saw the shift to low-quality flash animation in the last seven episodes of Season 10. Overall, the failure of these seasons was a result of executive meddling and the declining talent among the writing team, even series creator Butch Hartman himself, ended up getting the series canceled.
• George of the Jungle (2007) (season 2, 2016-2017) - While the first season was actually OK, the 2016 season revival was rather bad, as its filled with massive flanderization, especially George himself, and its full of gross-out humor.
• The Promised Neverland (Season 2; 2021): A lot of chapters were skipped and the ending can be seen as quite lackluster.
• Johnny Test (2005) (seasons 4-6, 2009-2014) - The animation became much stiffer (and, starting in season 5, choppier looking) to the point of looking more suitable for the Internet than TV, the sound effects became cheaper and the infamous whip crack sound effect was overused, and episodes mainly started becoming very repetitive not to mention how a bunch of the characters were also exaggerated and flanderized.
• Bunk'd (seasons 3-7, 2018-2024) - It saw a decline in quality starting in season 3, when key characters like Xander, Jorge, Tiffany, Gladys, Griff, and Hazel were written out. The introduction of Matteo, Finn, and Destiny shifted the focus to younger characters, removing much of the original conflict and weakening its connection to the first two seasons. While the season 3 finale, "Up, Up, and Away," was well-received, many felt it should have been the series finale, as the show began to feel disconnected from its original premise. Season 4 continued the trend, with Lou being the only remaining character from the original cast, and the introduction of replacements like Noah, Gwen, and Ava. In season 5 Gwen left the series and being replaced with Parker. By season 6, the show had moved to a new location, Kikiwaka Ranch, introducing new campers Jake, Winnie, and Bill, who replaced Matteo, Ava, and Finn. While the new setting brought some fresh dynamics, it further distanced the series from its roots of being a Jessie spin-off. Despite the criticism, Bunk'd managed to deliver three well-received finales: "Up, Up, and Away" in season 3, "Friends Forever" in season 5, and the final episode, "Happy Trails," in season 7. Each provided a satisfying conclusion for their respective arcs, but by the end, many fans felt the constant cast changes and shifts in tone had caused the show to lose its original charm.
• The Loud House (seasons 1, 4-6, 2016, 2019-2022): Major flanderization of characters like Lincoln and Leni Loud, and the plots in seasons 1, 4, and 5 are the most nonsensical. However, the show did show some recovery in late-season 6 onwards after Leni got her driver's license.
• Miraculous Ladybug (seasons 3-present, 2019-present): These seasons added lots of pointless characters such as Zoe Lee (despite being likable), Felix and Tomoe, the animation feels choppier and dull-looking, season 3 being filled fanservice only to make the fans which slow a lot of the plot, ruined the lore of the first two seasons, characters being flanderized and some of them acting out of place for plot inconvenience, the sudden change in tone from a lighthearted superhero show to a slightly darker and edgier one (most notably in season 5) and season 5 trying to appeal to the LGBTQ+ community by revealing Ms. Bustier and Zoe Lee to be lesbians. The season 5 finale also ended the series on a cliffhanger. Luckily the theatrical film released in 2023 is a huge improvement over these seasons.
• Thomas & Friends (seasons 9-16 (HiT model and Sharon Miller eras, 2005-2012), 22-24 (Big World! Big Adventures! era, 2018-2021), All Engines Go reboot): The show went downhill when Britt Allcroft and David Mitton left. In Seasons 12-16, the Sharon Miller era, the main characters were flanderized and the stories became too wacky. The show did improve in seasons 17-21, only to go downhill again in Big World! Big Adventures! era as Mattel began milking Thomas the Tank Engine for their benefit. It also ended the original series on a sour note, only for the controversial reboot to be released. However, the HIT Model era (seasons 9-11) is more tolerable.
• Odd Squad (season 3, 2020-2022): By the time Season 3 premiered either older fans had stopped watching the show entirely, or newer fans would watch and be more attracted to the past two seasons and its characters. It didn't help that the show got a Retool, with the main setting being changed and characters being swapped out for new ones. While there are a few fans both young and old who still enjoy it, a majority of people dislike the season because of the massive changes, although there are fans who enjoyed the season before Opal's departure.
• Fireman Sam (seasons 6-present, 2008-present): After the switch to CGI beginning with season 6, the show went completely downhill due to many problems such as flanderization or several characters, horrible CGI animation for seasons 6-10, poor attempts of modernization and terrible new voice acting. As of now, the show still hasn't recovered from any of its flaws.
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil (seasons 3 & 4, 2017-2019): The show started to focus more on romantic drama, the fantastical racism against monsters in Mewni became the series' new main plot right after Toffee was killed off, and every episode had too many writers working on it, resulting in both old and new ideas being cut and mostly never used again as a result, additionally, most of the characters have been flanderized beyond recognition.
• The Boondocks (season 4, 2014): The final season, was made without McGruder, and as a result, was poorly received due to Granddad getting too much focus, a poor overarching plot, the elimination of several popular characters such as Gin Rummy, Thugnificent, and Cindy McPhearson, poor plots, the fact the season was aired out-of-order, Uncle Ruckus undergoing a crapload of Flanderization and the plots being unfunny in general.
• Winx Club (2011 revival) (seasons 5-8, 2011-2019): After being revived by Nickelodeon in 2011, the fans didn't take kindly to these seasons. As a result, the revival was critically panned thanks to its bad switch to flash animation, the use of CGI scenes, childish storylines, the flanderization of the characters, and lacking the charm the previous four seasons had.
• LEGO Ninjago (Seasons 7, 10, and 11; 2017, 2019-2020)
• Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil (season 2, 2011-2012): The second season greatly reduced the number of stunts, adventures, and action and focused more on Buttowski family slice of life instead of what the show intended to be, as well the flanderization of the titular character, Buttowski family members and Kendall Perkins.
• Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn (seasons 3 & 4; 2017-2018): Most of the characters have been flanderized and the show turned into a generic 2011 onwards nickcom.
• The Next Step (seasons 4 & 5, 2016-2017): Season 4 received a particularly negative reception, with many fans considering it to be the low point of the series. Much criticism was aimed at the increasingly absurd storylines, overuse of older characters, underdevelopment of newer characters, and the 40-episode length. A particular storyline that was panned was a love triangle between the characters of James, Riley, and Alfie, as this storyline had already been done in the show's second season between James, Riley, and Beth. While season 5 was considered an improvement over Season 4, has been contrarily criticized for the short length of 20 episodes. Another criticism was the recycling of the rivalry between the characters of Emily and Michelle, which had previously been resolved. Thankfully season 6 onwards was an improvement over seasons 4 and 5.
• SMG4 (seasons 8-present, 2018-present): When Saiko debuted in the episode, "Doki Doki Mario Club", things started to go downhill for SMG4. OC characters (such as Meggy and Melony) started to steal the spotlight from certain characters who aren't Mario, SMG4, Luigi, Meggy, Bob, Fishy Boopkins, Chris and Swagmaster (since Mario's Prison Escape), SMG3 (since the YouTube Arc) and Shroomy (though to lesser extents) such as the Mario recolors (X, FM, etc.), Toad, Bowser, Steve, Sonic the Hedgehog, the Old Man, Wizard Rock, Toast Guy, The Teletubbies and many classic others. Garry's Mod was overused way more than Project 64 to the point where they feel like GMOD videos than Super Mario 64 Bloopers (And arguably still are). The humor had also been dialed down to 0 to avoid demonetization (for example: censoring out the f, s, and now recently, the b words.) Not even stronger words such as "rape" and the n-word are safe). And many classic series such as If Mario Was In..., Stupid Mario, The Wacky Wario Bros., and Sonic the Derphog were barely focused at all. But things seem to have been going in the right direction starting about season 13.
• Turbo F.A.S.T (season 3, 2016) - The writing has been downgraded to dull and lazy, having a big amount of filler episodes, some of the characters have gotten flanderized, overuse of gross-out jokes, and having the same 7 amount of writers working on it as the second season compared to the first season which had 10 writers.
• Barney & Friends (Barney Home Video, seasons 9-14, Barney's World, 1994-2010, 2024-present) - When the show peaked in the mid-1990s with a series of home videos, the anti-Barney jokes and backlash towards it grew over time due to the video series making nearly every character obnoxious and/or paper-thin; the morals also became either cliché, repetitive, forced down kids' throats or all of the above, with the "use your imagination" cliché in particular being overused. Season 9 introduced segments with Barney, BJ, and Baby Bop on a white background. As a result, the kids were given little to no screen time. Season 10 introduced Riff, as well as some more conflict-driven plots. Unlike in previous seasons, BJ and Baby Bop would constantly need Barney's help with learning morals. Barney himself even occasionally needed to be taught the lesson he could have taught the kids, like in the episode "Pistachio". More notably, Baby Bop would forget how to count in a couple of episodes (e.g. "Counting"), however, seasons 9-13 are more tolerable. They also ended the show on a sour note until the controversial Barney's World reboot was revealed.
• SuperMarioLogan (seasons 9-present, 2017-present) - Since the introduction of Jeffy (more so after the infamous and controversial video "Jeffy's Tantrum), the series has gone downhill; also not helping matters is that much of Logan's channel was eventually age-restricted. It got worse after the human puppets were introduced.
• VeggieTales (2010-2018) - Around the early 2010s, the animation budget was cut in half, thanks to Big Idea being purchased by DreamWorks and outsourcing the animation to cheaper studios. Many episodes' plots were also rehashed from previous episodes. The revival series VeggieTales in the House didn't help matters.)
