History SeasonalRot / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/{{Fringe}}'': Not as pronounced as in a lot of cases but for some people [[spoiler:the switch to an alternate timeline]] starting in Season 4 and the confusion as to whether we should see these characters [[spoiler:as those we knew for the first three years or merely alternate versions]] caused problems and emotional distance from the storyline.
** Season 5 (the final season) brought a lot of changes, with a shift to a [[spoiler: post-apocalyptic future following an invasion by the observers]], all with very little build-up beyond a flash-forward episode in Season 4 which similarly came out of nowhere. It also had to proceed with a decreased budget and episode count, leading to a rushed pace. The changes alienated many viewers, but fans are overall forgiving of the season because [[PostScriptSeason they very nearly didn't get a season 5 at all]] so getting any kind of ending was a blessing, and because the finale (the final scene in particular) is very well regarded.

* ''Series/{{Fringe}}'': Not as pronounced as in a lot of cases but for some people [[spoiler:the switch to an alternate timeline]] and the confusion as to whether we should see these characters [[spoiler:as those we knew for the first three years or merely alternate versions]] caused problems and emotional distance from the storyline.

* Series/{{Arrowverse}}:
** ''Series/{{Arrow}}:'' In general, the show had a mixed reception since the universally-acclaimed Seasons 1 and 2. Seasons 3 and 5 were good but not as good as those two. Season 7 was passable. Seasons 4 and 6 were when the rot really took hold. Season 8 was agreed as being the same level of good as the first two seasons, but alas, it's also the show's final season.

** ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'':

** ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'':

* Season 6 of ''Series/AllThat'' is generally agreed upon by fans to be the weakest of its original run (1994-2000). This season had to deal with the losses of both Creator/KenanThompson and Creator/KelMitchell[[note]]Creator/GabrielIglesias was brought in to fill the void.[[/note]], who were the [[FaceOfTheBand hearts and souls]] of the show. With Kenan and Kel [[TheBandMinusTheFace gone]] to focus on their own show, ''All That'' was now led by Josh Server[[note]]Who was by Season 6, the [[SoleSurvivor only remaining]] original cast member.[[/note]] and Creator/AmandaBynes, who was by this point, becoming too busy with her [[Series/TheAmandaShow own show]] to appear regularly on ''All That''. This was already coupled with the departure of Lori Beth Denberg after Season 4, which left Amanda and Christy Knowings as the only remaining female cast members for the next two seasons. Meanwhile, the sketches were nowhere near on caliber as earlier seasons[[note]]When Seasons 4-6 were going, it was relying on some of the same cast members, same skits, and same jokes mixed in with new people that weren't as funny as the original cast members. Plus, the original cast members looked awkward with the newer cast members since they were getting too old. Also on the production side, Creator/DanSchneider and Kevin Kopelow were becoming less involved in the writing. As time went on, the popularity of ''All That'' declined and the show was cancelled.[[/note]] and even the musical guests throughout this season were pretty weak. This was the shortest season among the first six, with only 13 episodes. Afterwards, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} temporarily canceled ''All That'' due to crew disputes and a general desire to move on. The next time that first-run episodes were produced two years later, it featured an entirely new cast.

* ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'': Fans tend to point to Season 8 (1987) as the true beginning of the end. Christine [=McGlade=], who was generally considered to be the [[FaceOfTheBand face of the show]] had already departed five episodes into the previous season. Alasdair Gillis, who succeeded Christine full-time as host, unfortunately also left at the end of Season 7. By the time Season 8[[note]]Which with only five episodes produced, was the shortest season in ''You Can't Do That on Television''[='=]s history.[[/note]] rolled around, everybody from the original cast[[note]]By 1987, many of the "veteran" cast members such as Matt Godfrey, Doug Ptolemy, Vanessa Lindores, and Adam Reid had grown too old for the show.[[/note]] (as well as most second wave cast members) sans Les Lye was gone. Meanwhile, executive producer Geoffrey Darby had left to work on other projects for Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}. Most significantly, Season 8 featured the only [[BannedEpisode banned episode]] in ''You Can't Do That on Television''[='=]s history, which was the "Adoption" episode. It was also around this time that the show was pulling back from being an open dialogue which manifested in the "kids on the street" segments[[note]]These segments concerned young people being asked about the specific subject of the respective episode[[/note]]. So what was left was a bunch of [[ToiletHumour bathroom humor]] and [[YouAreFat fat]] and [[MirrorCrackingUgly "this is girl ugly"]] jokes. Consequentially, after Season 8, no episodes of ''YCDTOT'' would be produced for 1988 before it would be [[UnCanceled brought back]] for two more years. However, those two years featured an entirely new cast and an increase in gross-out humor, so many fans believe the rot continued or even accelerated.

