History SeasonalRot / LiveActionTv

*** A minority praise Season 6, though it does seem to be more common among younger viewers who in some cases did not watch the show when it aired. Many people forget today how vilified Season 6 was at the time, especially on TV discussion boards and forums. It reached a point where Creator/JossWhedon had to personally come out and speak about it, saying that he completely understood WHY people reacted so unfavorably towards it.

* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' had a weaker story arc involving Creator/CharlizeTheron in early Season 3. Acknowledged by the creators in the episode "[=SOBs=]":

** Season 5, which came packed full of {{Flanderization}}, terrible handling of a romance plotline, piling on the DenserAndWackier for an already Dense and Wacky series, far fewer of the show's signature {{Flash Forward}}s or {{Flash Back}}s, and a focus on random hijinks repetitively lampooning the characters' personalities instead of the first four seasons' emphasis on Future!Ted needing to explain a lot of seemingly-random hijinks in order for the crucial elements of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the main plot]] to make any sense. After Barney and Robin's breakup, the characters had no real development for the rest of the season, which crippled the show's ever-present character-driven momentum. However, it never actually did anything criminally stupid, so the writers could make do with what they had by using Season 6 to undo most of Season 5's damage and introduce lasting change to the characters (especially Marshall and Lily's attempts to conceive), and giving Season 7 a very focused, plot-driven direction with a great deal of foreshadowing, the "bride" mystery, and the Barney/Robin WillTheyOrWontThey arc.

* A common view among the fans of ''Series/{{Homeland}}'' is that the series' writing quality gradually declined after a universally celebrated Season 1.
** Viewers started to [[BrokenBase divide a little bit about the show's quality]] as early as Season 2. While many aspects of the season is considered to be improved from Season 1, such as having higher pacing to the main plot, more action scenes and thrilling moments, it is also considered to spend too much time to [[TrappedByMountainLions weak or underwhelming sub-plots]] such as [[spoiler: (Brody helping [[TheLoad Bassel]] escape, Mike's investigation of Walker's death, Aileen being BackForTheDead, Mike and Jess' relationship, Brody's [[HeroicBreakdown nervous breakdown]] to name a few]]. If that wasn't enough, the season finale involves pretty egregious examples of DiabolusExMachina, [[AssPull Ass Pulls]] and PlotArmour that negates everything the heroes have been fighting against in these two seasons and was seen as one of the weakest episodes because of it.
** The general consensus is that Season 3 is the worst, mainly due to having an entire subplot about a teenage RomanticPlotTumour which doesn't at all fit in a show that is otherwise a spy-thriller about stopping terrorists; having a major AssPull plot-twists in the middle of the season that negates the logic of an entire subplot; and several [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome characters]] and [[AbortedArc supblots]] never appear again in the second half of the season, also making the season as a whole feel like two different seasons mashed into one.

** Season 3 had its moments, but most fans remember and dislike it for a pair of story arcs: The Tritter arc is disliked for severe DeusAngstMachina, {{Wangst}} from House, TooBleakStoppedCaring, and a resolution that felt forced and anticlimactic, while the "Foreman Is House" was disliked for turning Foreman into a CreatorsPet. The resignation of House's original team at the end of the season also upset many fans.

* ''Series/TheMandalorian'' Season 3, the end of a nearly three-year SeriesHiatus, feels to most fans like a step down from the first two seasons. It undoes the main story developments from the Season 2 finale in an anti-climactic fashion, such as Grogu returning to Din (for reasons [[ContinuityLockout explained only in]] ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'', the first ''Mandalorian'' spin-off show), Moff Gideon escaping New Republic custody offscreen, and Din losing the Darksaber to Bo-Katan without much fanfare. Some viewers also believe that Din doesn't receive as much development or spotlight in this season as he previously did, due to such storylines as his rushed atonement for revealing his face to Grogu and Luke in Season 2, and Bo-Katan's drawn-out ascent back up to the throne of Mandalore. A portion of the fanbase has decided to act as if ''The Mandalorian'' ended at Season 2, a sentiment supported when Seasons 1-2 came to Blu-ray and UHD without Season 3.

** Season 6 split focus between kids already at Degrassi and the college lives of graduates Marco, Paige, Ellie, and occasionally Jake - great for fans of the graduated characters in theory, but in practice it just ended up splitting focus between the two settings with hardly any character interaction. It also killed off [[spoiler:fan-favorite J.D.]] halfway through the season, causing stories to take a dour turn (not that they couldn't already get dark, but they seemed to ShooOutTheClowns during this time).