• Woody Woodpecker (late 1961-1972) - The animation became cheaper and Woody himself was toned down into a more generic hero.
• Jeopardy! (seasons 20-present, 2003-present) - The show's five-game cap was removed in Season 20; as a result, Ken Jennings' run would last for nearly two seasons. Season 31 removed the co-champion rule, which allowed players who finished tied to compete again on the next show. As of Season 34, all ties are decided with a tiebreaker clue; the winner plays on and keeps their winnings and the loser goes home with $2,000. The show has also seen an increase in poorly worded and/or misleading clues, thanks to executive producer Mike Richards, who was eventually fired. Not long into Season 37, Alex Trebek died of pancreatic cancer and a rotation of guest hosts took his place for the rest of the season. In season 38, he was permanently replaced by Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik; the former was met with positive reception, but the latter has been criticized for laughing too much and allegedly insulting the show's contestants. Season 40 introduced a new rule that required players to say the entire category name with each new pick from that category—e.g. if the category was "Lou Gehrig's Consecutive Games Streak", you could just say "Lou Gehrig" in previous seasons and it was counted a valid selection. The new rule that required players to say the whole category title has led to complaints of, for one thing, clues being left on the board when time ran out in a round due to how long it took to say the category name, especially for the long and wordy category names. However, seasons 20-26 are the most passable.
• Wheel of Fortune (Syndicated version, seasons 21-37, 39-present) - Introduced the infamous Express Wedge in season 31, Prize Puzzles as a regular feature in season 21, suffered from budget cuts and fake difficulty, dropped the Free Spin tag in 2010 in favor of Free Play, replaced Charlie O'Donnell with a series of fill-in announcers after his death in 2010 and had them dub over the episodes he recorded before his passing, dropped road shows, retired the Jackpot Wedge in 2012, introduced puzzles which led to inappropriate moments that went beyond the TV-G rating, dropped Pat Sajak in 2024 due to him retiring after having hosted the show for over four decades, made the set increasingly cheap and lazy and downgraded certain bugs like the Toss-Up and Final Spin animations.
• The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald (1999-2003) - As if the first two videos weren't mediocre and forgettable enough already, the last four videos depict the main characters as punching bags or damsels in distress (complete with Hamburglar getting abducted by an alien on their way to a distant space resort in The Visitors from Outer Space and a mad scientist named Professor Pinchworm turning the gang into babies in Birthday World), replace the first theme song with a new one where Ronald McDonald raps in an attempt to be "hip with the kids", increase Ronald's screen time to the point where he talks to the audience throughout the live-action portions of the video rather than at the end, drop the Fry Kids, Tika and Franklin (in the second, fifth and sixth videos respectively) and end on a massive cliffhanger (with the sixth and final video featuring yet another announcement to look for the next video, even though it was the last video ever made; this stands out from the other videos' trailers because it doesn't even give the slightest bit of information on what kind of adventure the McDonaldland gang would go on next, when previous videos would give the title and basic premise of the next video).
• Teen Wolf (seasons 4-6; 2014-17 — Season 4 to 6 were not well-received by many fans due to their questionable writing, many actors leaving the show without explanation, underwhelming villains like Meridith and the Dread Doctors, storylines such as Stiles's father and Scott's mother struggling with money that went nowhere, and many filler episodes.)
• Tamagotchi! (season 1B; 2011-2012 — There was a major flanderization of some characters, many bad/mediocre episodes, and the characters became considerably blander.)
• El Chavo Aminado (seasons 3-7; 2009-2014): The show felt more like a preschooler show rather than an animated adaptation, the animation declined in season 6, more childish and fantasy-ish plot (even more so than in season 2), season 7 also didn't end the show any better.
• Angelo Rules (seasons 4 & 5; 2020-2022): Has deteriorated sharply due to a huge lack of originality, completely unrealistic plots, and the flanderization of many characters.
• Sunny Bunnies (seasons 5 & 6; 2020): This show had massive flanderization of some characters, downgraded CGI animation, & tons of mediocre episodes.
• Gen:LOCK (season 2; 2021): The series debuted in 2019 and was praised for its visuals, story, all-star cast, and its unique take on mechas. Unfortunately, however, it quickly went on a seasonal rot with the second season due to its rushed pacing, killed-off major characters, absence of Battle Tapes, and the use of edgier content like blood and gore, even more, excessive profanity, as well as overuse of sex scenes with full frontal nudity, and was critically panned by fans because of it.
• Annoying Orange (mid-2014-present): The channel started to decline after the TV show as Orange's voice got more annoying, going from millions of views to only a couple thousand, and becoming a channel just for kids.
• Titeuf (season 4; 2016-2017): This season is an example of executive meddling because instead of continuing where season 3 ended, they decided to change everything to try to approach comics in addition to flanderized certain characters like Titeuf or Nadia.
• Zig & Sharko (seasons 3-present; 2019-present): Even if the show started to deteriorate from season 2 because of the flash animation and the humor that had become poor, it was still correct unlike seasons 3 onwards which flanderized the characters like Zig or Sharko who became meaner than before.
• Power Rangers (Dino Super Charge, Ninja Steel/Super Ninja Steel; 2015-2016, 2017-2019) - These seasons are derided by many Power Rangers fans for their very simplistic, childish writing, lazily rehashed plot points, inconsistent characterization and very preachy tone in terms of morals (that don't even make sense when one thinks about them). Fans of Dino Charge also criticize Dino Super Charge for over-relying on filler episodes and having a polarizing finale.
• Californication (seasons 5-7; 2011-2014) - Seasons 5-7 were less well-recieved, as they turned the series increasingly humorous, the show became painfully unfunny, introduced Levon in season 7 and had strung along the relationship revolving door dance between Hank and Karen for so long that everyone just stopped caring if they would end up together or apart.
• Eureka (seasons 4-5; 2010-2012) - These seasons were extremely formulaic and overused rifles at unnecessary times, plus the alternate-timeline subplot in season 4 didn't really amount to anything other than a few superficial changes.
• The Hills (season 6; 2010) - The show was already universally hated from the beginning, slowly growing controversy and mockery over perceived fake drama over the first five seasons. However, Lauren eventually left the series, distancing herself as much as possible while new lead (and fellow Laguna Beach cast member) Kristin Cavalieri joined the show. The resulting sixth season saw tanking ratings and contrived circumstances to have the characters get into arguments, culminating in a weird and bizarre ending (yes, for a reality show) that suggested most, if not all, of the series was faked. Needless to say, fans were not pleased, and the resulting years saw several cast members (including Cavalieri) disparage MTV and the producers for going too far in the opposite direction.
• The Daily Show (Trevor Noah era; 2016-present) - These seasons have been universally panned, even after Jon Stewart returned in 2024, with even a portion of fans disliking Trevor Noah's take on the show, as they felt that he wasn't as clever or as funny as Jon Stewart was; he also seemed to make too many unfunny jokes about racism and misogyny and felt more biased towards not making fun of the political left while trashing everyone else. To add insult to injury, the only two seasons available on Paramount+ were from the Trevor Noah era until 2024.
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (seasons 9-17 of the US syndicated version; 2010-2019) - After the format was changed in the tenth season, with the show adding a timer to the questions—and the timer counted down while host Meredith Vieira read the question instead of after she finished, it changed again in season 12, straying even further from the original Millionaire format.
• The Sunny Side Up Show (seasons 9-10; 2015-2017) - In 2015, the series made the move to a city apartment from the Sunshine Barn, changed its name to Sunny Side Up and added a few new segments and shows to its schedule, dropping a few old ones.
• Hell's Kitchen (seasons 8-present; 2008-present) - Seasons 8 and 9 of the controversial show got some heat for Gordon Ramsay's blatant favoritism towards almost every contestant, regardless of their talent; both seasons are far more notorious for focusing more on crazy and/or incompetent contestants than talented ones. Gordon also shows blatant favoritism towards the incredibly unlikable Elise, though for some fans, it was redeemed by the final two of Paul and Will. By season 10, virtually every contestant had become obnoxious and narcissistic beyond belief; this wasn't helped by what was widely seen as "racist behavior" towards popular contestant Barbie by the other women on her team. Season 11 also faced significant backlash for having "one of the worst casts ever". As of now, the show hasn't recovered from any of its flaws.
• Pokemon (seasons 14-16; 2010-2013) - The Black & White/Unova seasons are widely considered as the worst; they are viewed as starting out as promising, addressing many fan complaints (Team Rocket's incompetence, Ash not catching enough Pokémon) head-on. However, it starts squandering this potential around the middle when the Black 2/White 2 games started being marketed, so that by the time of Decalore Islands the season was viewed by many as irredeemable. In the same seasons, Ash loses all his character development and reverts back to being a moronic naive hero, Cilan and Iris aren’t as well-received and viewed as inferior copies of Brock and Misty, the League storyline is mishandled, the Team Plasma story arc is considered too short, Charizard's return is a missed opportunity and the Decalore Islands arc is a filler arc that makes Johto look eventful.
• Baby Einstein (2017-present) - TBA.
• The Flash (seasons 7-present) - Seasons 7 & 9 were widely panned by audiences and critics due to poor writing, pointless additions of new characters, exodus of beloved old characters and a hyper fixation on filler. Although many of these season's problems can be blamed on Covid and surprise episode cuts from The CW. Season 8 received more mixed reception from audiences and critics, being noted as a vast improvement over season 7 with much stronger writing and plotlines such as "Armageddon" and "Death Revisited" but was ultimately brought down by the final arc "It's All Negative".