** By Season 4, CharacterDevelopment had become forgotten and [[ReplacementScrappy Replacement Scrappies]] were everywhere. Creator/DanStevens lampshaded this, joking that he only ever gets people saying "I loved the ''first'' season." Creator/HaydenPanettiere sympathised, saying she got the same with ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' (see below).

* ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'' was a hard act to follow and was seen as GrowingTheBeard for the show. However, ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'' was thought to have too much {{Padding}} (while ''Children of Earth'' was five episodes based around a single premise, this was ten), there were too much idiocy, severe pacing issues, and a paedophile and child murderer becoming a main character after getting released in a massive case of ArtisticLicenseLaw. Then there was a disappointing finale that still left a [[VoodooShark lot of questions]].

** Seasons 21-24 are widely considered to be the nadir of the entire series. Season 21 ("Nicaragua") is usually referred to by fans as the absolute worst season, replacing Thailand. It featured an atrocious cast, boring gimmicks, and had two players quit the game abruptly with only 11 days left, forcing production to later change the rules for how the jury handled quitting players. Seasons 22 ("Redemption Island") and 23 ("South Pacific") also have a mixed reaction, with the underwhelming Redemption Island twist (where a voted-out player could return to the game... often to be immediately voted out again), and bringing back two CreatorsPet characters apiece and giving them the majority of screen-time. It didn't help that both seasons featured an extended Pagong-ing of one tribe over the other in the middle of the season, or how the rest of the cast (in Redemption Island) was probably the stupidest cast to have ever played the show. Season 24 ("One World") gives it a run for its money though, with a likewise moronic cast that at one point collectively gave up immunity for their entire tribe. It also introduced two notably [[TheScrappy scrappies]] in Colton Cumbie and Alicia Rosa. Season 24's winner however is very well-liked. Luckily the seasons surrounding this period, 20 and 25, are seen as excellent, with 20 being a common pick for greatest season of the entire series.

* It was fear of this that caused Creator/JimHenson to end ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' after five seasons, despite being a very popular show in the world at that point.

* ''Series/TheGoodWife'' never really recovered after its co-lead Will was killed off in the final third of season 5. The following season pushed protagonist Alicia into plot that went nowhere. She ran for a state-level political office and then quickly stepped down after a scandal, only a season after what most people saw as the natural conclusion to her arc, opening her own law firm. Season 7 introduced another love interest for her that also went nowhere as the show ended.

* Many viewers think that ''Series/{{Glee}}'', a once-clever and promising show, showed a steep decline. Part of the problem was that around the time of Season 2, ''Glee'' was at an all-time high for its popularity to the point where it ended up displacing ''Series/AmericanIdol'' as Creator/{{Fox}}'s flagship series and AdoredByTheNetwork started to kick in full force. With the aforementioned decline in quality of the plots, by the third season, ratings began to tank so rapidly that by the end, they were actually lower than the ''first season's.'' By the time Season 4 premiered, Fox caught on to the declining popularity and moved the series onto Thursday nights.

** Season 5 attempted to rectify this by dropping Lima altogether and moving more of the original kids to New York, but the damage has been done, and Season 6 was the show's last (the death of Creator/CoryMonteith is another reason).
* ''Series/TheGoodDoctor'': Although it has some praised episodes like "Friends and Family" and "Hurt", Season 3 is receiving backlash from some fans for an increased focus on romance drama, with more of Shaun's struggles now being on his love life rather than his social and professional lives. Criticism increased after the writers made some controversial decisions in the season finale, more specifically, [[spoiler:the sudden death of Melendez, and Shaun and Lea finally becoming a couple]].

