Retrospective opinion that every long running series has one season considered the worst or weakest for whatever reason by a fan majority. This might in fact be tied to the dislike of a specific arc, but can also befall [[SeasonFluidity episodic shows.]] In some series, a new director takes over and pulls the series in a [[ArcWelding different direction;]] this can give the impression of SeasonalRot to those who liked the old way, but may also bring in new viewers who prefer it like this.

Perhaps related to JumpingTheShark, although the changes can be somewhat subtler and not so much permanently wreck the show as lightly alienate a noticeable segment of its viewers for a while. This hopefully gets fixed at the ''end'' of the bad season, when writers aren't as stuck in their created plotlines which have taken their course, and have time for everyone to reflect on them. DisContinuity can result when fans choose to ignore said seasons.

A [[strike: cynic]] realist would say that ''every'' series will eventually succumb to irreversible and progressively worsening SeasonalRot if it runs long enough. Better series might have several years at the beginning of the run where each season seems to be better than the last, but sooner or later they will decay if they don't end. It's why they end. If the creator has any chance to continue the series, he usually will do for as long as he can. If not ended by ExecutiveMeddling, then eventually the characters grow stale, the writers run out of ideas, and then this will happen. After that, the show is cancelled, and a new one is brought in, and the circle of life continues.

One reason that TooGoodToLast series are so fondly remembered is that they never lived long enough for SeasonalRot to set in. The reverse of GrowingTheBeard and SurprisinglyImprovedSequel; it can segue into or from either one other at times.

Note that examples have to be ''specific seasons'', otherwise is just becomes "JumpTheShark but you're allowed to add examples".

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime Manga]]
*''[[{{Pokemon}} Pokémon]]'': The majority of Johto, though Hoenn and Sinnoh also take criticism for dragging on far longer than necessary.
* ''Rockman.EXE Stream'', the fourth season of the ''MegaManNTWarrior'' anime adaptation. Looked down on for turning the {{Mons}} [[RecycledInSPACE on the internet]] premise into a Sentai show revolving around an ever-growing team of main characters with the ability to turn their Navis into super suits. The transition started with the previous season, but at least that mixed those segments in with segments that, um, actually focused on ''MegaMan''.
** Also because "Mons on the internet" was originally called {{Digimon}}.
** Not to mention, the main villains' (Duo and Slur) status as [[spoiler:VillainSue and KarmaHoudini]] was quite annoying.
** Supposedly the whole Cross Fusion business came about as a result of ExecutiveMeddling, as the show's Axess timeslot onward was right before an actual Sentai show, and having resources and budget being shifted around to TheMovie, not to mention incorporating said movie into the plot of the TV series itself, was probably responsible for the mostly abysmal art and a story that didn't know what to do with itself. That still doesn't excuse them for ''throwing out the entire purpose of the series'', however.
** If you apply the concept to just the video games, ''MegamanBattleNetwork 4'' is perhaps the worst in the series. The game had a, shall we say, developable plot about a net-connected Meteor threatening to destroy the Earth. Unfortunately this plot point is kept as a B-plot and about 80% of the game revolve about going from tournament to tournament, helping an adversary with his/her life problems, kick his/her butt, on and on. The meteor plot is solved at the very end of the game, very quickly and leaves little to no impression on the player. It's like a filler game, if that is possible.
** The ''MegaManStarForce'' anime had this to a lesser degree in that there was virtually no plot in episodes 31 on until the end of the first season. So it was more like half-seasonal rot.
*** A condition which continued into the second season, with the addition of an AdaptationDecay epidemic that discarded almost ''every'' aspect of the game it was purportedly based on, up to and including TheRival becoming the ''polar opposite'' of his game self.
** The ''MegamanBattleNetwork'' anime also ran into this during its second season. First it threw in a ridiculous amount of filler before remembering it had a plot, then it wrapped up the plot before the season was even over, and then it filled out the rest of the season with more filler because they had literally run out of plot.
*** The last episode was particularly notable for this, being a blatant ShoutOut to GhostBusters and famously comprising of, to quote a fansite, "twenty minutes of filler, a minute of eyecatches, and the entire plot crammed into the ending theme." To say nothing of the episode a few earlier that was a [[SpeedRacer rather gimmicky race...]]
*** The last episode had the most insulting thing of all the anime - the last boss of the first game randomly pops up and it's defeated ''in less than a minute'' with barely any introduction.
**** ...those are some of my favourite episodes though.
** The video game series itself is perhaps even more guilty; depending on who you talked to, the "seasonal" rot began either with the fourth or fifth game, but definitely while the series was still on the NES. Only with the latest entry of the series, ''Mega Man 9'', is the series considered to have climbed out (incidentally, it returned to a "retro" 8-bit presentation). The ''Mega Man X'' series is almost universally regarded as entering seasonal rot after ''X5''.
***It is worth noting that the 8th game in the X series is generally considered playable, or even fun. This troper would put it at the level of X5 as far as quality is concerned.
* ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh GX}}'', after a MindScrew of a third season (which still proved to be entertaining and well-written), had the abysmal fourth season, which tried (and failed) to top the {{Mandatory Twist Ending}}s of the previous season, and supposedly explain away the loose ends from the first season without actually doing so. The fact that they made the main villain a secondary character's SuperpoweredEvilSide with a [[{{Instrumentality}} ridiculous agenda]] didn't help matters any.
** On that note, the original ''[[{{Yu-Gi-Oh}} Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' anime is said to have peaked at season 3 and took a sudden crash and burn when the aforementioned season 4 filler begun. Reasons for this include: trying to out-Epic the previous season, giving a random MonsterOfTheWeek the ability to use a God Card, [[{{Brainwashed}} brainwashing]] an established self-sufficient female character into a whiny villain, giving Yami Yugi {{Wangst}} by stealing regular Yugi and causing him to spend half that season yelling "AIBOU!", creating disgustingly huge plot holes (Duel Monsters was created 10,000 years ago in Atlantis! Also, there's a world of Duel Monsters spirits), and a final duel that borders on the ridiculous where Kaiba [[spoiler: loses (gasp)]] and the BigBad and Yugi try to one-up each other on Infinite attack power. The next filler arc, despite not having much in the way of new interesting characters, was seen by most fans as decent.
** But the KC Grand Prix wasn't exactly seen as a salvation either, and still made part of the seasonal rot. Why? Because it was completely irrelevant. The main characters have a set purpose of unlocking the Pharaoh's memories and what to they do? Join a random tournament for no reason, of course! The fact that the BigBad of that season is a random guy who has a silly grudge against Kaiba don't make things much better.
** Let's put it this way. In duel-based ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' FanFic, it's a common problem that you will, in the end, be copying a season. If your story looks like Battle City, KC Grand Prix, or Memory World, people take it in stride. If your story looks like DOMA (Dartz's Arc), people start readying TorchesAndPitchforks.
* ''AkazukinChacha''. The second season (of three) is best not watched. Or, at least have the remote handy to fast-forward through the several minute long transformation sequence sequence (yes, multiple in a row...)
* ''TheWallflower'' becomes increasingly formulaic after the 15th volume or so. When the author starts raving about her cat and [[WackyWaysideTribe sending the gang off to random places]] so the natives can be surprised by Sunako-chan, you just know it's not going to end anytime soon. It would have been wiser to let the main OddCouple's RomanceArc progress beyond AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther around the 12th, instead of the [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/the-wallflower/gn-15 Sahara-sized deserts of filler]] we're receiving.
* ''ZeroNoTsukaima'' has generally been thought to have gotten worse each season. The first season followed the novels better than the second or third seasons did. Not to mention that each season seemed to simply drop more and more into just being fanservice.
* With ''{{Digimon}}'', it's either the second season (''DigimonAdventure02'') or the fourth (''DigimonFrontier''). YourMileageMayVary.
** Adventure 02's main problem was the DistantFinale while Frontier showed clear signs of this right from the start.
** Frontier's main problem was the Royal Knights mini-arc (episodes 38 - 47, more or less). Almost ten episodes of the same formula ([[spoiler:knights decide to absorb a certain area, kids try to stop them, kids are defeated, all of the kids are shown to be digital except Koichi, next episode]]) for almost ten episodes straight. No plot advance, no character development, just... padding.
* {{Naruto}} fans often dislike the Pain arc's resolution, particularly Chapter 449 when [[spoiler:three characters who were dead are revived, as are all the other ninja that Pain killed]], as well as Pain's backstory. [[BrokenBase Others, however, disagree]].
* In {{Bleach}}, many fans are critical of developments past the start of the last Ichigo vs. Ulquiorra fight, citing a one-sided battle that turns a complete 180 after [[spoiler:Ichigo dies and is returned in an upgraded version of his hollow form]], the revelation that Yammy [[spoiler:is Espada 0]] and [[spoiler:the deaths of the top three Espada]]. Most fans cite the Bount Arc as the weakest part of the anime, and the worst of the three major filler arcs, due to factors like length, poor characterization and borrowing from the Chapter Black saga of YuYuHakusho.
** Many people also dropped it at the beginning of the Espada arc.
* If things can be divided by {{story arc}}s for this, ''OtogiZoshi'' noticeably suffers in its second arc. The pacing is poor compared to the first, the artwork (generally quite nice to look at for the first half) has a considerable quality drop, plot points don't link as clearly to the conclusion, and much of it slips into predictable mystery of the week stuff. If the page for ''Otogi Zoshi'' itself is to be believed, ExecutiveMeddling in the form of a tight schedule, tight budget, and the presence of 14 directors is very likely to blame.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}'' comics were consistently popular and well-received for over 30 years until the Clone Saga of 1994-1996. The storyline initially featured decent sales figures, but by the end, critical and fan response was so negative that the Spider-Titles had to be cancelled and rebooted. The negativity was largely because the Clone Saga '''JUST. WOULDN'T. END.'''