• Chuck E. Cheese Showtapes (Avenger 2.0 and Rockstar eras; 2007-present) - Starting with the September 2007 showtape (which introduced Helen Henny's second Avenger design, though she still wore her iconic cheerleader outfit in the showtapes until the Rockstar era in 2012), Helen was flanderized into a hyperactive, completely feminine Genki Girl/overgrown teeny bopper who is obsessed with girly things (later video games and shopping) and alway follows trends. In 2012, Chuck E.'s longtime voice actor Duncan Brannan was replaced with Bowling for Soup frontman Jaret Reddick, the licensed cover songs were dropped in 2014 and the shows were reduced to single original songs mixed with skits, characters like Chuck E. and Jasper were flanderized (notably, Jasper behaves very out of character in "Nothing Like a Walk" and Chuck E. has several mean-spirited moments, not unlike his early self in some other songs), several inferior new characters like Bella Bunny were introduced and other questionable decisions were made; the most infamous example is when CEC decided to get rid of the animatronics and replace them with a dance floor. The decline only worsened in 2023, with very childish and repetitive songs such as "Wash the Bus", and an increasing reliance on Kidz Bop during the intermissions.
• Plaza Sésamo (seasons 4-13, Sésamo; 1995-2013, 2016-2020) - Introduced Lola, the show's equivalent to Elmo, Abby Cadabby and Cookie Monster (along with Big Bird in the pre-1985 Sesame Street) from its American parent series, over-relied on CGI sequences with blatant chroma-keying (such as the Lola Aventuras sequences) and imported Abby Cadabby from its American counterpart in 2008. However, the voice acting is still good as usual like its American counterpart.

Minor

• Boy Meets World (season 7; 1999-2000) - Season 7 had a few good episodes and some very memorable moments (i.e. "Playswithsquirrels"), but overall, it had many wacky and cartoonish plotlines that didn't fit with the series, tons of mood whiplash between the wacky and serious plotlines and flanderization up the wazoo (especially with Eric, who went from being ditzy to being borderline psychotic). The finale, however, did end the show on a high note.
• Code Geass (Lelouch of the Rebellion R2; 2008) - Many fans consider this season a step down from the first one due to increasingly absurd plot twists, the vast majority of the old cast being Out of Focus, plot threads going unresolved or just dropped entirely, and an increased focus on mecha battles at the expense of the strategic interplay that characterized much of the first season (and main character Lelouch).
• Bleach (filler arcs; 2006-2010, 2011) - The filler arcs created are regarded as sub-quality storylines with villains that usually rehash canon villains. The Bount arc borrows from canon Quincy and Mod-Soul back story to create the Bount. It was excessively long, introduced too many characters that were either poorly characterized (the Bount villains) or regarded as extremely irritating (the Bount Mod-Souls). The plot was a run-of-the-mill "turn against the creators" storyline and had a predictable ending. The Gotei 13 Invasion Arc completely rewrites even important canon to justify a predictable and lack-lustre "take revenge against superiors for an ancient personal slight" plot. A filler character who turns normally comedic Kon into her love interest and the hero of the show reduces the main characters to shilling roles. She takes a single day to develop from a powerless damsel-in-distress to more powerful than even Yamamoto, Aizen and Ichigo. The poor filler characterization, marginalization of main characters and extremely unbalanced power levels all contribute to make it the most poorly received anime storyline within the fandom.
• Dog Days (seasons 2-3; 2012-2014) - These seasons try to strip the female cast down to focus on the cute and charming characters or the overarching plotline that make the first season so enjoyable. This can be especially uncomfortable for some viewers (namely female viewers), given how young most of the girls look. One reviewer even compared the first season to a serious visual novel, with the latter two being the bonus discs with all the extra content.
• Fairy Tail (seasons 2-3; 2012-2019) - Several people say that the anime fell into this during the Grand Magic Games arc in 2012. It's the first real arc post the first Time Skip after the short reintroduction, it's also the longest running arc of the series at that point, and it reintroduces a bunch of supporting characters from past arcs while also boosting the character roster with plenty of new arrivals. Complaints especially go to several of the newly-introduced characters being underutilized or getting ultimately anti-climatic fights with the established cast, the Next Tier Power-Up Hand Wave used to justify how the time-displaced Fairy Tail elites managed to catch up in three months at the most what everyone else had seven years of honing their skills, the fatigue as it nears the end and has to contend with government conspiracy taking center stage and the villain tends to be seen as one of the weaker ones motive-wise and personality-wise with several of the time-displaced dragons getting more approval.
• Haruhi Suzumiya (season 2; 2009) - After it was announced the light novel The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya would be adapted into a movie, the writers were forced to stretch out the material before it into a full 14-episode season. They managed this by making eight versions of essentially the same episode (in which the characters become stuck in a "Groundhog Day" Loop), with the only differences being the characters' outfits and the numbers mentioned in the exposition. For reference, the original novel didn't do this. They simply told the story once. To this day, there are heated arguments about whether "Endless Eight" was a stroke of absurdist brilliance or sadistic trolling of its audience. Haruhi Suzumiya also got flanderized to behave even more like a villain and act beyond malicious and unlikable compared to the actual villains.
• Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? (season 2 and season 1 reruns; 2003) - The show's reruns and final season hit it hard, causing it to fall into obscurity and CN to stop mentioning its existence after 2008; the producers thought Robot Jones' Apple voice was off-putting and wanted show creator Greg Miller to hire a human voice actor named Bobby Block and use studio effects to make his voice sound robotic; this was ultimately the major turn off for most people. Reruns of the show from 2003 to 2008 even re-dubbed Jones' dialogue. The original season 1 audio has never officially reappeared in any form, not even on Tooncast, Dailymotion before CN ended up copyright striking the episodes (though the first season with the original audio did resurface at one point on Google Drive) or HBO Max in Latin America, as they instead used the Bobby Block dubs; this has resulted in VCR recordings of them becoming highly coveted among animation fans.
• Superjail! (seasons 2-4; 2011-2014) - Season 2 is usually vocally met with scorn and invocations of this, if not just disappointment. Criticisms ranged from the over-the-top animation, the characters suddenly having backstories revealed, some changes with the characters' personalities and the story formulas changing. Most notably, the episodes no longer all had wild bloodbath sequences, and some had a pun or a spoof aesop tacked onto the ending. The Warden becoming too childish in the final two seasons is also a subject of criticism.
• That '70s Show (seasons 7 & 8, 2005-2007) - The show saw the departure of Eric (the main character) and Kelso and brought in a new character, Randy, trying to make him a combination of Eric and Kelso. Randy was universally loathed, although luckily the executives caught onto this and he was barely in the series finale (plus Eric and Kelso both showed up for one last time), allowing the show to end on a pretty good note. Randy is also hated because everyone (in-universe) absolutely adored him, even Red.
• Full House (seasons 5-8; 1991-1995) - Season 5 introduced a significant premise upheaval when Jesse and Becky got married (which already happened towards the end of season 4, but still). They ended up moving into the renovated attic of the house—all because Michelle didn't like the idea of them moving to Becky's place, which is in the same neighborhood. This ties into the lack of the original concept of the show: a widower inviting his brother-in-law and best friend into his house to help raise his daughters after his wife's death. For the remainder of the series, none of the girls need a full-time caretaker anymore, making Jesse and Joey's presence in the house largely inexplicable. Around the 1/3rd mark of season 5, the show saw the birth of Nicky and Alexander and Becky's twins. The remainder of the season, and a chunk of six, has quite a few rehashed plots from season 1 when Michelle was a newborn baby. In addition, the show's complete lack of interest in continuity became clear with a two-part season finale in which Jesse struggles to get a recording contract and doubts his skills as a musician... despite the fourth season finale being about him getting a contract in the first place. The last two seasons see the show really grasping for new ideas: both of the romance arcs end, Jesse becomes a nightclub owner, a (actually well-received) special episode about a death in the family leads straight to an episode about Jesse's evil lookalike cousin from Greece, there's a new wacky neighbor in the form of Mrs. Carruthers and the penultimate episode's big plot twist involves Little Richard turning out to be the uncle of one of Michelle's friends.
• Charmed (seasons 5-8; 2002-2006) - These seasons are despised by a lot of fans, especially the fifth one. After strong arc-based storylines in seasons 3 and 4, the episodes in season 5 were mostly standalone (aside from Piper's pregnancy). Some fans also found the tonal shift to be too jarring, as these season introduced a lot more overt fantasy elements. This was also around the time The WB really started pushing for fanservice, resulting in lots of episodes marketed around the fact that they would require a monster girl for one of the actresses (usually Alyssa Milano). Fans were annoyed at Phoebe becoming a bigger jerk and the show's treatment of her storyline with Cole. Guest stars playing villains also became much hammier and impossible to take seriously.
• F•R•I•E•N•D•S (seasons 9 & 10; 2002-2004) - Most agree that its last two seasons are where the show really lost its luster. Common complaints are that flanderization was stretched beyond believability (to the point where the characters had become caricatures of their former selves), the plots were less creative and more outrageous and the actors were visibly bored with doing the show. While Rachel and Ross having a kid together in season 8 could have been a great way to finally end the "Will they or won't they?" saga between them since the very first episode, the show didn't stop it, leading for the whole thing to continue until the last five minutes of the well-recieved series finale.
• Castle (seasons 6-8; 2013-2016) - Seasons 6 and 7 introduced increasingly absurd plots, failures to tie up arcs and generally inconsistent characterization. Season 8 was also widely derided by many fans for a plot that undid the character and plot developments of the previous seasons just to rehash well-trodden ground about Beckett pushing Castle away to investigate the sinister conspiracy behind her mother's murder all by herself.
