Seasonal Rot: Difference between revisions

One reason that [[Too Good to Last]] series are so fondly remembered is that they never lived long enough for Seasonal Rot to set in. Compare [[Sequelitis]] and [[Sophomore Slump]]. Contrast with [[Growing the Beard]].

 

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'': All of the arcs after the Orange Islands have taken flak for running on longer than necessary, though Johto and Sinnoh take more flak than Hoenn due to [[Arc Fatigue]], whereas Hoenn was shorter in order to make room for Battle Frontier.

** [[Averted Trope|Averted]] so far with Unova, thanks to a much more concise pacing and good character development in-between (barring a big gap between the 3rd and 4th Gyms, which was intended from the start and has beefy material). Time will tell if it lasts however.

*** The last episode was particularly notable for this, being a blatant [[Shout-Out]] to [[Ghostbusters]] and famously consisting 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 [[Speed Racer|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.

** 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'', especially because Keiji Inafune has moved on to the ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' series.

*** It is worth noting that the 8th game in the X series is generally considered playable, or even fun.

** ''[[Digimon 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}}). Minimal plot advancement, minimal character development, just... endless [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb-stomp]] [[Padding]]. Secondary problems include the near-complete disregarding of the basic concept of the franchise, and the strangely high amount of [[Filler]] (read: complete-waste-of-20-minutes episodes), even before the Royal Knights arc, which is particularly unusual in that ''Digimon'' is historically (and has since continued being, save the below example) pretty good at avoiding filler or at least giving it tangential relevance.

** ''[[Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Leaping Through Time]]'' quickly developed a severe reputation for this, despite being somewhat promising in premise. Not only was [[Creator's Pet|Tagiru]] the most obnoxious hero the franchise has ever seen, but the show derailed fan favorites from ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]'' like Nene, who had become an [[Idol Singer]] by the time of her cameo. Worst of all, ''it consisted of almost nothing but [[Filler]] with nary a plot in sight'', compounded by being the shortest series at only twenty-five episodes and thus giving itself no time to pace things out or get things started. Furthermore, much disappointment was voiced over it promising a [[Crisis Crossover]] setup starring prior heroes, then giving only the briefest tease twelve episodes in before seeming to ''completely forget about it''; then having it [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot|in the last four episodes]], with nearly all the prior heroes being [[Demoted to Extra]] the episode after so that [[Creator's Pet|Tagiru]] can end up saving the day with ''everyone else acting as a power-up for him''.

** Many people also felt the ''Stars'' manga was the weakest arc, however, due to the fact that the first five chapters of the arc just kill off the main Sailor Senshi save for Sailor Moon without them even putting up a fight, there's [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] who show up for one chapter and die, and the ending actually makes very little sense and raises more questions than it answers. The biggest sin is how it quickly disposes of Mamoru within a single chapter, after the last chapter of the Dream arc had implied that he was going to be ''extremely'' important. He's killed without even getting a chance to fight back by Galaxia not one chapter later.

* 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}} and the revelation that Yammy {{spoiler|is Espada 0}} and {{spoiler|the deaths of the top three Espada}}.

*** There ''were'' some good arcs among all the drivel, but the fact remains that it was an undiluted block of waste which didn't contribute to anything (especially after the epic "Sasuke Retrieval Arc"). The lack of character consistency (especially with Sakura) didn't help, which is the most likely reason ''Shippuden'' spreads [[Filler]] out more across the storyline, rather than shoving it together the way the original series did.

 

** 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.

*** Marvel's currently hyping Amazing Spider-Man #647 as "the end of Brand New Day," but in truth they are simply changing the release schedule to twice a month in order to try desperately to stop the bleeding as sales have pretty much hit new all-time lows due to the unpopular new direction.

* This seems to be happening with the "second season" of ''[[Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane]]'', since the writer ''and'' the artist both left and [[The Other Darrin|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 [[Author Filibuster]].

* When Claremont took over writing duties for ''[[Exiles]]'', it was with the editorial edict passed down upon him to get rid of the mainstay characters and replace them with variations of his pet characters (such as a spoiled brat version of Rogue, a gender-flip version of Mystique, a generic teenage version of Shadowcat, etc. Needless to say it didn't take well with fans.

* Robert Kirkman's run on ''[[Ultimate X-Men]]'' is generally thought of as a bit of a low point for the series.

 

* While every ''[[Highlander]]'' sequel is viewed as a poor follow-up to the original (at best), ''[[Highlander II the Quickening]]'' currently holds the typical title of worst in the franchise and a shining example of how ''not'' to do a sequel.