* ''Franchise/{{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.
*** Season 3 is seen by many to be a comedown after the near-universally praised season 2 left a ToughActToFollow. While it was praised for providing previously disliked characters such as [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap Laurel and Thea some much-needed development]], it was also derided for excessive flashbacks, an [[RomanticPlotTumor increased focus on Oliver and Felicity's relationship]] (what made their relationship so refreshing early on was just how angst-free it was), underwritten plot points (such as Oliver becoming Ra's al Ghul's apprentice and then revealing in the very next episode that it was all an act), and the removal of fan favorite characters Sara and, later on, Roy. Ra's al Ghul was also seen as a less compelling villain than Deathstroke due to his general lack of motivation and development, which led to a finale that was viewed as anticlimactic and formulaic. Compared to the unholy rot that happened in later seasons, though, it was [[VindicatedByHistory retroactively considered a good season]] (though not Season 2 good).
*** Season 4, goodness. [[CriticalDissonance Critics as a whole still liked it]]. The fans, however, considered it the moment when the series really sank to the lowest depths. While it did make some notable improvements to Season 3, such as providing a more compelling villain with Damien Darhk, changing the status quo for its cast, and giving compelling story arcs to characters such as Diggle and Thea, it was also criticized for [[RomanticPlotTumor further dragging out the Oliver/Felicity angst]], which led to Felicity going from the series' EnsembleDarkhorse to the show's [[CreatorsPet most overused character]]. Like Season 3, the second half is said to have lost momentum, as the show once again indulged in poorly-integrated flashback sequences and introduced a contrived and easily resolved nuclear apocalypse threat, not to mention suffered from deteriorating fight choreography. The season finale, ''Schism'', had ended the season on a sour note, with some going so far as to call it one of the series' worst episodes. Season 4 was so derided, in fact, that when the show's star Stephen Amell [[http://comicbook.com/dc/2017/09/17/arrow-seasons-ranked-stephen-amell/ had to rank the show's seasons]] from best to worst he did ''not even include'' Season 4 in his list. Even the series' fiercest and most loyal defenders agree that Season 4 was, and is, the worst.
*** After managing to WinBackTheCrowd with the acclaimed Season 5, Season 6 unfortunately dropped the ball again. For starters, it opened with the reveal that [[CliffhangerCopout the entirety of Team Arrow survived the supposedly]] TotalPartyKill [[CliffhangerCopout of the Season 5 finale]]. Other criticisms are too much focus on Oliver's son William who doesn't serve much purpose other than to distract Oliver from his duty in keeping the city safe, Deathstroke being PutOnABus due to the embargo imposed by Creator/WarnerBros, and polarizing villains in the form of Cayden James, and later Ricardo Diaz, who simply don't have the menace or charisma that Prometheus had (though Diaz was seen as better than James). The New Recruits sank into unpopularity by breaking off from Team Arrow and forming their own team and acting like petulant brats any time they have to work with their own comrades. The whole schism arc, which consumed the second half of the season, was seen by some as dragging past its welcome. The finale was also polarizing: while it did effectively shake things up with the death of Quentin Lance and Oliver being arrested after revealing his identity to the FBI, it had a number of controversial elements (the most prominent being [[KarmaHoudini Diaz getting away scot-free]]. However, others thought this was a brilliant idea, as it set up anticipation for the next season instead of introducing a villain from whole-cloth). Season 6 was so negatively received that it was announced that Marc Guggenheim and Wendy Mericle would not be showrunners for Season 7; Mericle left the franchise completely while Guggenheim was KickedUpstairs to the role of "executive consultant".
*** Season 7 was considerably better than the previous in some aspects, but it was derided for its main villain, Emiko Queen, who was bland even compared to Cayden James. The finale also drew mixed reception, with some feeling that it's too rushed.
** ''Series/TheFlash2014'':
*** When it first aired, Season 2 was [[ToughActToFollow not as well-received as the previous one.]] There are several reasons for this: accusations that Zoom is too similar to the Reverse-Flash to stand out on his own as a BigBad; him being a SpotlightStealingSquad as most of the metahumans this season have been his lackeys at the expense of the Rogues (all of whom have been PutOnABus), while other fan favorites like the Trickster and Grodd were used pretty quickly in the first half; the big reveal of Zoom's identity causing some pacing issues; the way the main characters have been forced to act like idiots to justify Zoom's threat; Barry's romance with Patty being seen as a RomanticPlotTumor for those who didn't care for them while she was never properly used as Joe's new police partner because she was always kept LockedOutOfTheLoop before she was quietly written out. But the final straw for many was Zoom's plan to conquer Central City, which was seen as a blatant copy of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', since many a villain on that show has tried to conquer Star(ling) City. Regardless of its problems, this was seen by many as the best Arrowverse season during 2015-2016, and, in light of the rot of the following seasons, [[VindicatedByHistory has been vindicated by the fans]].
*** Season 3 garnered mixed reception. Detractors felt tired of the BigBad being [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks another evil speedster]], too many filler episodes, excessive focus on [[RomanticPlotTumor many romantic plots]], Savitar's goal not being enough to sustain a big bad and the fan perception that Barry just hadn't grown as a hero at all, with him seemingly being unable to dodge attacks he should easily be able to and relying on his STAR Labs crew to win his battles for him.
*** Like ''Arrow'', Season 4 was considered the series' worst, ranging for its mishandling the team characters even more, still developing characters at the expense of at least another one, the action being lacking, an overcompensating use of comedy, the [[ArcFatigue long time of teasing plot twists]] for its own sake, its poor arc writing, a villain whose strategic skills seem unconvincing and lacking, and a plot disconnected from the BigBad.
*** Season 5 was considered better than 4, but it still broke the fanbase. [[KidFromTheFuture Nora West-Allen]] was seen as annoying in some aspects 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/Supergirl2015'':
*** Season 2 is criticized for being infected with {{Romantic Plot Tumor}}s, several {{Plot Detour}}s, messy plot threads, unclear antagonist(s), and BaseBreakingCharacter Mon-El. Additionally, after J'onn was set up as the WorldsBestWarrior, "the most dangerous man on Earth," he was constantly subjected to TheWorfEffect, which only got worse in season 3.
*** Season 3 got its first half well-received, developing more Kara and Alex, as well as the new and tragic villain Reign. Unfortunately, the behind-the-scenes mess following the dismissal of showrunner Andrew Kreisberg (due to dozens of sexual harassment charges) influenced the second half of the season, which was once again heavily criticized because of an excessive focus on RomanticPlotTumor and TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter.
*** In spite of Season 4 winning back the audience, the immediate Season 5 was considered a letdown for many reasons, not in the least of which included yet ''another'' RomanticPlotTumor between Kara and newcomer William Dey (who wound up becoming TheScrappy for his creepy behavior), sending Lena, a relatively well-liked character, down the FaceHeelTurn path and focusing too much on the conflict between her and Kara in the wake of this (which went on for several episodes with Kara not finding out), while the rest of the show's cast was given far less focus. It didn't help that the message of the season (relying too much on technology) fell flat almost out of the gate when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, leaving many folks stuck at home needing to use said technology more often.
** Unlike other shows in the franchise, ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' has a consistent track record of good seasons. Nevertheless, Season 4 is considered the weakest since the first (though not bad). There are several reasons for this: the much-maligned awkward and forced romance between Zari and Nate which took the focus of several episodes (not helped by the fact that Zari actually has some pretty good chemistry with newcomer Charlie), too much focus on the Time Bureau employees at the expense of the Legends, ''especially'' Constantine, the new character Mona quickly becoming TheScrappy (something that the series had managed to avoid since the first season), the writers constantly changing their mind at the last minute (like turning Hank into a JerkWithAHeartOfGold despite several episodes of setting him up as the antagonist which was their original plan), and a rather underwhelming finale which fans might've forgiven had Zari not gets {{Ret Gone}}d and replaced by her brother. In response, Season 5 wrote Mona out as a main character, and the Time Bureau was dissolved, while Zari's absence is a subplot of the season. The main story arc of Season 5, finding the pieces of the Looms of Fate got some criticism for being similar to Season 2 story arc of finding the pieces of the Spear of Destiny. Also, Zari Tarazi (Zari 2.0) was divisive compared to the original Zari who was PutOnABus. Seasons 6 and 7 were considered major improvements, particularly Season 6.