• Happy Days (seasons 5, 8-11; 1977-1978, 1980-1984) - HD is considered the trope namer for "jumping the shark", thanks to the infamous fifth season premiere where Fonzie performs a death-defying stunt in shark-infested waters. Although this episode is seen as the moment when the show's quality began to slip as it led a slew of other episodes with ridiculous or narmy plots (although one about an alien appearing is forgivable for giving Robin Williams his big break, bringing the house down with it), the show is thought to have gone completely downhill in seasons 8-11 after Ron Howard left, with the focus shifting firmly to Fonzie's antics, if not Joanie and Chachi's relationship; the show is said to have gotten worse as it dragged on with the introduction of Chachi, Ted McGinley and a slew of other unlikable characters. As such, some believe that, of the show's 11 seasons, only about four and a half are actually worth watching.
• Dallas (seasons 11-14; 1987-1991) - The final four seasons are generally agreed by fans to be the point where the show's plotlines went from campy and fun to absurd and overwrought. This was buoyed by the departure of Victoria Principal, who is last seen heavily bandaged and sent off with a hastily-concocted excuse that she doesn't want her son to see her condition and that she would rather hide. Budget cuts due to declining ratings led to the firing of key cast members every season, which got so drastic that Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Ken Kercheval were the only actors from the show's original cast that remained all the way to the end. On top of that, audiences didn't fall in love with the new characters, including new wives for J.R. and Bobby and an illegitimate offspring of J.R. Increasingly-ridiculous, unoriginal and overused plotlines became the norm, coupled with awkward sequences where J.R. aggressively pursues women. This ultimately led to a series finale that ended on a cliffhanger that wasn't resolved until a reunion special five years later.
• Desperate Housewives (seasons 6-8; 2008-2012) - The Season 5 time jump aborts numerous storylines such as Bree and Orson being new parents, while the relationship between Mike and Susan once again got haphazardly changed in order to drag out the "Will They or Won't They?" drama.
• Diff'rent Strokes (seasons 7-8; 1984-1986) - Took a nosedive at the tail when Phillip Drummond married Maggie McKinney. Maggie (Dixie Carter and later Mary Ann Mobley) and her son Sam (Danny Cooksey, the new cute kid) became regulars. The last two seasons focused largely on Arnold Jackson playing big brother to Sam, leaving eldest brother Willis with little to do. Furthermore, Kimberly was no longer a regular (though she would make occasional appearances) due to the firing of Dana Plato.
• Everybody Loves Raymond (seasons 6-9; 2001-2004) - While the show is already divisive to begin with and critics are usually split as to whether it's a good show or not, most people would agree that the series had definitely run its course by the final four seasons. The writers were clearly grasping at straws by this point, as seen in the heavy flanderization of Ray and Debra and the more frequent use of wacky sitcom plots. It didn't help that Peter Boyle, who played Frank, was in seriously failing health by the show's end and lost much of the comedic timing that made the character so funny.
• Food Wars! (2018-2019) - The Promotion Exams Arc (2018-2019) is considered this for a number of reasons. Among them is the tone of the arc being too serious for an anime/manga relying on over-the-top cooking competitions, but without any actual depth to it. Having almost every character aside from Erina, Soma and their fathers fall out of focus was also not a welcome decision in the eyes of many fans. Furthermore, arc fatigue sets in as the pace slows down to a gruesome crawl that leads to the arc taking too long to finish (slightly bettered by having small mini-arcs within it, but still), leading to a rushed resolution that many found anti-climatic. The arc was immediately followed by the even more poorly received Les Cuisiner Noir Arc, which introduced a group of divisive villains with implausible cooking gimmicks (that the author tries to pass off as superpowers) and egregiously destroying the previously established status quo regarding abilities of the characters. This came at the expense of ignoring the already-established ensemble that contained more likeable characters. It also derailed Soma and Erina's character development in order to set up a love triangle in a convoluted romantic plot tumor between them and the villain; a number of random and nonsensical twits were also forced into the show in order to set up the villains and move the plot forward. In the climax, the author prioritized Erina's family issues over resolving Soma's progress and goals—which was the original premise of the manga/anime. Despite the unnecessary love triangle plot, there is also no resolution.
• Gossip Girl (seasons 4-6; 2010-2012) - Seasons 4-6 are considered to be suffering from this trope, with far too much focus on guest stars and the show becoming more plot-driven at the expense of characterization being the initial reasons, followed by sidelining Chuck and Serena in uninspired subplots in order to isolate Dan and Blair so they could become friends. The Dair storyline is subject to debate in this regard, since some fans felt the show got much better, but there are just as many fans who hate the pairing with a passion and feel the show was ruined. These changes resulted in the last three seasons of the show having abysmal ratings, with the sixth season not even pulling in a million viewers.
• Highlander (season 6; 1997-1998) - The main character and supporting cast disappear most of the time and different Immortal women are "auditioned" for a possible spin-off series, which ultimately became moot, as none of the actresses got the part; the role was instead given to recurring cast member Elizabeth Gracen. Of the season's 13 episodes, only "Indiscretions" and the two-part series finale are considered good.
• M.A.S.K. (season 2; 1986) - The second season switched formats from "heroic M.A.S.K. agents vs. evil VENOM terrorists" to "M.A.S.K. and VENOM as rival racing teams". Many fans were turned off by the sheer lack of logic due to the change.
• Jimmy Two-Shoes (season 2; 2010-2011) - Many JTS fans believe the second season suffers from a downgrade in animation quality (as the change from Toon Boom to Adobe Flash meant a change of animation studios) and writing quality, with many feeling that the show lost its original black comedy charm and poorly handled its characters (especially Ensemble Darkhorses like Heloise and Saffi). Disney XD's treatment of the series in America didn't help matters, resulting in it being cancelled after its second season.
• Three's Company (seasons 5-8; 1980-1984) - Season 5 is when Suzanne Somers' infamous salary dispute took place, which put the show through hell that year. The show effectively became "Two's Company" for a while when Suzanne refused to show up on several tape days because she "wasn't getting paid enough" and had to be hurriedly written out. Chrissy was eventually replaced in the apartment for the rest of the season with her cousin Cindy (a character that many fans seem to dislike) and was only seen herself over the phone in the one-minute tag scene at the end of each episode, before disappearing completely without explanation the next season.
• Kaeloo (season 3-present; 2016-present) - A lot of fans think that only the first two seasons were good and the rest weren't as good as the other ones, due to the sadistic humor being turned down, Mr. Cat being nicer and the lack of cynicism. The show's controversial fifth season was seen as weaker than the ones before it by many fans, mostly because of the secondary characters getting too much attention compared to the main characters. This was further exacerbated by the fact that Pretty, the most hated character in the fandom, was given more roles than any other secondary character.
• Scooby-Doo (The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Hour; 1980-1981) - Fred, Daphne and Velma were inexplicably gone, the series was switched to a "three shorts" format and the mystery-solving plots and "Scooby-Doo" hoax were jettisoned in favor of slapstick chase scenes featuring Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy running away from real monsters for five straight minutes (the real monsters, incidentally, don't seem to have been part of the problem, as later installments featuring real ghouls were much better-liked).
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (seasons 4-5; 1999-2001) - Buffy's relationship with Riley was not well-recieved and the introduction of a demon-hunting military unit was too much of a departure from the show's norm. Season 4 also took far too long to get to the point, waiting until over halfway through before introducing Adam and then hardly doing anything with him, leaving it feeling rather directionless at times. These seasons are still considered good.
• Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM, season 2; 1994) - Season 2 is commended for its more developed and continuity-based plot, but has multiple story criticisms, often concerning both Sonic and Robotnik's increased incompetence, an overabundance of cheesy comic relief, the inexplicable introduction of Dulcy the Dragon and the show ending on a cliffhanger. Also, season 2 was written near entirely by Ben Hurst, making for a more consistent dynamic, albeit to the point of being streamlined greatly, with Hurst's preferred characters and interpretations taking over (eg. Sally and Antoine were prominent in every episode and were simplified to their positive and negative traits respectively, while fan favorites such as Rotor and Bunnie were demoted to extras).
• RECESS (season 6; 2001) - The last season is often criticized for being too anvilicious and preachy with its morals.
• Downtown Abbey (seasons 3-5; 2012-2015) - Season 3 suffers from the loss of three main cast members, two of which had to be killed off. By Season 4, character development had become forgotten. Dan Stevens lampshaded this on The Graham Norton Show, joking that he only ever gets people saying "I loved the first season." Fellow guest Hayden Panettiere sympathised, saying she got the same with Heroes.
• The Electric Company (2009, season 3; 2010-2011) - The third and final season of the reboot had to cope with Lisa being put on a bus (the explanation being that she was away at science camp), which left Jessica as ostensibly, the only remaining girl on the Electric Company team. Plus, they added Marcus and Gilda on the Pranksters' side. Meanwhile, too much time was spent on Marcus "learning the ropes". It was also in the third season that new animated characters served as "hosts" for the show, commenting on the plot and segueing to the segment breaks as well as their own shorts, while streaming prints removed all promotions for the show's website on pbskids.org from the Prankster Planet segments. This season is still good, with some even considering it the best season because it introduced the Prankster Planet segments.
• Saturday Night Live (seasons 6, 11, 20, 28, 30, 33, 35, 38, 42-46; 1980-1981, 1985-1986, 1994-1995, 2012-2013, 2016-2020) - While mild, it depends on when the person outgrows the show due to often divisive changes.