** This troper feels compelled to defend the end of the Clone Saga. While the first few years were filled with predictable [[CloningBlues cloning blues]] and fail, the last few years saw Ben Reilly take over as Spider-Man while Peter and MJ planned to start a family. Peter and Ben grew close, and we were starting to reconnect with long-lost support characters. The Clone Saga started to [[GrowingTheBeard grow a little stubble]]. It stopped seeming like a Saga, and started to feel like genuine character and plot development until it was [[StatusQuoIsGod clumsily and painfully reset]].
**And yet again With '''One More Day'''/'''Brand New Day''', which has the wider rot problem of the sales of the franchise pretty much going straight into the toilet, even with Marvel cancelling all satellite Spider-Man books and upping Amazing Spider-Man to three times a month publication.
* While [[Comicbook/{{X-Men}} X-books]] has shares of up and down periods, it's widely agreed that the former flagship "Uncanny X-Men basically has been an unreadable nightmare since 1998, from the poorly conceived, editorially mandated and pretty much universally loathed "Hunt for Xavier" arc all the way through to the end of Chris Claremont's third run on the title in 2007, when Ed Brubaker took over the book and made it readable for the first time in nearly a decade.
* Depending on who you ask, the seasonal rot for the ArchieComics ''Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehog'' series started either after issue 50 (the appropriately-titled "Endgame" arc), or after the Bem/Xorda arc (starting the comic's PlanetOfTheApesEnding and several characters' [[CharacterDerailment derailment]], especially Sally Acorn's {{Chickification}}). Exactly how long the SeasonalRot lasted (or indeed, if it ever did end) also depends on who you ask.
** A number of fans of the book have noted that, after Ian Flynn and Tracey Yardley became the new creative team in issue #160 (and tied up as many of the storylines LeftHanging by the previous writers as they could), the overall quality of the book as started to recover.
* This seems to be happening with the "second season" of SpiderManLovesMaryJane, since the writer ''and'' the artist both left and [[TheOtherDarrin they subsequently hired new people]]. The writing and art style shift is...jarring, to say the least.
* The "Reads" arc of ''{{Cerebus}}'', largely due to consisting mostly of an extended AuthorFilibuster.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* The tenth book in Robert Jordan's ''{{Wheel of Time}}'' series falls under this due to excessive use of {{Padding}} and PurpleProse. Most fans see some manner of seasonal rot setting in anywhere between books 4 and 9 already, but it's disputed where it really went downhill. Either way, book 11 was a significant improvement, resolving several plots and paving the way for the final book with, by [=WoT=] standards, barely any padding at all.
* The fourth book of George R. R. Martin's ''{{A Song of Ice and Fire}}'', ''A Feast for Crows'', is regarded by fans as anywhere between "Strong as ever", "below the excellent quality of the previous books" and "dull, boring crap that goes nowhere". This arises from a shift in focus to newer POV characters, whose plots some consider to be cases of TrappedByMountainLions, and the story being essentially chopped in half, with a lot of the more popular characters being left out completely.
* Depending on what kind of ''HarryPotter'' fan you are, it may be the fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh book.
* {{Stephen King}}'s ''{{The Dark Tower}}'': was it with the non-sensical introduction of Stephen King himself as a character in book five, or did the rot set in as early as book four, with its overly long and meandering flashback sequence? Whichever it was, it only goes downwards from there.
* ''Naked Empire'', the eight book of the ''SwordOfTruth'' series, is commonly thought to be the weakest part of the series by even people who like it as a whole. Yes, this is the book with ''[[StrawmanPolitical evil pacifists]]''. Afterward, the series gains back some of its momentum in the three last books.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': the series [[GrowingTheBeard grew the beard]] with Season 2 and the excellent story arc of Angel, [[spoiler: Buffy's vampire-with-a-soul boyfriend]], turning evil. Season 3 kept the quality high with the [[AffablyEvil compelling new villian Mayor Wilkins]] and the [[EvilCounterpart Faith]] arc. Any season after that tends to be nominated for SeasonalRot by fans for [[YourMileageMayVary various]] [[UnpleasableFanbase reasons]]:
** Season 4, because it introduced new BigBad Adam and new romantic interest Riley Finn, neither of whom were as interesting as their predecessors, and because the high school setting was left behind;
** Season 5, because it introduced Buffy's [[TheScrappy little sister]] [[TheLoad Dawn]], and because the BigBad was essentially a [[TheDitz superpowered]] [[TheLibby Cordelia]] who didn't ''do'' anything for most of the season;
** Season 6, because Buffy's return [[spoiler: from heaven]] marked an unwelcome change in both [[CharacterDerailment Buffy herself]] and [[DarkerAndEdgier the tone of the show]], and because writer Marti Noxon was perceived to be using the show to [[WriterOnBoard work through]] [[CreatorBreakdown some issues]];
** Season 7, because Spike and [[spoiler: his restored soul]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad took up so much story time]], because the BigBad was a non-corporeal entity that ''yet again'' spent most of its time [[InformedAbility doing nothing]], and because the show's final season simply wasn't a patch on its glory days. Not to mention [[FanNickname Buffy-Stalin...]]