* Being a {{Long Runner|s}} with a huge fanbase, ''Series/DoctorWho'' seems to be [[BrokenBase called on this one]] with [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks every season]], with symptoms ranging from [[TheNthDoctor cast changes]] to [[ReTool shifts in direction]] to questionmark lapels appearing.
** While not a severe case of this trope, the last full seasons for both the First and Second Doctors (Seasons 3 and 6 respectively) are felt to be a slight step down after two very solid seasons each. While both Seasons contain great stories, they also contain some of their weakest stories of their tenure in both seasons.
** Season 11, the Third Doctor's last season, is often considered his weakest. It did introduce one of the best-loved companions, Sarah Jane Smith, in the well-received first story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior The Time Warrior]], but "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E2InvasionOfTheDinosaurs Invasion of the Dinosaurs]]" is a good story with awful special effects, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E3DeathToTheDaleks Death to the Daleks]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E4TheMonsterOfPeladon The Monster of Peladon]]" contain a lot of RecycledPlot and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders Planet of the Spiders]]" feels quite padded. It didn't help that the [[ArchEnemy Master's]] actor had [[DiedDuringProduction suddenly died]], scrapping the original plans for an emotional sendoff to the Master ''and'' the Doctor.
** 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.
** Conversely, Season 18 is often considered an overreaction that went too far the other way. New production team producer Creator/JohnNathanTurner and script editor Creator/ChristopherHBidmead declared their intention to make the show "less silly" and produced a season that came across as rather dour and humourless at times. Creator/TomBaker often looked a shadow of his former self, forced to play the role in a way he disliked, and popular companions Romana and K9 were replaced with [[TheScrappy Adric]].
** The Fifth Doctor's middle season (Season 20) is generally considered the weakest of his three, due to nearly every story being SoOkayItsAverage and lacking any of the memorable episodes such as "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock Earthshock]]" in Creator/PeterDavison's first season, and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E6TheCavesOfAndrozani The Caves of Androzani]]" in his last.
** One thing nearly everyone seems to agree on is that Seasons 22 through 24 (1985-7), better known as the two seasons of the Sixth Doctor and the first season of the Seventh Doctor, were the nadir of the classic series, although different fans pick different ones of those seasons as the worst.
*** Season 22 saw Creator/EricSaward going overboard with the DarkerAndEdgier, with the Sixth Doctor (Creator/ColinBaker) acting like an arsehole most of the time (including to his own companion), grim plots with lots of BlackAndGrayMorality, and enough FamilyUnfriendlyViolence to, for the only time ever, cause the fans themselves to start getting uncomfortable. Saward was also purported to dislike Baker's performance of the Doctor and reduced his role accordingly, to the point that in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E6RevelationOfTheDaleks Revelation of the Daleks]]" the Doctor is completely superfluous to events.
*** Season 23 had the unpopular "Trial of a Time Lord" extended arc, some very lacklustre writing, and an ending that revealed the behind-the-scenes chaos the show had descended into by being almost incomprehensible, unintentionally. Both this and the previous season are also notable for bothersome amounts of ContinuityLockOut and ContinuityPorn.
*** Season 24 suffers from a LighterAndSofter shift that many fans considered to go too far into glitzy {{Camp}}, Creator/SylvesterMcCoy playing the Doctor as an actual [[TheDitz Ditz]] instead of his later, more popular performance as a world-weary ManipulativeBastard who occasionally engaged in ObfuscatingStupidity, and Keff [=McCulloch=] and his disco-aerobics brand of incidental music.
*** All three seasons also suffered from having two of the most widely unpopular companions in the show's history: Peri who was one of the few pre-1989 companions to genuinely be as [[DamselScrappy hapless]] and frequently-demeaned as they are often stereotyped as; and Mel who was [[TheScrappy just annoying]] and played by an actor who had an irritating public image and a lot of baggage from earlier roles.
** Series 2 of the new series (Season 28 overall) is considered the least of the first five, due in part to an over-reliance on the Doctor/Rose ship and the show in general becoming a little too goofy, even for ''Who''. A lot of people also found the Doctor and Rose's behaviour unbearable. It also produced two of the least liked Doctor Who stories, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters Love & Monsters]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E11FearHer Fear Her]]". It wasn't a ''complete'' disaster, though; Creator/DavidTennant's performance as the Doctor was fantastic, catapulting him to star status and making him the most popular Doctor since Creator/TomBaker. The series also brought back classic series favourite Sarah Jane Smith in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E3SchoolReunion School Reunion]]". The two-part finale is also well-regarded, though the ending is divisive.
** Series 3, while generally viewed positively and as an improvement over Series 2, is something of a polarizing season. On the one hand, it has a much better, more defined story arc than the previous seasons, and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature Human Nature]][=/=][[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood The Family of Blood]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink Blink]]" are two of the best ''Doctor Who'' stories ever. On the other, there's a thoroughly-despised DeusExMachina ending, a weak Dalek two-parter that marked the beginning of their VillainDecay, and companion Martha is a bit of [[BaseBreakingCharacter a hot-button issue]] in fandom, likewise Creator/JohnSimm's portrayal of TheMaster.
** The "Specials Year" that saw out Tennant's tenure is seen as a step down compared to Series 4, with the first two stories, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E14TheNextDoctor The Next Doctor]]", and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E15PlanetOfTheDead Planet of the Dead]]" being fairly average and unmemorable, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars The Waters of Mars]]" actually pretty decent, and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime The End of Time]]" massively divisive, with some considering it a worthy GrandFinale to both Tennant's and Davies' time on the show, but others seeing it a bloated and Wangst-filled example of Russell T Davies overindulging in some of his worst flaws as a showrunner, and bringing Donna back after her heart-breaking exit only to do nothing with her.