• Fifi and the Flowertots (season 3; 2010) - Introduced Daisy and Buttercup, with several episodes revolving around them causing trouble around Flower Garden.
• The Big Bang Theory (seasons 4-12; 2010-2019) - Plenty of fans think the show went downhill from season 4 to the finale due to a decreased focus on the original plot, worse humor, less focus on the "nerdy" elements and more on relationships and lack of aspects from the characters that many people loved.
• LazyTown (seasons 3-4; 2013-2014) - Interactive dance sequences were added to the musical numbers, Stephanie got flanderized and her flaws were removed, making her a Mary Sue, Robbie and the kids were somewhat dumbed down. Overall, people felt that while they had their moments, they didn't have the same charm as they did in seasons 1-2. However, everyone agrees that without these seasons, we wouldn't have had "We Are Number One" or "The First Day of Summer".
• The Simpsons (seasons 9 & 10, 1997-1999): While these seasons are still considered good by fans, they are the weakest of the "Golden Age" seasons, as they're considered to be the start of the series' downfall and there are more bad episodes than in previous seasons, such as "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace", "Homer Simpson in: 'Kidney Trouble'" and the infamous "Principal and the Pauper", which is widely considered to be the show's "jump the shark" moment. The episodes themselves are also considered a mixed bag and the flanderization of the characters (most notably Homer) is starting to kick in.
• SpongeBob SquarePants (seasons 4 & 5, 13-present, 2005-2009, 2020-present): Season 4, while good and considered the best season of the post-movie era, is considered the start of the show's decline and can be considered unnecessary by some fans. It was great during its first half (despite the major stinker, "Good Neighbors"), but midway through the season with "All That Glitters", the decline started to kick in and the episodes started to become a mixed bag, and then came season 5. While decent, has more bad episodes (especially for the second half) compared to season 4 (or even the first three seasons) and the characters' flanderizations slowly started to kick in, with Sandy (and SpongeBob in "To Love a Patty"), unfortunately being the earliest offender. And finally seasons 13 and 14, while not as bad as the "Dark Age" seasons, are still considered the weakest of the good seasons as the creator Stephen Hillenberg died, Squidward becomes a punching bag, and the show's spin-offs are shamelessly advertised. There are also more mediocre and bad episodes and fewer good episodes than in previous seasons (except seasons 6-8). These two seasons are notorious for their sloppy references to the "Golden Era" in an attempt to gain viewers.
• The Andy Griffith Show (seasons 6-8, 1965-1968): While minor, the show was supposed to end after five seasons, only for CBS to decide to continue with another three. Don Knotts (Barney) had already left the series by this point, leaving a noticeable void. Andy Griffith tried to fill the empty spot with newer characters, such as Deputy Warren Ferguson (Jack Burns) and Howard Sprague (Jack Dodson), which didn't work and led to falling ratings. On top of that, the color seasons featured worse acting than in the black and white ones.
• The Loud House (seasons 1 and 3, 2016, 2018-2019): Even before the show "Jumped the shark", the first season shares some of the problems that were present in the seasonal rot era, plus the series is overly cartoonish than being slice-of-life in the first season than seasons 4 onwards. Season 3, while also a good season overall, has a handful of problems that were or weren't present in the first two seasons, plus the series is becoming more overly cartoonish than being slice-of-life, which is the show trying to "jump the shark".
• Cyberchase (seasons 9-present, 2013-present): While there are some people who still like these seasons and find them to be average and not as bad as other shows that went into Seasonal Rot, many fans can agree that they are still not as good as seasons 1-5 or to a lesser extent, seasons 6-8. Switches focus from mathematics to environmental science. The animation became worse as it went on, the characters (both new and old) became pretty bland and uninteresting, and completely forgot about the cure for Motherboard's virus. The sixth season also switched to Flash animation.
• KaBlam! (seasons 3-4, 1998-2000) - Sniz & Fondue ceased production due to its production company going bankrupt and was replaced with more one-off shorts, though the remaining shorts were still good.
• Doraemon (1996-present) - The show went downhill after the death of Fukijo F. Fujio. Many episodes rehash older plots, with only a few changes. The show was also given an Americanized dub that aired on Disney XD from 2014 to 2015.
• Family Guy (seasons 6-7, 2007-2009) - While there were stinkers, they are generally considered the last two good seasons, especially Season 6. There are some bad episodes such as "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven", which was considered a "jump-the-shark" moment. Despite being from Season 7, some fans see that this made the decline even more notable than before.
• SuperMarioLogan (seasons 0, 5-8, 2007-2008, 2013-2016) - While these seasons are still positively received, they are considered to be the weakest of the good seasons. Season 0 (often called the "The Beta Age") was mostly unfunny and boring compared to future eras of the series. Though this is somewhat excusable as it was mostly kids goofing around. Seasons 5-7 (sometimes referred to as "The Junior Era" by fans) were infamous for Bowser Junior becoming the most overused character by season 6, some weak episodes and many old characters wouldn't get the spotlight. However, in more recent years, this era is regarded much more positively in hindsight, especially compared to "The Jeffy Era (seasons 8-present), and is now widely agreed to be part of SML's golden era, with seasons 6 and 7 in particular often being considered two of the best SML seasons. And then season 8 (sometimes referred to as the start of "The Jeffy Era" by fans) rolled around, while also still good, is arguably considered to be the weakest of all the good seasons as not only this is the season Jeffy was introduced, but this also kickstarted problems that will become a norm since season 9 such as having even more flanderization and has few more bad episodes than the previous seasons such as "Mario the Babysitter", "Cody's Birthday", "Jeffy's Bad Word", "Jeffy's Favorite Song" and "Locked Out", but the show was still decent until season 9 rolled around.
• Yo-Kai Watch (seasons 2 & 3, 2015-2018) - These seasons are responsible for the decline in viewership of the show, with an increase in toilet humor and the derailment of several popular Yo-Kai from the games and/or flanderization of several characters. In season 3, the entire English voice cast was replaced due to budget issues.
• Ben 10: Alien Force (season 3, 2009-2010) - There were a few very noticeable moments in this season where Ben acted out of character, along with a few dull plots. Despite its flaws, this season is still good.
• The Wild Thornberrys (seasons 4 & 5, 2001-2005) - These seasons focus less on animals and locales than the first three, especially with "Eliza Unplugged", the final episode of the series, revolving around Eliza's crush.
• All Grown Up! (seasons 2-5, 2004-2008) - Some fans say that it declined due to more drama and less comedy, an art shift, flanderization, and more unrealistic plots.
• Monster Rancher (season 3, 2001) - This season is significantly lighter-hearted than the rest of the series, with the reduction of toilet humor that was mostly provided by Hare in season 1 (though it was removed in the English dub) coming at the expense of wackier villains, no real stakes until the end, a fair amount of filler and a rushed (if still epic) climax. It doesn't help that some popular characters are reduced to one-episode appearances and Holly becomes mostly useless. It still has a lot of fans, though, with many saying that the season contains some of the best episodes in the whole anime.
• The Flintstones (season 6, 1965-1966) - The addition of the Great Gazoo is often cited as the series Jumping the Shark, but this season isn't completely awful and has some good episodes, despite being a downgrade.
• Sailor Moon (SuperS and Sailor Stars) - While great, these seasons are usually regarded as some of the weakest of the series, even though they have some of the best animations. In addition to leaving out the highly popular Outer Guardians introduced in the previous seasons, SuperS consists of mostly comedic filler episodes and deviates from the manga's corresponding, dramatic "Dream" arc. It also doesn't help that they spend much more time on Chibiusa and Helios the Pegasus than on the main heroine. The final season also leaves out vast chunks of the manga compared to previous seasons, Sailor Cosmos. Many Sailor Animamates do not appear at all in the Stars anime, though the reason could be that they wanted to develop their character instead of having more Animamates. The fact that the Outer Guardians returned, only to be demoted to extras, didn't help. Some fans regard Sailor Stars as the best season in Sailor Moon as it has less filler, more likable characters, and a darker, more interesting plot.
• ¡Mucha Lucha! (season 3, 2004-2005) - The show itself is still very fun to watch and the animation has gotten better. While the new music isn't bad, and neither is Jason Marsden as Rikochet, it's almost less of the same without Carlos Alazraqui or Michael Tavera.
• Bear in the Big Blue House (season 4, 2002-2006) - Although the show was still great, it focused more on Woodland Valley than the Big Blue House in its final season.
• The Jetsons (seasons 2 & 3, 1985, 1987) - Season 2 introduced Orbitty, with many fans considering him a major source of gripes, while season 3 saw an extreme tone down of the violence and upping of the "kid-friendliness".
• The Mr. Men Show (season 2, 2009) - Underwent only four changes and fewer problems that are not too major. The show lost Mrs. Calamity due to Chorion's dislike for the character, Mr. Happy's UK voice was suddenly changed from Simon Greenall to Robert Rackstraw, new characters (except for Little Miss Giggles and Little Miss Magic) got little to no screen time, there was more focus on Mr. Bump, Fussy and Quiet (which resulted in them becoming punching bags), Mr. Rude's fart sounds changed from cartoon horns to real flatulence gas sound effects and Mr. Pernickety's name was changed back to his original name from the books as Mr. Fussy. Speaking of Fussy, this season flanderized him into a total control freak.