*** Note: whilst fan opinion varies wildly on most of the above, Season 6 is most commonly cited as being the show's worst season, mainly because of the CreatorBreakdown.
**** Even Sarah Michelle Gellar disliked the season rot of the last two seasons, and even did a TakeThat sketch on RobotChicken which featured Buffy season 8 (on TV, not the comics, though I've heard she doesn't care for that either) with a ridiculous storyline about Chucky from ''Child's Play'' and the "lettuce-patch kids." The sketch ends with a friend of Sarah's telling her "No wonder you quit."
* Buffy's spin-off, ''Angel'', is so all over the place in terms of quality that it's almost impossible to pinpoint it with this trope - it doesn't have SeasonalRot, it's got ''Episode'' Rot, with absolute stinker episodes nested in between absolutely marvelous ones. Hell, you can go even further - it's got ''Subplot'' Rot, with even the greatest episodes containing ongoing background storylines that are complete [[WallBanger Wall Bangers]] from start to finish. Season 2 probably ''is'' the best in the sense that it's the only season that doesn't have ''something'' horrible wrong with it.
***** Ha! This is FanDumb we're talking about -- ''no'' season gets off unscathed. Season 2 drew fire for "Epiphany", which some fans considered a terrible derailing of the season arc, and then for the out-of-nowhere detour to Pylea.
* ''XenaWarriorPrincess'': Fifth or sixth season. Fans argue.
* ''StarTrek'':
** [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original]]: [[PostScriptSeason Third season]]
** ''[[StarTrekTheNextGeneration Next Generation]]'': First season, which tended toward the {{Anvilicious}}. Season two, while generally considered an improvement, isn't very well liked either; Dr. Pulaski was meant to be TheMcCoy, but she came across as cold. Some of the later seasons may have descended back into SeasonalRot, though it's hard to get any agreement of which ones. The show really took off starting with the third season, displaying a case of [[GrowingTheBeard Reverse Seasonal Rot]] in that the show actually started poorly and rose in esteem later.
** ''[[StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'': Season three is distinctly weak, due to two factors: the departure of Peter Allan Fields (who was responsible for the first two seasons' best writing), and an increasing reliance on Ferengi-centered comedy episodes. It was back on its feet by season four, though. Season seven receives this accusation by some fans due to (allegedly) lower quality stories and [[JonasQuinn Ezri Dax]].
** ''[[StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'': Depends who you ask, but Season 2 is frequently chosen. It contained some of the show's least popular storylines (with fans and eventually writers) and famously led longtime Trek reviewer Tim Lynch to stop watching. The show improved steadily from here, beginning by leaving Kazon space behind.
** ''{{Enterprise}}'': It reverse rots from the time the Xindi attack on up.
*** Some consider the entire run of ''{{Enterprise}}'' and/or ''{{Voyager}}'' a "rot series" within the greater context of the ''StarTrek'' mythology.
* ''TheWestWing'': Everything post-Aaron Sorkin, but mainly the fifth season.
* ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' has been likened to a sandwich; the best parts are the middle three seasons.
** Season Five, however, has a note that it 'recovered momentum', once the plot gets going. Originally, the last three episodes of season four were going to kick off Season 5.
* ''RedDwarf'' gets this a lot.
** Either the sixth, seventh, or eighth series; which one qualifies best, or rather worst, as the seasonal rot depends on who you talk to.
** While fans differ as to where it began exactly it's generally agreed that the period in between Series 3 and 6 was its peak, with the rot starting depending on personal impression. However the rot became obvious after Rob Grant and Doug Naylor split. With Doug Naylor choosing to revive the series and turn it into a comedy/drama with no studio audience for Series 7 and a new Kochanski and getting the backlash that followed. Despite returning to a pure comedy format and shot in front of an audience for Series 8 the response was similarly poor.
* ''{{Sliders}}'': Universally, season three, during which Maggie was introduced, Professor Arturo had a [[DroppedABridgeOnHim bridge dropped on him]], and Quinn Mallory ceased being the genius he once had been. The debate is how much the show recovered, if at all.
* ''DoctorWho'' seasons 22 through 24. Season 22 introduced the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) and with that a lot of problematic storytelling. Season 23 is derided as much as season 22, possibly due to it being [[{{Mindscrew}} mindscrewy]]. Additionally, both seasons are notable for being the point where ContinuityLockOut and ContinuityPorn are particularly bothersome. Season 24 introduced the clownish and goofy ([[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap at first]]) Seventh Doctor (Sylvester [=McCoy=]), ramped the {{Camp}} UpToEleven and introduced the world to Keff [=McCulloch=] and his disco-aerobics brand of incidental music. Really, the show seems to be called on this one with every season, with symptoms ranging from regeneration to shifts in tone by new production teams to questionmark lapels appearing.
** In the revived series, [[SophomoreSlump season two]] is generally considered the weakest series. Of course, regardless of how well-received the episodes of each season may be, the final episodes are frequent targets of derision due to Russell T Davies apparent fondness for the ResetButton and use of DeusExMachina to resolve the plot.