** Series 6-7 (Eleventh Doctor) and 8 (Twelfth Doctor) constitute an AudienceAlienatingEra collectively to the Creator/StevenMoffat era. The complaints summarized:
*** Series 6 had a good premise and cast, but ''very'' shaky writing, culminating in the TroubledProduction and disastrous reception of the mid-season premiere "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler Let's Kill Hitler]]". The StoryArc, in its attempts to continue and top the wildly popular arc of Series 5, was incredibly convoluted and marred by [[RandomEventsPlot constant plot twists]], odd swerves in tone and character development (thanks in part to two episodes being switched to different halves of the season), {{Romantic Plot Tumor}}s, and controversial plot points poorly presented (Amy's pregnancy, River Song's existence, etc.). Tellingly the best-received episodes were the ones that had the least to do with the arc, such as "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife The Doctor's Wife]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E10TheGirlWhoWaited The Girl Who Waited]]". For "bonus" points, the post-season ChristmasEpisode "[[Recap/DoctorWho2011CSTheDoctorTheWidowAndTheWardrobe The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe]]" was seen as a big comedown from "[[Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol A Christmas Carol]]".
*** Series 7: With the show effectively trying to make two seasons out of one AND fix the issues fans had with Series 6, AbortedArc, pacing issues, and TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot set in. 7A meandered with little more to say about the Ponds and their relationship with the Doctor, and ''then'' they were [[DroppedABridgeOnHim thrown under a bus]] in favor of Clara Oswald in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2012CSTheSnowmen The Snowmen]]" and 7B, with the long term mystery of just who she was being seen as poorly handled and causing many to label her as an over glorified LivingMacGuffin. The Great Intelligence (re)introduced at the same time as Clara never reached its full potential as an arc villain. The post-season [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor 50th anniversary special]] and associated shorts were huge hits, but the [[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeoftheDoctor Christmas special]] the following month was divisive in its clumsy attempts to wrap up Eleven's story after a season spent neglecting it. All this meant trouble for...
*** Series 8: An inconsistent characterization/companion dynamic affected Creator/PeterCapaldi's performance and the Twelfth Doctor wound up too [[DarkerAndEdgier dark]] and [[GrumpyOldMan grouchy]], not softening soon enough for many viewers' tastes. Finally defining Clara as a character meant she got so much screen time that the derisive fan nickname "''Clara Who''" emerged during this season; her RomanticPlotTumor with a [[TheScrappy Scrappy of a boyfriend]] was part of a gloomy StoryArc which implied, among other things, that her gallivanting around with the Doctor was bad for her. There were two dumber-than-usual episodes ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E7KillTheMoon Kill the Moon]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E10InTheForestOfTheNight In the Forest of the Night]]") calling back to the early revival seasons, while the biggest development in the post-Series 7 specials ([[spoiler:Gallifrey's return]]) went unaddressed except to provide a minor plot point in a finale that had '''many''' controversial twists ([[spoiler:Clara's blackmail attempt, female Master, murder of Osgood, Cyber-Brigadier...]]) and a mostly-sad ending. At least it laid the groundwork for the very well-received "[[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas Last Christmas]]" and [[GrowingTheBeard Series 9]], which broke the show's losing streak.
** The Creator/ChrisChibnall era in general, overlapping with Creator/JodieWhittaker's tenure as the Thirteenth Doctor, was divisive at best:
*** With Series 11, even those who like it do feel it suffers for Yaz being an underdeveloped companion, several weak and unmemorable stories (with "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E3Rosa Rosa]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E6DemonsOfThePunjab Demons of the Punjab]]" being exceptions), and an underwhelming SeasonFinale, though the follow-up New Year's special "[[Recap/DoctorWho2019NYSResolution Resolution]]" was the best-regarded Dalek story in years. Creator/JodieWhittaker's performance is praised, but a lot of those excited for a female Doctor were rather put off that Thirteen's initial season made her the most ineffective Doctor since Five, hardly ever getting a clean win as {{Karma Houdini}}s abound. HistoryRepeats as well with the issue of Yaz's underdevelopment, since a major criticism of Five's era was his having too many companions.
*** Series 12, despite some improvements on Series 11 (the big one bringing back some "classic" antagonists and concepts after 11 focused solely on new ones), hasn't been much better. Some in the fanbase believe Thirteen became more insensitive and ruthless for no clear reason[[note]]to the point that Creator/TheBBC issued an apology for the ending of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E12CanYouHearMe Can You Hear Me?]]"[[/note]], Yaz remains a non-entity, and Graham and Ryan have far less compelling arcs. Episodes alternated between {{Filler}} and {{Wham Episode}}s that contradicted canon [[ContinuitySnarl even more than usual]]. Without going into spoilers, the SeasonFinale "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren The Timeless Children]]" became one of the most divisive episodes in the entire show's history thanks to a {{Retcon}} that changed the entire lore of the show for seemingly very little payout -- and yet still avoided the brunt of the criticism for the season due to the almost-universally reviled "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E3Orphan55 Orphan 55]]". To make matters worse, the ratings were the lowest since Series 1 in 2005.
*** Series 13, the "Flux" StoryArc, had a ''very'' TroubledProduction thanks to COVID-19 restricting TV production in the UK. The episode count was reduced to eight, with two of those episodes being delegated as specials. Chibnall had to write every episode himself, with only one receiving a co-writer. While "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS39E2FluxChapterTwoWarOfTheSontarans War of the Sontarans]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS39E4FluxChapterFourVillageOfTheAngels Village of the Angels]]" were considered highlights, with fresh takes on old monsters, the Timeless Child arc was revisited in a severely truncated fashion with no real payoff. The finale proved to be [[RandomEventsPlot nigh incomprehensible]] and was left on an unsatisfying note, with the characters themselves not seeming to acknowledge one way or the other about the destruction that was wrought.