** The 1995 reboot, full of lame, stale jokes that make the fifth season a lot better than the six episodes aired by Creator/{{Fox}}. Zack took over as the DesignatedHero and fails to deliver [[LikeFatherLikeSon the ineptitudes of his father]], now PromotedToExtra as the Chief of Control. The reboot [[FranchiseKiller did the series in]] until it came back with [[Film/GetSmart the cinematic reboot]] thirteen years later.

** In the fourth season, the show had multiple concurrent plots, with New Directions members in Lima, UsefulNotes/{{Connecticut}}, UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, Kentucky, and UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, and couldn't develop and pay attention to all of those at once. Fan-favorite Sue appeared less and less, they added a bunch of new characters who were {{Flanderiz|ation}}ed versions of the original cast (for example, Kitty is a fill-in for Quinn), and Sectionals, Regionals & Nationals, previously a huge part of the show, came out of nowhere and disappeared afterwards.

** Many fans found Season 17 (the season Creator/DouglasAdams script edited) the weakest of the Creator/GrahamWilliams era. Yes, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath City of Death]]" is almost universally considered to be one of the best stories of all time, but it doesn't make up for the despised "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks Destiny of the Daleks]]", the innuendo-laden "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E3TheCreatureFromThePit The Creature from the Pit]]", the {{Anvilicious}} "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E4NightmareOfEden Nightmare of Eden]]", the ridiculous "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E5TheHornsOfNimon The Horns of Nimon]] or the fact that the entire season was cut short by a poorly-timed crew workers strike.

** Season 8 was a "Family Edition" which was utter crap, and even the production team later said that ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime but turned out badly. The intra-team drama invariably became parents yelling at kids, having children restricted international travel, teams of 4 also restricted international travel (as the show already requires a huge travel budget with teams of 2), the challenges had to be watered down for the families, and so on. The entirety of the race ended up taking place in [[UsefulNotes/NorthAmerica North]] and UsefulNotes/CentralAmerica, and viewers watched families turning seemingly [[DysfunctionalFamily dysfunctional]] while being challenged to [[SarcasmMode such difficult tasks like pitching a tent in exotic Pennsylvania]]. Its main shining moment was the injection of UnfortunateImplications {{Narm}} of an African-American family having the surname of "Black" (leading to such captions as "Black Family: Last Place" with narration to match). Thankfully, Season 9 returned to the original format.

** The pacing of Season 7 is very problematic for a final season, with the writers focusing several episodes on secondary characters, while the protagonists Clarke and Bellamy are left severely OutOfFocus. Sheidheda and Bill Cadogan are far from being the most interesting villains of the show, and the scrip forces the heroes to act like complete idiots to justify the pair having to stay alive. Finally, [[spoiler: Clarke killing Bellamy was extremely divisive among the fandom, to say the least]].

** Season 4 is a popular candidate, losing the high school element and most of the popular characters, with Angel and Cordelia having disappeared off onto another show and Xander and Giles DemotedToExtra. Buffy's relationship with Riley was not well received and the introduction of a demon-hunting military unit was too much of a departure from the show's norm. The season also took far too long to get to the point, waiting until over halfway through before introducing BigBad Adam and then hardly doing anything with him (only his first full episode and the two-parter that wrapped up his storyline give him any real screen time, with the intervening episodes trying to keep the arc moving by having characters go "[[ShooOutTheNewGuy We must do something to stop Adam]]" during unrelated problems), leaving it feeling rather directionless at times. Main plus points were Spike's emerging EnsembleDarkhorse status, the return of Faith in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E15ThisYearsGirl This Year's Girl]][=/=][[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E16WhoAreYou Who Are You?]] ", and a few decent individual episodes like "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E4FearItself Fear Itself]]", "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E10Hush Hush]]" and "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E22Restless Restless]]".

* While ''Series/AncientAliens'' has always traditionally relied on heavy usage of InsaneTrollLogic and AllMythsAreTrue, early seasons kept the silliness down and generally kept to well-known conspiracy theories (Egyptians building stuff for aliens, for example). Latter seasons get into spiritual conspiracies (angels are aliens, god is an alien) and increasingly relied on tenuous BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy and ETGaveUsWiFi premises (aliens caused TheGreatFlood, UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, superheroes are based on aliens, GreekFire is alien tech, etc) for episodes, along with large amounts of rehashing episodes from earlier seasons.