* ''TheAvengers'': Original: Sixth series, though this is a bit unfair as the first series was lost after transmission save for two episodes.
* ''[[TheXFiles X-Files]]'': The ninth season, though some consider the SeasonalRot to go back further.
** This troper would argue that it goes back at least to season 6 where, in the wake of TheMovie, it became obvious that they didn't know where to go. Mulder and Scully spent half the season off The X-Files, which meant the writers had to come up with increasingly contrived ways to get them to investigate the case of the week. This also forced unlikeable characters like Spender and Fowley (whose only purpose seemed to be gumming up the Mulder/Scully relationship and giving fans hissy fits) on us, a trend that would continue into seasons 8 and 9.
* John Cleese was perfectly aware of this (and meeting audience's inflated, unmatchable expectations) when he created ''FawltyTowers'', a popular British sitcom that only lasted [[BritishBrevity two series of six episodes each]]. He decided against making further episodes because he knew that anything he would've written after it would not meet the expectations of the viewers.
** And yet there have ''still'' been fans, both then and now, who have argued that one season is worse than the other. [[UnpleasableFanbase Go figure.]]
** Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant purposely emulated this with ''TheOffice'' and ''{{Extras}}'', sticking to two six-episode series and a Christmas special each and tying up all the loose ends, rather than seeing how far they could draw it out. When asked why, they'd often point out that ''Fawlty Towers'', one of the most celebrated British shows ever, was only thirteen episodes. (There are those who'd argue that the American version of ''The Office'' should've taken their cue from the original even though many agree that it the show only began to [[GrowingTheBeard grow its beard]] in the early-to-mid second season.)
* ''MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': John Cleese left the show after the third season. Without his rigorous quality control, the fourth season, renamed simply ''Monty Python'', featured way too many half-baked ideas and thin premises stretched well past breaking point, resulting in a horribly uneven batch of episodes. The nadir of the series is probably "Mr. Neutron", a silly, underdeveloped science fiction story with only ''very'' intermittent laughs that took up ''an entire episode''.
* ''[[TwentyFour 24]]'': The fourth series of the show is markedly different from the preceding three seasons; Jack is effectively deposed as head of CTU operations, the building itself has undergone a makeover, and just about everyone from the previous season is gone without explanation. They've been replaced by an ineffectual boss who's holding her schizophrenic daughter in the CTU medical wing, a portly computer tech suffering from a nervous breakdown after learning that his mother will die from radiation poisoning, and an obvious mole who treats everyone around her like crap. It's not surprising that, by the end of the season, almost all of the major [[AnyoneCanDie surviving]] characters from the series were brought back into the fold. Alternately, season six starts out promising, and then becomes mired in a complex family drama and plot points ripped haphazardly from previous episodes.
**Fans have noted that ''24'' contains an unusual combination of this trope and the odd/even rule from ''Star Trek'' - odd numbered seasons are generally good and feature interesting, varied plots, whereas even numbered seasons feature lazy and borderline ridiculous plots involving nuclear terrorism.
* While not every fan of the prison drama ''{{Oz}}'' agrees that the final two seasons were the worst, it's hard to argue against the fact that storylines became increasingly outlandish and implausible during the show's final years, which involved, among other things, accelerated aging drugs, a dog-training program in a maximum security prison, a prison guard being signed by the NBA, and one character apparently gaining {{psychic powers}}, which he uses to win the lottery. This all in stark contrast to the gritty realism of the show's early seasons.
* ''{{Smallville}}'': While the [[FourIsDeath fourth]] season brought us Impulse and Krypto, its primary plot was magic stones and reincarnated witches. The writers clearly didn't know where they were going and way too many conspiracies made it hard to keep track of where it had been, especially with Jason and his mother, whom the writers couldn't decide if they were working together or apart, or if they wanted Lana alive or dead. It also had a butchering of Mxyzptlk preventing a more traditional (i.e. having any qualities even remotely resembling Mxyzptlk) version from showing up in the future.
** Well, in their defense, it would be hard to introduce an omnipotent fifth-dimensional imp into a "realistic" show. Although I agree that that was pure butchering.
**Most fans complain about season 8. Mostly due to the increasingly poor plots (Clark always rushes in at the last minute to save the day and it's starting to bug everyone), bringing Lana back again, dialogue filled with needless PurpleProse, and not moving forward at all with the plot.
*** Lana returning easily derailed the entire season, putting all the established plotlines on hold in favor of milking the guest star. The butchering of Doomsday didn't help either, especially since unlike Mxyzptlk he was a regular.
* ''{{Lost}}'' has had this, although the matter is debatable. What's known for sure is that season 2 ''[[IncrediblyLamePun lost]]'' many viewers because of an overly large KudzuPlot. The first six episodes of season 3 (the "pod") were widely panned and turned off a lot of fans (who would then go on to miss episode 7, "Not in Portland", considered one of the show's finest, and the nearly unbroken line of incredible episodes that followed it). Fortunately, now that the series' end has been mapped out, season 4 has started expanding the context of the story and tying together some of the various loose ends.