* ''Series/FullHouse'' fans debate over exactly which season of its eight began its decline, but everyone agrees as to the cause: the holy terror that is [[TheScrappy Michelle Tanner]]. [[Creator/MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen The Olsen twins]] became a massive cash cow starting in 1992 -- they got their own albums, TV movies, DirectToVideo films ''and'' series. As a result of this and Stephanie Tanner having aged out of the "adorable wisecracking tot" role, the show began to focus more and more on Michelle, forcing the other characters out of the spotlight and essentially making them prisoners of her whims (the Season Seven finale saw the titular house's original owner offering to buy it for a huge sum, with everyone happy except Michelle--and in the end, they all capitulate and decide not to move simply because she wants them to stay). By this time, fans derisively began calling the program "The Michelle Show," and it never really recovered.
** The rot begins to kick in with Season Four, with a significant premise upheaval at the 3/4 mark of the season when Jesse and Becky get married. They end up moving into the renovated attic of the house -- all because Michelle doesn't like the idea of them moving to Becky's place, which is in the same neighborhood! This ties into the biggest problem the show has in its later seasons: The original concept of a widower inviting his brother-in-law and best friend into his house to help raise his daughters after his wife's death is now moot. None of the girls need a full-time caretaker anymore, making Jesse and Joey's presence in the house largely inexplicable.
** Season Five's 1/3rd mark sees the birth of Nicky and Alexander, Becky's twins and the joint CousinOliver of the series. The remainder of the season, and a chunk of Six, has quite a few [[RecycledPlot copied-and-pasted plots]] from Season One when Michelle was a newborn baby. In addition, the writers' complete lack of interest in continuity becomes clear with a two-part SeasonFinale in which Jesse is struggling to get a recording contract and doubting his skills as a musician...despite the fourth season finale being about him ''getting a contract in the first place!''
** Season Six is the year that sees poor Stephanie relegated more and more to the background (because Michelle gets the "cute tot" plots and D.J.'s RomanceArc begins), with one of her few leading episodes being a VerySpecialEpisode about an abused classmate. Otherwise, she's Michelle's OlderSidekick. (By Season Seven's "Day of the Rhino", Stephanie -- a middle schooler -- joins Michelle and her six-year-old friends' protest of a kiddie show character, and the visual contrast between the small children and the teenage Stephanie says it all.) Joey also becomes a more popular character's {{Sidekick}} with the abrupt loss of his ExcitedKidsShowHost job from the previous season, whereupon he and Jesse go into business as radio deejays (even as Jesse got a story arc about getting his [=GED=] at the same time). This season also sees increasingly ludicrous scripts, including one where Michelle causes a massive dinosaur skeleton in a museum to completely collapse, and an over-the-top two-part VacationEpisode to Ride/WaltDisneyWorld serving as the SeasonFinale. There are two pretty good {{Romance Arc}}s for D.J. and Danny, respectively, but that's all.
** Season Seven sees the show really grasping for new ideas: both {{Romance Arc}}s end, Jesse becomes a nightclub owner, a (actually well-received) VerySpecialEpisode 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 Music/LittleRichard turning out to be the uncle of one of Michelle's friends. This problem continues into the final season.