** Season 4: Alan Harper was a flawed character who relied on living with Charlie because he lost everything to his ex-wife; in the older seasons, he actually was the voice of reason. In Season 4, however, he suddenly out of nowhere becomes a complete cheapskate who tries to get the money out of everyone he knows, while it's even implied that he isn't even poor broke and just too greedy to pay for the most mundane stuff and that FaceHeelTurn was never established in previous seasons. This season also added more mean-spirited characterization, or moments in general, like when Alan got depressed after his divorce, no one except for his mother helped him to get over his depression, and even then she said that it would be illegal for a mother not to love her son, soon after she gave him some confidence.

* With ''Series/LastOfTheSummerWine'' being the [[LongRunners longest-running live-action sitcom ever]] at 31 seasons, it's inevitable that some seasons would be better than others. However, it's generally agreed that the show was never quite the same after Compo's death, and the advancing age of Peter Sallis and Frank Thornton resulting in Clegg and Truly being DemotedToExtra in the last two seasons and replaced with a [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute new central trio]] brought the show to its lowest point.

** And said show may have been a victim of this as well. The first season actually did pretty well finishing 19th in the ratings, a standing that any producer of a first-season show would be over the moon about. But Creator/CBS wanted ratings equivalent to a ''M*A*S*H'' season 12, and so instituted a major campaign of ExecutiveMeddling for the second (and last, as it turned out) season of ''AfterM*A*S*H''. The writing of the first season, which was closer to the "dramedy" of seasons 4-11 of ''M*A*S*H'' was replaced with broad comedy closer to the first three seasons. Many of the supporting cast were replaced with more comedic characters (and in Mildred Potter's case, was just plain recast, with her character devolving from a level-headed spouse to a more sitcom-y ditzy wife), and Klinger started wearing dresses and pretending to be crazy again. CBS seriously thought that the retooled show could be the thing to dethrone the ratings juggernaut of ''Series/TheATeam'' (whose own date with SeasonalRot was just around the corner), and so scheduled ''AfterM*A*S*H'' against it, running (in retrospect, hubristic) ads depicting Klinger in a nurse's uniform shaving off Creator/MrT's distinctive mohawk. Viewers abandoned the show for ''The A-Team'', and it never recovered, being unceremonoiusly cancelled halfway through its second season.

*** Season 5 was considered better than 4, but it still broke the fanbase. [[KidFromTheFuture Nora West-Allen]] was seen as annoying in some aspects (though in general she was alright, especially after she endured [[AlasPoorScrappy a cruel fate at the end of the season]]) and the villain, Cicada, was simply not likeable. Thankfully, the return of [[EnsembleDarkhorse Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash]] in the second half of the season saved it from really collapsing down.
*** Season 6 tends to be a bit more divisive (with highlights given to Bloodwork as a villain and introducing Chester P. Runk as a main character, but the low point being the Mirrorverse Plot dragging out for so long), but it's almost nothing compared to the vitriol Season 7 got. That season wound up introducing not one, but two [[TheScrappy Scrappies]] (Chillblaine and Kramer) that didn't sit well with fans for being nothing more than eye-candy for Killer Frost and UnintentionallyUnsympathetic respectively (which only got worse when both were confirmed for Season 8), the plots involving the Forces and Godspeed wound up falling flat by the end, half the villains in the show are defeated by a RousingSpeech and ThePowerOfLove (which comes off as far too silly), and the CGI wound up being far worse this season than usual. Season 8 was considered an improvement to Season 7, which is considered the worst season however the Armageddon crossover received criticism for not utilizing The Reverse-Flash more but the villains, such as Deathstorm and The Negative Forces were well received.