** Season 5 is somewhat controversial as it jumped several Dharma-sharks to reveal a lot of the Islands backstory. It may not be on par with the awesomeness that is season 4, but it's to inventive to suffer from Seasonal Rot.
* ''PowerRangers'': The fans near universally hated ''PowerRangersTurbo'' (season 5), and the show may very well have been canceled if the CrisisCrossover season ''PowerRangersInSpace'' hadn't picked up the slack and won everyone back over.
** [[DidNotDoTheResearch Turbo was the first season in three years to improve the ratings of the series.]] Space merely continued the upward ratings trend of the second half of Turbo. Because the producers saw that the upturn wasn't a fluke, Lost Galaxy was picked up a bit short of a month after Space debuted. [[FanDumb Fandumb continues to recite this "fact" despite having been repeatedly debunked by former staff and even ex-Fox Kids programming staff.]]
** ''PowerRangersWildForce'' is pretty hated too.
** ''PowerRangersMysticForce'' as well. All three of these can be seen as interesting cases because, though they each have multiple individual reasons they're so hated, most of the hate is particularly due to [[TheScrappy one specific character]] (Justin, Cole, and Nick respectively).
* ''{{Scrubs}}''. Many fans say that season 5 was the beginning of its downfall as {{Flanderization}} occurred. JD went from being a little emotionally needy to a whiny man-child and Elliot became every negative stereotype about women instead of her usual neurotic but lovable self. Arguably, later seasons began to [[GrowingTheBeard grow back the beard]]. [[YourMileageMayVary Fans argue.]]
**Most fans agree that 8 was a redemption. 6 and 7 are still largely ignored.
*** This troper considers season 6 to be one of the best and season 7 to be a giant AuthorsSavingThrow to explain the finale of season 6.
* Season three of the rebooted ''BattlestarGalactica''.
** Generally considered ''{{Executive Meddling}}''
** Although the first few episodes of that season were pure win. Once they departed from the 'epic battles with awesome scary robots' format to Ace Attorney IN SPACE.
** Generally, seasons one and two are viewed as being ''Battlestar'' in its prime, whereas the mediocre Season 3 and the escalating series of [[WallBanger wallbangers]] (once it became clear that the writers had written themselves into a hole) that was Season 4 are the nadir.
*** Despite having previously held to this general perception, ThisTroper was surprised by how little the writing style changed over the course of a series rewatch. In other words, all the things people disliked about later seasons were in the earlier seasons, and all the things people liked about earlier seasons were in the later seasons.
***YourMileageMayVary, especially on the third season. Many found the change of pace and focus to be a very compelling development, and it's currently the third best critically reviewed season for any show ever reviewed by Metacritic.
**** This Troper suspects the yearly gaps between Season 3, Season 4 and Season 4.5 had something to do with it. The cliffhangers of season 3 and season 4.0 both gave the fans ''too much'' time to speculate and overanalyse things. As a result, the a large portion of the fandom either burnt itself out or had massive expectations by the time the new episodes aired. More than one person said that Battlestar is a far better show when watched consecutively and without the weekly/yearly gaps.
* The last couple seasons (starting point depends on the viewer) of ''{{MacGyver}}'' aren't viewed as favorably as the first couple seasons due to the GenreShift of the show. By the last season, it was practically little more than a soapbox for the major issues the writers viewed as important. Most of the elements that made the show successful toned down or phased out in favor of {{Anvilicious}} issue-of-the-week episodes.
* The fourth series of the British series ''Teachers''. The surrealism that had always bubbled under in the earlier series before coming to the fore in the third series got a little too out of hand, the dramatic elements almost entirely vanished, as did most of the better characters, to be replaced by pale imitations. One of the standout characters in the previous series had been Bob, a lovable loser, but for the fourth series he was [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] into a ButtMonkey with a cheating Thai bride completely unaware of his status as the ButtMonkey. It might actually be possible that this is the way it always was, but we only noticed when the plots went downhill...
* ''[[Series/{{Batman}} Batman]]'': Despite the stereotype, this series' first season had fairly good balance of drama and farce, but the subsequent seasons lost it with the Season 2 become primarily ridiculous while Season 3 was both embarrassingly cheap and ridiculous.
* The Los Angeles season of ''TheApprentice''. It would have probably been fine if the location was the ''only'' thing that changed. Instead, we saw former viceroys Carolyn and George replaced by Trump's children, the week's losers having to live in tents, the winning Project Manager staying PM until a loss, said PM getting to sit in on boardroom elimination discussions, an entire team getting immunity for a week and as a result the losing team being split into two groups that had to compete against each other, and the final challenge pitting two teams of two instead of just two finalists. This resulted in a winner that ''never served as Project Manager''. This led to poor ratings and a near-cancellation (it was brought back as a "celebrity" edition).