* ''Series/{{Batman|1966}}'', despite the stereotype, had a fairly good balance of drama and farce in its first season. The subsequent seasons lost it, with Season 2 becoming primarily ridiculous while Season 3 was both embarrassingly cheap and ridiculous. The first season, even when being an AffectionateParody of the Superhero genre, was more of a DeconstructiveParody where AnyoneCanDie, the villains were intelligent and the BigBudgetBeefUp could afford SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome that were seen in ''Film/BatmanTheMovie''. The second season exaggerates the parody and becomes an IndecisiveParody, the villains suffered {{Flanderization}}, EverybodyLives and the budget is lower, giving place to {{Bottle Episode}}s that break the rule of ShowDontTell, there were [[SpecialEffectFailure bad special effects]] and {{Stock Footage Failure}}s. The third season was the worst: the {{Flanderization}} is at its fullest, creating a StealthParody or a RedundantParody, there were almost NoBudget, an episode with [[InvisibleMonsters Invisible Villains]] and not even the inclusion of Batgirl as MsFanservice could save the ratings.

* ''[=RuPaul's=] Drag Race All Stars'' has also struggled with this, mainly stemming from the fact that All Stars 2 is considered to be one of the best seasons the show has ever produced, and the next few seasons [[ToughActToFollow attempted to recapture this success without fully understanding what made it work in the first place]].