• 3-2-1 Contact (seasons 6 & 7, 1987-1988) - Many segments from the first two seasons were recycled, the show relied on individual hosts rather than a team and the Bloodhound Gang was absent for the most part. Despite the show's popularity at the time, Sesame Workshop (then known as the Children's Television Workshop) canceled it and permanently vaulted the show, never to see an official re-release.
• The X-Files (seasons 7-9, 1999-2002) - Some fans loathe seasons 7-9, due to questionable twists in the Mythology (especially the Samantha reveal in Closure), a perceived excess of humorous episodes and the assorted twists in "Requiem". In fairness to Chris Carter and Co., Fox was planning to cancel the series and only renewed it at the last minute, causing the show to prematurely wrap up loose ends. Still, even X-Philes who dislike seasons 8-9 sometimes rate them above the 7th. Many agree that by the ninth and final season of the original series, major problems had set in. Although the replacement of Mulder with John Doggett in season 8 at least had a mixed reception, the same can't be said about season 9, where Scully was phased out in favor of Monica Reyes and the conspiracy arc was dragged out for far too long, leading to a series finale that offered very little resolution. The finale was intended to be a set-up for a series of feature films that would start resolving the Myth Arc, but that ultimately didn't come to pass. However, a lot of fans still view these seasons as great (especially season 7, which some even consider the last good season).
• Teen Titans (season 5, 2005-2006) - Despite most of the season being good, the infamous "Things Change" resolves absolutely nothing and ends the show on a cliffhanger.
• Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (seasons 4 & 5, 1967-1969) - Episodes started focusing less on the marine base, with some plots becoming a little more nonsensical than in the first three seasons. These seasons still received positive reception.
• Xavier Renegade Angel (season 2, 2009) - Just like Jimmy Two-Shoes, the second season suffers from some very questionable scenes, the main character gets flanderized as he gets more annoying, and has questionable special guests like Bill Hader and Snoop Dogg.)
• The Animals of Farthing Wood (series 3, 1995) - The third series suffered from a downgrade in animation, a greater emphasis on slapstick comedy, and a less solid plot.
• Dexter's Laboratory (seasons 3 & 4, 2001-2003) - These were completely unnecessary revivals due to the film "Ego Trip" being an already great finale for the series. Additionally, it has a continuity error where it reveals that the rival between Dexter and Mandark started all because Dexter made fun of his name, and Mandark's name (which was Ivan Astronomovich in the previous seasons) was changed to Susan, along with him being risen by a bunch of hippies and his sister Olga is missing. However, despite all of these problems, these seasons are still regarded as good.
• The Fairly OddParents (seasons 5-8, 2005-2011) - "It's a Wishful Life" started the decline as well as Kevin Sullivan (a writer), join the crew. However, the show was still good till season 9.
• Johnny Test (seasons 2 & 3, 2006-2008) - Following the end of its first season, the show slowly declined in quality during the remainder of its run. It first dipped in quality in its second season upon the switch from traditional hand-drawn animation by Digital eMation to Adobe Flash by Collideascope Digital Productions since the studio transitioned from Warner Bros Animation to Cookie Jar Entertainment which, while not terrible, is pretty mediocre at best, and isn't as good as the first season's hand-drawn animation. Then came the third season, where the pacing started to become noticeably a lot faster. While the show was already somewhat fast-paced in its first two seasons, however, it is taken up to eleven during the rest of its run. Despite this, the second and third seasons are still positively received due to having many good episodes, with their qualities even considered to be on the same levels as the first season. Sadly, the show would eventually take a turn for the worse starting in its fourth season upon channel hopping over to Cartoon Network in late 2009.
• Winx Club (season 4, 2009) - Season 4 of Winx Club often receives mixed reactions. While the Wizards of the Black Circle are popular villains and Roxy, once a polarizing character, has gained some appreciation over time, the magic-on-Earth subplot falls flat and the finale feels rushed and anticlimactic. Even fans who enjoy the season admit it doesn't measure up to the first three seasons, though it's generally seen as superior to the seasons that followed.
• iCarly (seasons 4-6, 2010-2012): Like many popular Nickelodeon shows at the time, the show wasn’t safe from losing quality in its final 3 seasons. But at least it didn’t get as bad as SpongeBob (during its dark age) and The Fairly OddParents did.
  • Season 4, while still good, is weaker than the first 3 seasons, since it has fewer episodes, making the plots feel a little rushed (especially iSell Penny-Tees), romance started to pop up in small amounts, and at the end of the season started the "Seddie arc" in "iOMG".
  • Season 5, while not terrible, is considered the weakest season, as it focused more on romantic relationships than its original purpose: comedy, thus the humor was drastically watered down, and it also had a few bad episodes in the form of the "Seddie" arc (iLost My Mind, iDate Sam & Freddie, iCan't Take It, and iLove You), which started the season on a sour note. Thankfully, Season 6 improved the issues and got the show back to its comedy goodness again.
  • While season 6 is better than seasons 4 and 5, it’s still weaker than the first 3 seasons since while the comedy has improved, romance still popped up now and then, & Sam's flanderization started to slowly kick in, which will only get worse in Sam & Cat.
• The Saddle Club (season 3, 2008-2009): While not a bad season overall, did have its share of problems that weren't present in the first two seasons. All of the original cast members from the first two seasons were not invited back to this season due to them getting too old so they ended up recasting all of the cast members. It also jumped the shark by removing some of the characters from the first two seasons without any explanation. It's started to get childish plots which can get boring for older viewers. Overall this season was completely unnecessary and many fans either ignored or forgot this season's existence.
• The Next Step (seasons 7-present, 2019-present): While the show was still good in these seasons, they are considered the weakest in the series. These seasons were critiqued for some of the new characters, while they were brought in to freshen up the storyline, many fans felt they lacked the depth and development necessary to make them relatable and engaging. Some plot twists and story arcs were viewed as overly dramatic or unrealistic, which detracted from the show's relatability and grounded nature. These twists sometimes felt forced and did not align with the established tone of earlier seasons.
• Kickin' It (seasons 3 & 4, 2013-2015): Fans criticized Season 3 for the character's lack of personality as well as Eddie's abrupt departure (for which there was no apparent replacement) and no explanation as to where he went. Even worse due to Kim's departure and characters like Rudy and Phil becoming immature (one episode featured Rudy donning an inflatable muscle suit to fool a man into thinking he was stronger) along with many weak episodes, season 4's reception was even worse than season 3. Either way, these seasons are still good on their own.
• Raven's Home (seasons 5 & 6): Seasons 5 and 6 of the series felt more like a reboot of That's So Raven than a continuation. Moving Raven and Booker to San Francisco for nostalgia’s sake, while replacing core characters like Nia, Levi, Chelsea and Tess with Alice, Ivy, Neil, and Victor (who made a guest appearence in season 2) created a disconnect. The absence of key figures like Eddie, Tanya (who made a guest appearance in season 5), and Cory left it feeling incomplete, and the lack of Raven’s and Booker's signature visions diminished the show's uniqueness. Many fans felt that season 4’s conclusion would have been a fitting end, as the last two seasons felt unnecessary and lacked the charm of earlier seasons.
• H2o: Just Add Water (season 3, 2009-2010): Season 3 is considered this to many fans as Emma, and later on Lewis, (until he returns in the end), are replaced with newer characters such as Bella and Will. While Bella is a mixed bag, Will does some questionable things throughout the season that in retrospect, felt uncomforting to watch. Furthermore, other changes such as the different necklaces, the water tentacle being a new threat instead of the Full Moon (with the latter not having any plot/conflict all season long), and possibly the JuiceNet Cafe now being called Rikki's Cafe make the entire season feel disconnected from the first two. Lastly, aside from Emma being mentioned, most of the past events of the first two seasons are barely discussed as well.
• Danny Phantom (season 3, 2006-2007) - Hartman went over budget in this season which explains the smaller amount of episodes and the finale was arbitrary, however, this season still has its fans.
• Regular Show (seasons 5 & 6, 2013-2015) - While not bad seasons, it's considered the weakest season due to Mordecai's love triangle story and slight flanderization of characters. Luckily the show started to recover from season 7.
• The Ren & Stimpy Show (seasons 3-5, 1993-1995) - Due to John not getting involved in those seasons due to being fired. These seasons suffered less clever writing and restricted animation. However, these seasons are still considered to be way better than the infamous adult spin-off.
• Doug (seasons 5-7, 1996-1999) - When Disney took over the show in 1996, the series saw lots of unnecessary changes, such as half of the characters missing, voice actor "Billy West" (who voiced the titular character "Doug" and Roger) being replaced by someone else and more. However, some people might still like this era, despite the lack of charm the Nick era had.
• Arthur (seasons 5, 11-14, 16-19, 2000, 2007-2011, 2012-2016) - While the show was still good in these seasons and its seasonal rot is only mild, these seasons are considered the weakest in the series. Most specifically season 16, as the show switched to Flash which, while still a decent effort, is a mediocre downgrade from the first 11 seasons as the movements look more robotic and at times can be uncanny, Arthur himself got a bit flanderized to a bit of a bland character, as well as season 16, having one of the worst episodes in the series, "So Funny, I Forgot to Laugh". Seasons 12-15 also got mediocre animation when they switched to Animation Sevices HK Limited. Season 5 and 11-14 also can have boring and dull episodes, one example being "Nerves Of Steel". Luckily, the series did improve on these issues in seasons 20-25 as well as the flash animation improving a little bit in seasons 17-19 and fully improved in seasons 20-25 due to switching to Toon Boom Harmony.