** With the UK incarnation of the show, the second season is generally agreed as the worst, with the very competent candidates in the previous series replaced by a bunch of complete morons (with the obvious exception of Ruth Badger). Depending on who you ask, the third season was either when things got back on track, or the year when the show went all icky and "mainstream" on viewers.
* Season 2 of ''[[Series/{{Heroes}} Heroes]]''. Half the characters had boring storylines, and [[TheScrappy Maya Herrera]]. Cut short by the writer's strike, and acknowledged by the writers as inferior to Season 1.
** The first half of Season 3 was arguably worse. The writers heard the complaints that Season 2 was too slowly paced, and not enough twists. Their answer? A RandomEventsPlot and one AbortedArc after another. Fans could no longer say it was predictable or slowly paced, but the result was even worse. The show mostly returned to form with the second half of Season 3, and Season 4 seems to be holding its ground so far.
* ''DesperateHousewives'': Season three, though part of this was due to the fact that one of the show's stars (Marcia Cross) was written out of the second half of the season due to her pregnancy. The season five time jump also gets points for seasonal rot as storylines such as Bree and Orson being new parents were aborted while the relationship between Mike and Susan once again got haphazardly derailed in order to drag out the "Will they or won't they" drama.
* ''SaturdayNightLive'' - just about [[UnpleasableFanbase any season depending on who you ask]], but the sixth season stands out as uniquely awful. The entire cast and writing staff left in 1980, but [[ExecutiveMeddling the network insisted]] that the show continue along anyway; new producer Jean Doumanian knew nothing about comedy, having been previously in charge of booking musical guests. As a result the musical guests were fantastic and the new cast and writers barely watchable. Finally NBC stepped in and fired everyone except Joe Piscopo and some kid named Eddie Murphy that was hired mid-season and was showing a lot of promise...
** The 20th season also stands out as particularly bad, partly as an inverse to the 1984-85 season when NBC brought onboard a slew of big name comics to try and keep the show going. While it had its moments, the overall chaos of having a large number of egos behind the scenes pretty much led to a subpar season and a massive cast purge at the end of the season so that Lorne Michaels could rebuild.
* In a similar vein to SNL, Nickelodeon's ''AllThat'' was revived after three years with an entirely new cast, new writers, and, all and all, a whole new atmosphere. Many fans would rather it was left be.
* Season 3 of ''{{Supernatural}}'': ExecutiveMeddling lead to [[TheWesley Bela]] and Ruby, the audience was always [[{{Anvilicious}} Anviliciously]] reminded that Dean only had one year to live, and the season premiere ("The Magnificent Seven") was too bright and shiny. Season 4 has been a grittier improvement, but Genevieve Cortese is generally reviled in her portrayal of Ruby throughout the fanbase, and many fans really miss Katie Cassidy. Fans that weren't nearly so loud when she was actually onscreen.
* ''{{The Drew Carey Show}}'' began going downhill part-way through the fifth season, after Mrs. Louder mysteriously vanished without a trace, only to be replaced with new guest stars every few weeks. However, the last two seasons [[ReTool changed so much]] that the show was nearly unrecognizable. And unwatchable, judging from the ratings.
* Season 8 of ''TheAmazingRace'' 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 North and Central America, and viewers watched families turning seemingly [[DysfunctionalFamily dysfunctional]] while being challenged to 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.
* ''[[SeaQuest SeaQuest DSV]]'' stopped playing to its strengths in Season 2; the writers introduced a lot of weird sci-fi elements that were out of place on a submarine show. The Season 3 ReTool did a lot to fix this, but it came too late to avert cancellation.
**"Out of place"? It was practically a different show! Season one had most of its plots rooted in the real world and at least semi-plausible science, with subtle homages to Star Trek which were entirely forgivable on a show set on a giant hi-tech ship; season two started out by dumping half of the cast for obviously younger, sexier, weaker characters without explanation and tried to out-Trek Trek with the particle/alien/technology/hole in the spacetime continuum-of-the-week.
* Although still popular, many long-time fans of ''{{Seinfeld}}'' think that seasons 8 and 9 were notably different from the former ones. This is because the showrunner Larry David left the show after season 7, leaving Jerry Seinfeld as the new Executive Producer. With the remaining writing staff left to its own devices, these seasons featured faster-paced, "wackier" episodes with many references to previous episodes, and attempts at running gags. Characters also slightly de-evolved, especially George, and Kramer's stunts became ever increasing. Still, the series continued to enjoy ratings success and a tenth season was proposed, until Seinfeld declined.
* Season 2 of ''VeronicaMars'': Not merely content to have an underwhelming RedHerring-laden season-spanning mystery (complete with WallBanger resolution), it dragged several of Season 1's plot elements down with it (most notably {{Ret Con}}nning the resolution to Veronica's rape storyline). Not to mention having Aaron Echols' hamfisted KarmaHoudini-turned-KarmicDeath. Season 3 is a bit of a BrokenBase: Some consider it a continuation of the rot, others where the rot started, and still others considering it a rebound season (but not enough to save it).