* ''[=RuPaul's=] Drag Race UK'': While the first two series of ''UK'' were very positively received, especially compared to the middling reception of more recent US seasons, UK Series 3 was seen as a steep decline for the show. After the second series had both its filming and airing impacted by the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, Series 3 was meant to get the show back on track, resulting in its [[TroubledProduction production being rushed]] and premiering only six months after the second series ended. Aside from this, the early elimination of fan favorites Victoria Scone and Veronica Green and an abundance of twists (including an episode with no winner, a double elimination, and two non-elimination episodes) left many feeling like production had [[ExecutiveMeddling too heavy of a hand]] in the trajectory of the series. The crowning of CreatorsPet Krystal Versace was similarly met with mixed reception, leading many to try and forget the series happened.

** 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/LatinAmerica Central]] America, 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.

** Season 6 was generally considered an improvement over the previous season due to its tighter pacing and a much more satisfying climax, with its final two episodes, "The Battle of the Bastards" and "The Winds of Winter" being counted among the show's highlights. However, it also marked the point where the show began to abandon the slow-paced storytelling, complex political drama, and moral ambiguity of the earlier seasons in favor of spectacular action scenes and a much more straightforward, conventional HighFantasy narrative with clearly defined heroes and villains.
** While season 6 change of direction wasn't necessarily considered a problem at first, season 7 is where it began to be seen in a more negative light. For all it's impressive visual effects, it was widely criticized for exploiting OffScreenTeleportation and EasyLogistics to justify its rapid pacing, conflicts driven by [[IdiotBall supposedly smart characters making illogical decisions]], and a diminished emotional impact due to the increasing use of PlotArmor for the protagonists -- all of which are elements that the show had been praised for ''averting'' up until this point.

** Conversely, Season 18 is often considered an overreaction that went too far the other way. New production team producer Creator/JohnNathanTurner and script editor Creator/ChristopherHBidmead declared their intention to make the show "less silly" and produced a season rather dour and humourless, more interested in technical and philosophical matters than [[JustHereForGodzilla an eccentric hero fighting monsters]]. Creator/TomBaker often looked a shadow of his former self, forced to play the role in a way he disliked, and popular companions Romana and K9 were replaced with [[TheScrappy Adric]]. Of the seven stories, only "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E3FullCircle Full Circle]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E4StateOfDecay State of Decay]]" really felt like ''Doctor Who''. Of the others, three ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E1TheLeisureHive The Leisure Hive]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E2Meglos Meglos]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E6TheKeeperOfTraken The Keeper of Traken]]") were [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot good ideas]] realised in an esoteric, poorly paced and rather flat manner by the direction and script editing, and the other two ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate Warriors' Gate]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis Logopolis]]") were esoteric and poorly paced to start with. Bidmead only lasted one season, after which the show largely reverted to a more familiar action-adventure style.

* Series/{{Bunkd}}: Fans will agree that the show gone downhill after season 3 when The Ross Kids left.

* ''Series/Bunkd'': Fans will agree that the show gone downhill after season 3 when The Ross Kids left.

* ''Series/PartyOfFive'' got hit with this hard in Seasons 4 and 5. First was Charlie's cancer storyline, which cranked the emotional tone of the series (which had been kept tastefully downplayed) [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]] and episodes followed a formula of 'Charlie {{Wangst}}s about being sick for forty minutes' until he made a miraculous recovery. Then there was Julia's storyline, which got so dramatic it was almost to the point of parody - she and Griffin get married and both are unfaithful until it ends in disaster, she ends up seeing her new best friend's boyfriend who then turns out to be abusive and she develops StockholmSyndrome for him. By Season 6, fans were just bored with the series, and the actors visibly were as well.

* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' is a rare show that was able to survive the transition from high school to college because of the strong mother-daughter dynamic and quirky town of Stars Hollow... give or take a season or two. Then Season 6 would introduce universally loathed CousinOliver [[TheScrappy April]] (even Creator/VanessaMarano admitted herself that April was a show wrecker), made Rory into a delinquent, had whole episodes where the girls didn't interact with each other, and extended the WillTheyOrWontThey even further after a fake-out resolution. Come Creator/TheCW merger, creator Amy-Sherman Palladino and her husband were forced to leave the show, the actor who played Christopher getting more of a role in the show against the entire fandom's wishes, and many fans had abandoned the show. The new people left in charge (including an executive producer who went off the rails and previously wrote a one-man show about how he wanted Heidi Klum) had no idea how to continue a successful long-running series, and The CW maligned the show by trying to turn it into a teen soap with one adult couple in a hellish love triangle with a hated character, while forgetting a whole town of supporting characters existed, along with new writers who did no research on character canon. A proposed Creator/{{Netflix}} revival ''A Year in the Life'', with A-SP at the helm, was created in the hopes of rectifying this and giving the show some closure by reportedly incorporating some events originally planned for season 7, but in the end it turned out to be so bad (with precisely ''those planned events'' being the most criticized) that ''a lot'' of people came to praise the original GrandFinale rather than the actual new ending, which ironically was what ASP had in mind from the beginning.