• Blue's Clues (seasons 5 & 6, Blue's Room, 2002-2006) - While the seasonal rot for Blue's Clues is only mild, these seasons are considered the weakest, as it prolongs its run after Steve Burns left when he was going bald and decided to pursue a musical career after his departure. In Season 6, the last few minutes are devoted to Blue's Room where Blue can talk down the audience, "Play Blue's Clues" was shortened considerably and the "So Long Song" was dropped for the rest of the original series. However, Blue's Clues & You! is great and a huge improvement over these seasons and Blue's Room, as it stays faithful to the original Blue's Clues, the characters become more tolerable, and the original format returns.
• Barney & Friends (seasons 3-8; 1995-2004) - The show became a bit too lighthearted and preachy for its good, going so far as to sugarcoat certain issues as if they weren't serious; Barney also became even more kind and excited than usual and his voice became more dopey-sounding. However, fans and younger viewers still consider these seasons good.
• Sesame Street - Though the seasonal rot is only mild especially for seasons 25-37, and 40 onwards, Sesame Street has been going on for 55 years, and it depends on when the person outgrows the show due to often divisive changes. In the fifth season, similar to Elmo since Season 30 and Abby Cadabby since Season 38, Big Bird got too much screen time. After Season 14, Will Lee (the actor of Mr. Hooper) died on December 7, 1982, at the age of 74, from a heart attack at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. From Season 25 to Season 29, there was the "Around the Corner" setting that was seen than the titular street in that time. Season 30 introduced Elmo's World, a segment that was mainly made to cash in on Elmo's popularity and when the show was beginning to face competition with other preschool shows like Barney & Friends and Blue’s Clues. In 2002, the show dropped its original format, though it would return for two episodes in Season 38, along with the Elmo's World episode The Street We Live On. From seasons 40 to 45, the show was modeled after preschool blocks like Nick Jr. and Qubo and was hosted by Murray Monster. Almost all of the pre-1998 sketches, as well as the pre-HD ones beginning in season 44, were dropped as well in season 40. In season 46, the show moved to HBO, was shortened to a half-hour, dropped many of its longtime veterans (though most of them returned in the 50th anniversary special and Gordon would eventually be brought back to the show in Season 54), brought Elmo's World back in 2017 and replaced Caroll Spinney with Matt Vogel starting in season 48 due to his failing health (followed by his retirement in 2018 and death the following year); the show's budget was also slashed, forcing more and more animated portions to be produced by Sesame Workshop domestically and with simpler art styles via 2D computer animation (especially Flash) and Toon Boom Harmony; this would also apply to newer episodes of the international adaptations of the show. Finally, it was announced that Season 56 will drop the magazine format completely in favor of two street stories and an animated segment called “Tales from 123,” though the show later went on hiatus in December 2024 until further notice once Warner Bros. Discovery cancelled their HBO Max streaming deal with Sesame Workshop. The older seasons may also have similar problems like the segments may be too violent at times to the show's target audience, and some of the older sketches are also banned due to controversy.
• Sesamstraat (seasons 27-41; 2003-2019) - Introduced Purk in 2003. The show's budget was also cut and it suffered from some schedule trouble, with the government halting the funding and broadcasts of NPS. The final debate took place on September 12, 2005, in the Tweede Kamer. It was decided that NPS could continue making programs, but it had to make several changes to fit into modern television, including a new broadcast schedule. For season 29 (2005-2006), Sesamstraat moved into new scenery. Every single character was flanderized and the lower budget resulted in the set becoming completely abstract, with toy block-like buildings, broccoli for trees and a tower with a giant light-up clock. It was the first time the American characters visited the Dutch street. October 2009 brought a new segment for the show, with several famous Dutch singers performing duets with the Sesamstraat characters Pino, Tommie, Ieniemienie and Purk. The show was quietly cancelled in 2019 due to these budget problems and nothing has been said of it since, even though it was supposed to resume airing new episodes after a two-year hiatus. Even the cast and crew were disappointed in NPS suddenly haulting production of the show.
• Sesame Street (Japanese dub) (Season 33-present, Sesame Street in Japan; 2002-present) - Aside from introducing Teena as well as many problems that were previously introduced in later seasons of its American counterpart, many fans began complaining that SSIJ was mostly in Japanese; not only was there very little English, but some of the language used was also gramatically incorrect. By contrast, NHK had aired American episodes mainly in English (and often without the Elmo's World segments). Even the close captions on the upload of the intro (posted on the Sesame Street YouTube channel way back in 2010) don't translate any of the characters' dialogue into English, instead referring to the dialogue as "SPEAKING JAPANESE". This adaptation is completely forgotten today, and even while it was still running it was considered obscure outside of its country, just like most foreign adaptations of the show.
• Sesamstrasse (Bicycle Shop and Marketplace eras; 1989-2012)
• Pinky Dinky Doo (season 2; 2008-2011) - This season features mostly stiff CGI animation, gives Mr. Guinea Pig an obnoxious Alvin and the Chimpunks-esque voice, makes Dafnee's parents stereotypical Mexicans, sees an increase in gross-out humor and makes the plots even weirder and more nonsensical than they originally were.
• Super Why! (seasons 3, 2015-2016) - Fans generally consider this season the most problematic. Problems that they cite include the downgraded animation in season 3 (as most of the shading was lost and the animation became stiffer despite being produced in 2015), constant recycling of clips from the first two seasons and the fact that most of the stories the Super Readers entered were original (since season 2) instead of being loosely based on fairy tales, which defeats the whole point of the show.
• ChalkZone (season 4; 2008) - TBA.
• Bewitched (seasons 6-8; 1968-72)
• The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show (season 2; 1985–86) - The season is still even good and the new theme song "Let's Have a Party with Charlie Brown and Snoopy" is decent and catchy.
• Franklin (seasons 4-6; 2001-04) - TBA.
• Peep and the Big Wide World (seasons 3-5; 2007-2010) - TBA.
• Unikitty! (season 3; 2019-20) - TBA.
• Max & Ruby (seasons 6-7; 2016-19) - TBA.
• El Chavo Aminado (season 2, 2007-08, The writing has gotten weaker, especially in the the original episodes that are not remakes from the original El Chavo Del Ocho, this season is not bad and is still decent until all hell broke loose in the third season)
• The Mr. Men Show (2008 series; season 2; 2009; Underwent only four changes and fewer problems that are not too major. The show lost Little Miss Calamity due to Chorion's dislike for the character, Mr. Happy's suddenly changed his UK voice from Simon Greenall to Robert Rackstraw, and the newer characters (except for Little Miss Giggles and Little Miss Magic) for the second season got little to not much screen-time, focused more on with Mr. Bump, Fussy and Quiet that resulted in them becoming punching bags, Mr. Rude's fart sounds changed from cartoon horns into real flatulence gas sound effects and Mr. Pernickety's name was changed back to his original name from the books as Mr. Fussy, and Mr. Fussy is flanderized from a perfectionistic but sympathetic character to a total control freak).
• The Animals of Farthing Wood (series 3; 1995 — the third series suffered from a downgrade in animation, a greater emphasis on slapstick comedy over drama, and a less solid plot.)
• The Venture Bros. (season 5; 2013 — While still good, this season was considered disappointing by some fans. It was a short season so the show wasn't given a chance to flesh out some of the plot points. The show is praised for massive changes and character development, while this season undid some of that and made certain things go back where they started.)
• Dragon Tales (season 3; 2005) — introduced Enrique.
• Adventure Time (seasons 5b-6 and Seasons 9-10; 2013-15, 2017-18) — Many fans believe these seasons have occasional misfires, several filler episodes, and rushed plot points like Jake's shape-shifting arc, but these seasons are still considered good, the finale was very well-received and Seasons 7 & 8 are considered a return to form.
• The Amazing World of Gumball (season 6; 2018–19 — It went downhill a bit in Season 6 as it tries to be hip and cool with the kids, and some episodes have confusing plots. This is still a good season though.)
• Doraemon (Anime series) (1979, 1996-2005 — The show went downhill after the death of Fukijo F. Fujio, not horribly though. Many episodes rehash older plots with only a few changes)
• Family Matters (season 9, 1997-98 — The show went downhill in quality when it was moved to CBS.)
• Xavier Renegade Angel (season 2; 2009 — Just like Jimmy Two-Shoes, the second season suffers from some very questionable scenes, the main character gets flanderized as he gets more annoying, and has questionable special guests like Bill Hader and Snoop Dogg.)
• Transformers (seasons 3-4)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987, seasons 9 & 10; 1995-1996): The Red Sky seasons removed some of the characters such as Shredder, Krang, and the Channel 6 staff.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003, seasons 6 & 7; 2006-2009): Thanks to executive meddling, the series continued in Season 6 with a complete change in tone as 4Kids demanded the show to be a lot more light-hearted. Season 7, while an improvement, also received criticism for the redesigns to resemble the 2007 TMNT movie and rushed storyline. Thankfully, Turtles Forever ended the series on a high note.
• The Smurfs (1981, season 9; 1989) - This season focused more on time traveling instead of Mushroom Village which is totally out of place.
• Rugrats (1991, seasons 7-9; 1999-2004) - Although the seasonal rot is mild, there are continuity errors like with how the babies first met and Angelica's first walk, as well as plots being recycled to shoehorn in Dil and Kimi.
• Naruto (seasons 4-5; 2005-2007): The infamous "post-Sasuke" filler arcs saw the comedy being ramped up to 11 and the mass flanderization of many characters, especially Sakura.