* While still probably the best adaptations out there, the sixth and seventh seasons of the Granada SherlockHolmes adaptations were marked by increasing (sometimes [[JustifiedTrope justified]], othertimes... just weird) deviations from the Canon. This was mostly due to Jeremy Brett's worsening health, and the planned filming of the entire Canon was cut short by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Actor Existence Failure]].
* Everything post-season 8 of ''{{MASH}}''. Radar leaving is a no-no. However, some will even say that the rot happened post-season 3, with the departure of Henry and Trapper.
* Season Five of ''{{House}}''. Plot points that were never brought up again, Wilson and Cuddy acting like bigger asses than ''House was'', an overemphasis on [[StrangledByTheRedString Foreteen]] and giving [[TheWesley Thirteen]] all the big plotlines, Chase and Cameron being very rarely seen, the medicine [[DidNotDoTheResearch being even worse than before]], House turning pathetic and rather stupid and Kutner's [[spoiler: dumbass suicide]] made this season even worse than [[DeusAngstMachina Season Three]] in the fans' eyes.
* ''ArrestedDevelopment'' , while generaly considered to be TooGoodToLast, had a weaker story arc involving Charlize Theron. Acknowledged by creators in the episode [=SOBs=]:
--->'''George Sr.''': Hey, we can have some celebrities in. Oscar winners, like Nicole Kidman...
--->'''Michael''': I don’t want to just round up a bunch of famous people that have nothing to do with our family as some sort of cheap stunt. What’s that got to do with us?
** Even though the arc itself was somewhat weak, the Mr. F plot twist was amazing.
*''Survivor: Thailand'' seems to be considered by most fans to be the worst season, an opinion also shared by host Jeff Probst, who referred to it as "mean-spirited" and "ugly" and called the final four contestants of the season the least likable ever.
*Season 5 of ''[[ThreesCompany Three's Company]] 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 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.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''SluggyFreelance'' lost a lot of its readers during the massive plotline known as Oceans Unmoving, mainly because the plot's only relevance to the series was showing what happened to [=BunBun=] after Holiday Wars. It took what should have been a a very short, sweet explanation and turned into into a one year plotline that constantly stopped the action because it had to cram in as much exposition as possible about the cosmology. For many people, the comic never recovered from it. Others like to just [[DisContinuity pretend it never happened]].
** Still others found it a fairly interesting change of pace that had [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot a lot of wasted potential]]. Unfortunately, forcing it upon the readers with only a tangential relation to the rest of the canon was not a smart move on Pete's part.
** One more take: Oceans Unmoving would have been a great thing to release ''all at once'', say as a book. It drew more resentment because it came at the expense of the regular cast, and the cool concepts weren't well served by a one-day-at-a-time schedule. People forget that a ''lot'' of Sluggy stories felt overlong and tedious at the time, but read well in the archives.
* CtrlAltDel is sometimes accused of this after the shift in tone away from 'two slackers living on PlanetEris' towards more serious storylines, with Ethan finally starting to act his age... just before a thermonuclear DramaBomb went off. [[WordOfGod Tim Buckley]] claims the arc in question was planned at least as early as Lilah's debut in the cast, so arguably SeasonalRot kicked in with the poor job he did of foreshadowing the GenreShift.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The fifth season of ''AquaTeenHungerForce''. Largely after the writers were given free reign contentwise, meaning we got a ton of overtly gross-out storylines with rotting corpses and severed penises.
* ''WinxClub'', season 3, what with various [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot plot points that went nowhere]] and stuff.
* ''DrawnTogether'', the first half of Season 3, when the show became [[DarkerAndEdgier too dark for its own good]].
* Fans generally hate the third season of {{Animals of Farthing Wood}} due to it being lighter in tone compared to the first two seasons which were very dark. [[TrueArtIsAngsty Apparently darkness is good]]....
* ''SouthPark'' creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, for reasons they have never adequately explained, greatly dislike the show's second season. Fans on the whole disagree.
** The flak Trey and Matt received from both fans and Comedy Central over doing the Terrance and Phillip season opener as an April Fool's gag (instead of resolving the Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut cliffhanger) might have something to do with it.
** Season six is another example, largely due to the backlash against Parker and Stone retiring Kenny and their plans for Butters being the new ButtMonkey being derailed by Comedy Central and fans literally rescuing Butters from the Scrappy pile. Needless to say, ever since that season, Parker and Stone have openly threatened to quit production of the show (to the point that Parker almost bailed entirely midway through season eight).
* Season 3 of ''{{Gargoyles}}''. When the series' creator hits the ResetButton on an entire season (via the ongoing ''Gargoyles'' comic), you know things came off the rails in a big way. The introduction of [[strike: The KKK]] [[strike: HYDRA]] The Quarrymen as recurring antagonists was merely the cherry on top.
* The first half of Season 4 of ''The Venture Bros.'' has been receiving mixed reactions as a whole. Some think it's the replacment of Brock by Sgt. Hatred, others the distinct lack of recurring characters the series has become known for. Personally, this troper believes the show has become less funny and engaging as a whole. However, it still remains better than most of what can be found on TV.
[[/folder]]

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