* ''Series/OneTreeHill'':
** Season 7 is considered a huge step-down from the previous seasons, mostly because of Creator/ChadMichaelMurray and Creator/HilarieBurton‘s departure as Lucas and Peyton were two of the five original core characters of the show. Besides, fans generally weren't receptive to several storylines as it felt like the show was just recycling plots as Clay being stalked by Katie was the third such storyline, whilst other storylines just felt as if they were being dragged out - the storyline of Nathan being accused of cheating on Haley whilst on the road took the entire first half of the season to resolve, whilst Brooke and Julian's relationship drama lasted for most of the season. Whilst the storyline dealing with the death of Lydia James and Haley's subsequent depression was well received and generally considered the high point of an otherwise mixed season, when taken alongside other storylines like Brooke's infertility and Alex's attempted suicide, the season just comes off as rather bleak.
** Season 8 is widely considered the worst season of the show, with the general consensus being that only a few episodes of the 22 episode run are worth watching. More specific complaints are Nathan and Brooke being forced to give up their dream jobs (Nathan because of his back injury from Season 5; Brooke because Victoria and Millicent had falsified the company's accounts), a lack of investment in the Mia[=/=]Chase[=/=]Alex LoveTriangle, Brooke and Julian's attempt at adopting ending up as a ShaggyDogStory before [[spoiler:the infertile Brooke miraculously becomes pregnant]], and an overabundance of filler episodes - notably, this includes the only ClipShow in the series - that also just happen to be the series' low point in terms of creativity. On top of that, the show brought back the beloved RealSongThemeTune for the first time since Season 4, only to quickly replace it with a variety of cover versions for the bulk of the season; a situation not helped by the vast majority of the cover versions being widely disliked by the audience.

** Season 7 is considered a huge step-down from the previous season, mostly because of Creator/ChadMichaelMurray and Creator/HilarieBurton‘s departure as Lucas and Peyton were two of the five original core characters of the show. Besides, fans generally weren't receptive to several storylines as it felt like the show was just recycling plots as Clay being stalked by Katie was the third such storyline, whilst other storylines just felt as if they were being dragged out - the storyline of Nathan being accused of cheating on Haley whilst on the road took the entire first half of the season to resolve, whilst Brooke and Julian's relationship drama lasted for most of the season. Whilst the storyline dealing with the death of Lydia James and Haley's subsequent depression was well received and generally considered the high point of an otherwise mixed season, when taken alongside other storylines like Brooke's infertility and Alex's attempted suicide, the season just comes off as rather bleak.

** [[SophomoreSlump Season 2]] in considered the weakest among the first six, thanks to a number of reasons - the new characters Felix and Anna getting a divisive reaction amongst the fandom, the season ending by hitting a ResetButton on Lucas and Nathan's relationship, the Brooke[=/=]Lucas[=/=]Peyton love triangle being ignored until the final episodes of the season, Lucas and Peyton barely having any screentime together ''period'', Lucas suddenly becoming truly interested in Brooke [[StrangledByTheRedString out of nowhere]] in the second half of the season, Haley being absent for a large part of the season due to becoming a rockstar for no reason. Fortunately, season 3 was a huge improvement from season 2, so the show was able not to JumpTheShark and got back on track (despite taking a considerable dip in ratings) and then it remained successful until season six.

** [[SophomoreSlump Season 2]] in considered the weakest among the first six, thanks to a number of reasons - the new characters Felix and Anna getting a divisive reaction amongst the fandom, the season ending by hitting a ResetButton on Lucas and Nathan's relationship, the Brooke[=/=]Lucas[=/=]Peyton love triangle being ignored until the final episodes of the season, Lucas and Peyton barely having any screentime together ''period'', Lucas suddenly becoming truly interested in Brooke [[StrangledByTheRedString out of nowhere]] in the second half of the season, Haley being absent for a large part of the season due to becoming a rockstar for no reason and even cheating on Nathan with Chris Keller, which were also the reasons why Naley got almost hit with ShipSinking. Fortunately, season 3 was a huge improvement from season 2, so the show was able not to JumpTheShark and got back on track (despite taking a considerable dip in ratings) and then it remained successful until season six.

** Viewers started to [[BrokenBase divide a little bit about the show's quality]] as early as Season 2. While many aspects of the season is considered to be improved from Season 1, such as having higher pacing to the main plot, more action scenes and thrilling moments, it is also considered to spend too much time to [[TrappedByMountainLions weak or underwhelming sub-plots]] (such as [[spoiler: Brody helping [[TheLoad Bassel]] escape, Mike's investigation of Walker's death, Aileen being BackForTheDead, Mike and Jess' relationship, Brody's [[HeroicBreakdown nervous breakdown]] to name a few]]).