* ''Series/MorkAndMindy'' went from being 3rd place in the Nielsen charts in its first season to 27th place in the second, and failed to really recover from the ratings drop, due to ExecutiveMeddling at Creator/{{ABC}}. The network wanted to appeal more to a younger, hipper crowd, jettisoning Mindy's dad & grandma as regular characters, introducing more and more bizarre or cartoonish characters to the show to play off Creator/RobinWilliams (granted, formerly one-shot character Exidor [[EnsembleDarkhorse did get a bit of popularity rivaling Mork]] when he was featured in episodes), and the show was given a disco rearrangement. The executives also wanted Mindy to [[JiggleShow dress more sexually with more cleavage and curves]], before Robin stepped in and protested. This, along with [[FridayNightDeathSlot a move from Thursday night to Sunday night]], introducing special guests like Creator/RaquelWelch and [[Series/LeaveItToBeaver Barbara Billingsley]] and moving its stories from the "space alien observes Earth customs" theme [[StrangledByTheRedString to making Mindy and Mork a couple]] (and later, a married couple with a child played by Robin's idol Creator/JonathanWinters) did not help ratings at all. The show struggled on until its cancellation in 1982.

** Many fans found Season 17 (the season Creator/DouglasAdams script edited) the weakest of the Creator/GrahamWilliams era. Yes, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath City of Death]]" is almost universally considered to be one of the best stories of all time, but it doesn't make up for the despised "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks Destiny of the Daleks]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E5TheHornsOfNimon The Horns of Nimon]]", the innuendo-laden "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E3TheCreatureFromThePit The Creature from the Pit]]", the {{Anvilicious}} "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E4NightmareOfEden Nightmare of Eden]]", the ridiculous "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E5TheHornsOfNimon The Horns of Nimon]] or the fact that the entire season was cut short by a poorly-timed crew workers strike.

* Season 5 of ''Series/InLivingColor'' The fourth season saw showrunner Creator/KeenanIvoryWayans stepping away from the show due to ExecutiveMeddling by Creator/{{Fox}} -- and taking his family/fellow castmates (Damon, Kim, and Shawn) and other members of the staff with him. Scrambling to fill the void, Fox hired a host of new castmates, and of the returning ones, Creator/JimCarrey barely appeared due to his burgeoning film career. What was left were a group of new castmates who didn't elicit much reaction from the audience, jokes and skits that often fell flat, and a general lack of excitement among the cast. Ratings plummeted as a result of general audience apathy, and the show was unceremoniously cancelled in mid-1994.

* ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'' was [[FranchiseZombie supposed to end after five seasons, but it was eventually decided to continue with another three]]. Creator/DonKnotts (Barney) had already left the series by this point, leaving a noticeable void. Creator/AndyGriffith tried to fill the empty spot with newer characters, such as [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Barney-clone Deputy Warren Ferguson]] (Jack Burns) and Howard Sprague (Jack Dodson), which didn't work and led to falling ratings. On top of that, those seasons featured a clearly tired Andy Taylor (and an equally tired Griffith), and an ill Howard [=McNear=] (Floyd the barber).

* Season 6 of ''Series/AllThat'' is generally agreed upon by fans to be the weakest of its original run (1994-2000). This season had to deal with the loss of both Creator/KenanThompson and Creator/KelMitchell[[note]]Creator/GabrielIglesias was brought in to fill the void.[[/note]], who were the [[FaceOfTheBand hearts and souls]] of the show. With Kenan and Kel [[TheBandMinusTheFace gone]], ''All That'' was now led by Josh Server[[note]]Who was by Season 6, the [[SoleSurvivor only remaining]] original cast member.[[/note]] and Creator/AmandaBynes, who was by this point, becoming too busy with her [[Series/TheAmandaShow own show]] to appear regularly on ''All That''. This was already coupled with the departure of Lori Beth Denberg after Season 4, which left Amanda and Christy Knowings as the only remaining female cast members for the next two seasons. Meanwhile, the sketches were nowhere near on caliber as earlier seasons[[note]]When Seasons 4-6 were going, it was relying on some of the same cast members, same skits, and same jokes mixed in with new people that weren't as funny as the original cast members. Plus, the original cast members looked awkward with the newer cast members since they were getting too old. Also on the production side, Creator/DanSchneider and Kevin Kopelow were becoming less involved in the writing. As time went on, the popularity of ''All That'' declined and the show was cancelled.[[/note]] and even the musical guests throughout this season were pretty weak. This was the shortest season among the first six, with only 13 episodes. Afterwards, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} temporarily canceled ''All That'' due to crew disputes and a general desire to move on. The next time that first-run episodes were produced two years later, it featured an entirely new cast.