• Postman Pat (Special Delivery Service; 2008-2017): It was generally not as well-received as the first two seasons and seasons 3-5 (to some extent) because it carries many of the same flaws that Seasons 3-5 had, a poor mix of source material, repetitive formulaic storytelling, a lack of slice-of-life stuff, Pat being forced away from his postal route in Greendale to deliver every parcel to other places that are called "special deliveries", and the series itself being turned into a lengthy toy advertisement.
• Celebrity Deathmatch (seasons 5-6; 2006-2007): While not a bad revival, it lacked substance without Eric Fogel's involvement.
• Robotboy (series 2; 2007-2008): While not actually bad series, it has less action moments than the previous series, along with less superactivation moments.
• Castle (seasons 3-5; 2011-2013) - Fans have argued that the show started to go through seasonal rot, with the most common reason given being that Castle and Beckett's developing chemistry and relationship, a highlight of the first two seasons, suffered through numerous ham-fisted attempts to string out the "Will They or Won't They?" factor by introducing various third-wheel love-interests, angsty "roadblocks" and an increased emphasis on the conspiracy plot behind Beckett's mother's murder. Many also argue that Beckett was gradually chickified into a faux-action girl.
• Robot Chicken (season 5-present; 2009-present) - the infamous fifth season saw the show's usually witty humor go completely out the window in favor of gorn for the sake of it and toilet humor. Season 6 (2010-2011) took a sharp turn in the other direction, much to the delight of the fans. Season 9 (2013-2014) would later be seen as another step back for the series, due to many of its sketches coming off as unimpressive and/or having too much heavy-handed political satire. However, the show is stil good.
• Garfield and Friends (seasons 6-7; 1993-1994) - The writing and plots became more bizarre, almost every episode was filled to the brim with fourth wall jokes (even by Garfield standards) and any recurring character that wasn't Floyd or Nermal got retired. It doesn't help that the new intros for this and season 7 (especially the rap intro) weren't well-received and the show was experiencing budget cuts. While these seasons got decent reviews, it was clear the show was losing its audience-coincidentally around the time that Saturday morning cartoons were going extinct.
• Schoolhouse Rock! (Earth; 2009) - Earth marked the first time in seven years that the crew released new songs. Unfortunately, almost none of them, if any, hold up against the classic songs.
• Sonic Prime (season 3; 2024) - The third and final season is generally considered the weakest, due to its rushed, awkward pacing, with the final episodes being largely based upon the final battle (but artificially lengthened with the same plot beats across four episodes), the resolution of many of the character arcs being considered abrupt and not very satisfying and the series not adequately explaining what happened to the other Shatterspaces after the Paradox Prism was fixed.
• Steven Universe (season 5; 2018-2019) - The fifth and final season, while it ended the show on a high note, has a very rushed finale (with the Diamonds being redeemed almost immediately and with little previous foreshadowing, despite their horrific intergalactic crimes spanning across thousands of years).
• Super Mario Bros. (DiC, Super Mario World; 1991) - The final cartoon in the series of DiC cartoons based on the Mario franchise is considered the worst by many. Most of this is due to the budget cuts NBC made, which resulted in the animation quality (which wasn't perfect to begin with) completely going down the toilet, Toad being completely written out and replaced with the less memorable Oogtar, Yoshi being flanderized to a manchild who speaks in third person and the plots running on nonsensical logic in comparison to the first two shows. That said, the show does still have a following for just how ridiculous it gets and spawned a mountain of internet memes in the late 2000s and early 2010s (in particular the entirety of "Mama Luigi").
• The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries (seasons 2-5; 1996-2002) - The show lived up to its name in the first season by being a legitimate mystery series. Seasons 2 and 3, while not terrible, devolved the show into being regular Sylvester and Tweety cartoons with mystery elements for the remainder of its run.
• Dora the Explorer (seasons 3-8; 2003-2019)
• Pokemon (seasons 3, 6-13, 17-present; 1999-2000, 2002-2010, 2013-present) - Everything after Kanto has a fair share of detractors, with the most common complaints being executive meddling, recycled plots or lack of major character development for Ash and Team Rocket. The era most commonly accused of this besides the Black & White era is Johto. Funnily enough, despite both Johto and Unova generally being considered the show's weakest eras, where the rot sets in for Johto is the opposite; its beginning and middle sections are widely perceived as uneventful and sluggish, but the last third (featuring well-received moments like the Lake of Rage two-parter, the Larvitar arc, Ash defeating Gary at the Silver Conference, Ashachu, and the original trio's emotional farewell in "Gotta Catch Ya Later!") is widely viewed as an improvement. In 2006, almost the entire English voice cast was replaced due to 4Kids losing the dubbing license to Pokemon, and the new English voices were originally considered very grating by many. These seasons are still considered good, however.
• Dragon Ball Z (seasons 3-5; 1993-1996) - The Buu Saga is seen as this by some fans. Most of the issues pointed are the story being more over-the-top than ever, with examples such as the Super Saiyan 3 form, Piccolo being demoted to extra, Buu in his super form being almost the same as the previous villain Cell but lacking any solid motivation, Vegeta making a senseless sacrifice despite an attempt to develop him, Goku and Vegeta being the spotlight-stealing squad again when the series appeared to be focusing on Gohan, the divisive characters of Goten and Trunks and the anticlimatic ending. However, Buu is a more popular villain than Cell in Japan (who is seen as a step down from Frieza) and Japan's audience wanted Goku back (he was ranked #1 on a fan poll), so they didn't mind him taking over the last leg of the arc along with Vegeta (who ranked #2 on the same poll).
• Baby Einstein (2003-2011) - Two years after Disney purchased the company, the videos started focusing more on learning more complex vocabulary (e.g. instruments, vehicles, places around town, movement) rather than simple objects. This led to most of the ones initially distributed by Disney adding forced and unnecessary recaps so that each word is repeated at least twice, if not more in certain cases. Around the same time, Disney began considering these videos more "educational" and adding this claim to a majority of their marketing, thus making the series notorious for being recalled by the FTC for being "non-educational and unhealthy for your baby". However, it was revealed that this is neither true nor false; nevertheless, the video series was eventually cancelled in 2011. In 2005, the series introduced sign language that ended up drawing the videos out for long periods of time and mainly served as filler. The videos also saw an increase in product placement (with Baby Einstein toys and books being heavily featured in video titles from the 2004 re-release of Language Nursery onwards and the Little Einsteins spin-off often being advertised on US home video releases from 2004 to 2007) and stock footage—with later videos recycling toy scenes from older ones and cheaply/awkwardly cropping them from 4:3 to 16:9. Many of the older characters also disappeared without an explanation.
• SMG4 (seasons 6 & 7, 2016 & 2017) - While still part of the old era, it still has flaws. For 2016, SMG4 fans were introduced to two new characters: A Spike named Fishy Boopkins (introduced in SMG4 N' Pals: Seaside Stupidity Part 1) and a Garo named Bob Bobowski (introduced in Can Ganondorf come out to play?). While they are both likable, they can be seen as minor scrappies to some people, but they're meant to be annoying in-universe and worked well. Other problems these seasons had were the lack of certain spin-off episodes such as Sonic the Derphog (which only had one in 2016 and there has been another one since then) and Guards N' R****ds, some certain characters such as the Mario recolors starting to lose focus and Garry's Mod starting to become used more often. 2017 is also when the series got hit by YouTube's censorship policy, meaning there won't be any more R****ded64 episodes after Mario's Boat Trip, while all other episodes shortened to "R64" and edgy humor and words like the aforementioned R****d, the N word and R*pe no longer mentioned. It's also known for having Mario joins the Circus, the absolute worst episode of the classic era. This decline would speed up as soon as we get introduced to Meggy and Shroomy. Problems that popped up previously in 2016 started to become more pointed out such as more classic characters such as SMG3, Chris and Swagmaster losing their major roles, more certain spin-offs like The Wacky Wario Bros. would end up in the forgotten pile while some new ones that year like The Mario Channel and Mushrooms & Morons would end up as extremely straight up short runners (with the latter only lasting for two episodes), and the use of Garry's Mod would become more noticable than before. And back to the topic of Meggy, her debut made fans think she's made the series go downhill (the original plan was that she was going to be a one-time character, but thanks to her popularity, she would end up part of the main cast and also because Luke and Kevin needed a female character for their main cast anyway since the girls they had on their list like Peach, Laa Laa, Po, Crazy Raisin Lady and Toadette were joke characters while others like Daisy and Rosalina were only minor role characters). The AwesomeMario would become offically inactive after it's final video released on New Year's Eve. However, despite all these problems, they are still good as gold and the real decline wouldn't begin until Doki Doki Mario Club released.
• The Flash (seasons 3-6) - While these seasons are still good, these seasons were brought down by less interesting writing (season 5), a more nihilistic tone (season 3), worse villains (season 4, 5 and 6b), and a boring arc to end off the season (season 6).
• Chuck E. Cheese Showtapes (Cool and Avenger eras; 1995-2007) - January 1995 marked the beginning of the "Cool Chuck" era, when CEC Entertainment shifted the target demographic of their showtapes from families to young children and preschoolers in an attempt compete with shows like Barney & Friends and Sesame Street, among other preschooler-friendly media. The showtapes themselves saw an increase in nursery rhyme/children's song covers, and the Just for Kids Show from April 2000 was widely disliked, with Jasper on showbizpizza.com giving it a mixed review and a 2/5 rating. More infamously, the initial Studio C shows from 1997 to 1998 saw CEC get rid of Chuck E.'s friends and their show format that notoriously had the characters make comments over music videos instead of actually singing before Jeremy Blaido became Director of Entertainment. However, these showtapes are still considered good.

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