* Of the two MGM distributed ''[[Dark Shadows (TV series)|Dark Shadows]]'' films in the early 1970s, the second, ''Night of Dark Shadows'' is generally considered the weaker for several reasons, including the fact that it was not directly based on any plot arc from the anchor series and the fact that executive meddling led to a re-editing that left the continuity of the plot somewhat choppy and confusing. Add to that the absence of Jonathan Frid as fan favorite character Barnabas Collins (though Frid '''had''' been in the first film, and the second featured the as popular David Selby as an alternate version of his regular Quentin Collins character) and the fans stayed away in droves. This killed all hopes for a third film in the series.

* [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] has a few contested titles, but the most unquestionable ones are ''[[The Man with the Golden Gun]]'' (whose sole saving grace is [[Christopher Lee]]), ''[[Moonraker]]'' (so outlandish that the follow-up. ''[[For Your Eyes Only (film)|For Your Eyes Only]]'', toned it down considerably), and ''[[A View to a Kill]]'' (where Roger Moore realized he was too old for the role). ''[[Die Another Day]]'' sometimes gets lumped there too for the same reason as ''Moonraker''.

 

* [[Tom Clancy]] himself admitted that he had run out of good candidates for villain nations by the mid-1990s, which resulted in a pair of suicidally outmatched opponents for the United States in ''[[Jack Ryan|Debt of Honor]]'' (Japan fights Round Two...) and ''Executive Orders.''

* The tenth book in Robert Jordan's ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' series falls under this due to excessive use of [[Padding]] and [[Purple Prose]]. The average rating on Amazon.com is [http://www.amazon.com/Crossroads-Twilight-Wheel-Time-Book/dp/0812571339/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277283385&sr=8-1 1.5 stars]. 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. (Though it does focus inordinant attention on [[Author Appeal|bondage situations with the Aes Sedai]] and a lot of dumb moves by characters, even for them).

** ''The Land of the Painted Caves'', last installment of the series, manages to be even worse than ''Shelters''.

*** Specifically, ''Land of the Painted Caves'' had the same conversations repeated almost word for word about six times throughout the novel—every time Ayla met someone new, the same conversation went on about how she acquired Wolf. ''Plains of Passage'', with the whole story being one long journey and a six page sex scene every five pages, got pretty boring, too.

** Books five and six (''[[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming|Max]]'' and ''[[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming|Fang]]'') aren't any better, descending into the [[Romantic Plot Tumor|teen relationship wangstfest that would not die.]]

* ''[[In Death]]'' series: A number of readers would argue that this has occurred for this series, but where did it happen is debatable. Still, the book ''New York To Dallas'' has a number of reviewers feeling that the series is going to come to an end soon.

 

** Perhaps lampshaded in this scene:

{{quote|'''Buffy''': Giles, everything's just been so... Xander left Anya at the altar, and Anya's a vengeance demon again... Dawn's a total klepto... money's been so tight that I've been slinging burgers at the Doublemeat Palace... And I've been sleeping with Spike.

* ''[[Angel]]'', much like Buffy, is subject to a lot of argument over this. Many fans found Season 4 to be extremely hard-going, thanks to a Bait-and-Switch Villain, a hefty portion of [[Squick]], and the continually annoying [[Wangst]] of Connor. Summed up nicely by Gunn's description of the season thus-far as "a supernatural soap-opera." Nearly everyone agrees that Season 4 was a nadir, but opinion is divided on whether the show improved when Season 5 came around.

* ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'''s fandom generally agrees that either Season 3 or Season 4 suffered from this; Depending on the side of the arguement you take, Season Four suffered for being unable to pass the high standards set by Season Three, (Gabrielle's pacifism phase is often cited as the primary downfall of the season), or Season Three's "Rift" arc (which lead to the critically acclaimed [[Musical Episode]] "The Bitter Suite") being disliked by certain fans.

* ''[[Double the Fist]]'' was originally displayed as a reality TV show where the main characters antics towards an episodic goal were reported on by Steve. Series Two, while good in its own right, got a lot of hate for instead choosing to have a complex plot sprawling the entire season.

* ''[[Six Feet Under]]'': most fans agree that the fourth season is the worst one, and the creators themselves tend to agree. Character-arcs tended to become redundant, out-of-place, irrelevant, or overly gratuitous in their content; it was at that time that the scenarists understood they could not keep using the same characters forever and decided the next season would be the last. Nevertheless it's still top-quality television, but watching it you really do feel the writers were starting to get a bit confused. It's also compensated by the fact both the beginning and the end are top-notch ; the fifth season also did a good job explaining the relevance of more controversial plotlines introduced during season four.

** ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'': The hastily [[Uncancelled]] [[Post Script Season|third season.]] [[Screwed by the Network|The slashed budget did not help matters.]]

** ''[[Star Trek: The 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 [[The McCoy]], but she came across as cold. Some of the later seasons may have descended back into Seasonal Rot, 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 reverse Seasonal Rot in that the show [[Growing the Beard|actually started poorly and rose in esteem later.]]

** 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, due to the jarring change of premise to a prison comedy with the old crew brought back to life as opposed to the more natural progression from series 5 through 7.

* ''[[Sliders]]'': Universally, season three, during which Maggie was introduced, Professor Arturo had a [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|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.

** In the new series, despite the great performances of the cast and the occasional great episode, series 2 (season 28) is considered the least-well written of the first five by the fandom, and certainly overall worse than Eccleston's sole series, due in part to an over reliance in the romance of the Doctor/Rose ship and acting a little on the goofy side even for ''Who'', despite Tennant's Doctor being in some ways darker than Eccleston's.

*** To add to the above example, despite the poor reception of Tennant's first tenure, it is also considered that Tennant's performance as the Doctor was fantastic, as it showed he could handle the revived role that Eccleston had set the bar pretty high for, as it catapulted him to star status and made him the most popular Doctor since Tom Baker, another positive is the finale, which had Daleks vs Cybermen and was a very satisfactory ending that wrapped up all plot points from the first two series.

** Since Seasons 2, 3, 5 and 7 are generally considered some of the best seasons (obviously debatable, but at least S5 is universally acclaimed), a distinct pattern can be seen: all non-prime-numbered seasons are subpar.

* 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 and a prison guard being signed by the NBA. This all in stark contrast to the gritty realism of the show's early seasons.

** 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 [[Purple Prose]], and not moving forward at all with the plot.

*** Lana returning easily derailed the entire season, putting all the established plotlines (which were well-liked) on hold in favor of milking the guest star, who was already the most hated character on the show thanks to previous seasons. The butchering of Doomsday didn't help either, especially since unlike Mxyzptlk he was a regular. The sad thing is, the first half of Season 8 was universally beloved and halfway into the season fans and critics were already praising it as one of the best seasons yet, and it successfully breathed enough life back into the show to allow it to last a few more seasons. Then the Lana plot arrived mid-season and all the momentum was thrown off course. It seems that a LOT of the fans never completely forgave the showrunners.

** The first half of Season 3 was arguably worse. The writers heard the complaints that Season 2 was too slowly paced, and lacking twists. Their answer? A [[Random Events Plot]] and one [[Aborted Arc]] 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 its third season and the fourth and final season, though fans argue by how much.

* ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'': The season five time jump aborts numerous storylines such as Bree and Orson being new parents while the relationship between Mike and Susan once again got haphazardly changed in order to drag out the "Will they or won't they" drama.

** The 20th season (1994-1995) also stands out as particularly bad. Between Phil Hartman's departure, the popularity of the O.J. Simpson murder trial (which ''SNL'' repeatedly wrote sketches about during this time—when it didn't write sketches laden with [[Ho Yay]] or [[Overly Long Gag]]s disguised as sketches with some semblance of a plot), and cast and crew tensions backstage (particularly with [[Janeane Garofalo]], who hated the juvenile humor of the show and left mid-season), it's really not hard to see why some critics and fans have compared season 20 with season 6 in terms of sheer unwatchability (though, like season 11, Weekend Update was considered a bright spot in an otherwise messy season—this time, with Norm MacDonald as the anchor, though even Weekend Update suffered from being weak and repetitive just like the rest of season 20).

* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'':

** Season 7 was boring largely because of [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot]] with Castiel and Crowley and instead substituted the Leviathans, who are seen as the most boring villains in the show's run: [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot|the abrupt dropping of the very-promising-sounding Cosmic New Order at the beginning of the season (Castiel was going to be the new God, while Crowley was already the king of Hell),]] was disappointing. This storyline (just imagine the awesomeness of Sam and Dean being caught up in a cold war between Cas and Crowley while desperately trying to get Cas to return to sanity) had the fans pumped and excited, and one really wonders just what the hell the writers were thinking when they threw it out. Castiel {{spoiler|was killed off}}, and Crowley just [[Brother Chuck|vanished from the plot with absolutely no explanation, and hasn't been seen or mentioned since, despite having been an important character.]] And who takes their place? The Leviathans, who were a complete [[Ass Pull]], and remained extremely vague in their abilities for several episodes. The writers themselves apparently couldn't figure out what to do with them, so they had them disappear for long stretches of time while still trying to make them out to be this huge threat...except that their goals were completely undefined, resulting in a sense that [[Vagueness Is Coming]]. Eventually they had an episode where their leader becomes a [[Strawman Political]] [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] so they could do a poorly-written [[Take That]] on conservatives and libertarians (which only served to offend some of the fanbase). Then the Leviathans ''disappeared AGAIN'' for an even longer stretch of episodes. They weren't doing very much onscreen, but Sam and Dean's dialogue constantly exhorted the audience to remember that [[Vagueness Is Coming]]. The fandom also was deprived of {{spoiler|Bobby and the Impala}} for most of the season, resulting in further dissatisfaction towards an already-boring season. Really, the introduction of [[Plucky Comic Relief]] character Garth may have been the season's only decent contribution.

* The last two seasons of ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'' [[Retool|changed so much]] that the show was nearly unrecognizable.

** And now Season 15, which had a whiny, mediocre cast full of pseudo-celebrities running on a subpar course. It did not help either that three teams essentially quit the race when they came up against something too difficult (which included, of all things, going down a waterslide and unscrambling the name Franz).

* ''[[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.

* ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'', while generaly considered to be [[Too Good to Last]], had a weaker story arc involving Charlize Theron. Acknowledged by the creators in the episode "SOBs":

{{quote|'''George Sr.:''' Hey, we can have some celebrities in. Oscar winners, like Nicole Kidman...

** Part of the reason season 3 suffered was having only thirteen episodes. Many plot points seem rushed. George is put under house arrest with no explanation for why he didn't get sent back to jail.

* ''[[Survivor]]'': Season 5 ("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.

* ''[[Chef]]'' ran three series in the early 90's. The first two are sharp, witty, and a wonderful vehicle for [[Lenny Henry]]. The third series... it's almost impossible to believe it is the same show.

* The fourth season of ''[[Due South]]''. Several problems contributed to this: the season premiere (Doctor Longball) is not nearly as memorable or exciting as the others from seasons past, the episodes go back to the well of "unmentioned friend/colleague from Fraser/Stanley's past is in need of help," there are no real guest stars or memorable episodes (until the finale), and there's an increasing reliance on Fraser's spiritual conversations with his dead father. The loss of Paul Haggis as a contributor also meant that a lot of the imagery, themes and quotable lines that were prevalent in the first two seasons also disappeared. Luckily, the series slightly rebounded with the excellent 2-part finale, "Call of the Wild."

** Season 9 ended up being this too. Most fans seem to think that [[Degrassi]] was at its weakest when trying to juggle the kids actually going to Degrassi, and the kids who've already graduated. In fact, it seems to be the conclusion that in general seasons 6-9 (sometimes this even extends to the second half of ''Season 4'') were pretty weak compared to the previous seasons, due to the aformentioned character juggling, but also the increasing production clout The N had over the series and how the series became even ''more'' overly-dramatic. Then season 10 happened. And now, it would seem that we are in the "Degrassi Renaissance".

* All fans agree ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]'' had Seasonal Rot, but depending on who you ask, it starts at season 4, 5, 6 or 8. And for some, it's seasons 1-3. Season 4 saw Henry Blake and Trapper replaced by Colonel Potter and B.J., and the series started moving from its tone firmly from comedy towards more drama. Head writer and developer Larry Gelbart left after season 4. After season five, Frank Burns was replaced with Charles Winchester, executive producer Gene Reynolds was replaced by Burt Metcalfe, and Alan Alda (who played Hawkeye) got more control over the series, with the anti-war message becoming more and more [[Anvilicious]]. Radar O'Reilly disappeared from the series in season 8, by which time the entire original writing staff had been replaced.

* Oddly enough, the very first series of ''[[Blackadder]]'' seems to suffer this. It's almost universally panned and rarely shown in syndication. In fact, the show was actually canceled after the first series due to it not being well-received. It was only after Elton and Curtis stripped it down and made it into one of the cheapest production value shows on the BBC that the show was given a second chance, heavily retooled, and made into the Blackadder we all know and love.

* ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'' takes a steep dive in Season 6. The first two episodes complete an arc centered on a Zoroastrian demon, whereas in previous seasons all "supernatural" elements were debunked (save the Immortals' existence). Thereafter, the main character and supporting cast disappear most of the time, and different Immortal women are "auditioned" for a possible spin-off series. Of the 13 episodes, only "Indiscretions" and the two-part series finale are worth watching.

** Season 5 was arguably the weakest of the lot - Phoebe's [[Took a Level in Jerkass|sudden Jerkass ways]] began there, fan-favorite Cole was suddenly written as a [[Designated Villain]], a lackluster one hundredth episode, and a return to episodic storytelling after two seasons of arc-driven stories.

** Actually quite some people think that Season 6 is one of the best. It's a return to the arc-based storytellng, has future Chris, and an epic two-parter finale.

** This happened because of new Nick show ''[[Victorious]]''. The same production company and [[Dan Schneider|show runner]] produce both. Limited resources meant that at the time they couldn't film both at the same time. It led to a yawning gap of months and months in airings of ''[[iCarly]]'' episodes. There is also a distinct impression that the best ideas of the production group are being used on Victorious. There are also annoyed fans who dislike how obvious the push over the new show over the old one has become. One major example of this push is that the [[Crossover]] between the two shows used 3 episodes out of the 13 that had been budgetted for ''[[iCarly]]'' Season 4 despite revolving around the Victorious cast.

*** Season 5 has taken the show to new lows of ratings and quality. While Seasons 2, 3 and 4 were all roughly similar rated on average, Season 5 with its Seddie arc dropped the average of the other 3 seasons by ''millions'', and the final episode of the Seddie arc, ''iLove You'', was at the time the 2nd lowest rated episode ever.

* The British children's series ''[[Bernard's Watch]]'' started out as just a simple series about a boy with a magic watch that could freeze time, which he used to fix various problems he ran into. But [[Uncanceled|post-revival]] the show focused mainly on Bernard's misadventures in school, and the series now seemed to have some kind of misogynistic agenda, as now all of Bernard's problems were caused by the [[Alpha Bitch]] who was constantly bullying him and his teacher who [[Does Not Like Men|hates boys]] and gives special treatment to girls (especially [[Alpha Bitch]]).

* For ''[[Babylon 5]]'', the consensus is that the fifth and final season suffered this badly, particularly during the "Telepath Arc". Mainly due to the show's original cancellation at the end of the fourth season, which caused many plot arcs destined for the fifth season to be crammed in early, leaving relatively little for the last season to work with.

* Oxygen's show ''[[Hair Battle Spectacular]]'' is currently suffering this with its second season. While the first season had a [[So Bad It's Good]] vibe to it that was zany, the second season screwed the show over, dropping everyone except for the [[Camp Gay|queertastic]] mentor Derek J. The main problem was that it dropped the likable Brooke Burns in favor of [[Ethnic Scrappy|Eva]] [[Replacement Scrappy|Marcille]], therefore removing the main reason why the first season was better than Oxygen's previous attempt in the 'hair competition' genre ''Tease''.

** Also, the second season allowed two fat chicks in the competition as stylists. These are not '[[Hollywood Fat]]' fat, but 'morbidly-obese' fat: A sure-fire ratings killer!

* Series 14 of ''[[Top Gear]]'' is generally considered one of the weakest seasons of the show, with an over-reliance on scripted gags, rehashed jokes/challenges and focusing more on the characters of Jeremy, James, and Richard, instead of the actual presenters. (By which I mean, the caricature-like versions of the presenters, i.e. Jeremy being a ham-fisted oaf, rather than Jeremy's own personality.) Thankfully, the quality of later seasons (especially 17) is on the rise.

* All [[Irwin Allen]] series. Each one starts off with an interesting premise, a serious tone and good production values, but by season three the cast is fighting giant carrots. Fans have long noted that the quality of his series is inversely proportional to how long they lasted -- ''[[Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea]]'' managed four seasons and by the end most episodes practically had chorus lines of [[Non Sequitur Scene|big lipped alligators]]; ''[[Lost in Space]]'' went for three and was transitioning from campy to bad by the end, while ''[[Land of the Giants]]'' lasted two and stayed [[So Bad It's Good]]. ''[[The Time Tunnel]]'', which got canned after just one year, was only beginning to show signs of decay by the end of its run.

** After this [[CBS]] decided to [[Retool]] the show as ''[[Archie Bunker's Place]]'' which limped on for 97 more episodes that saw the series shift from [[Dom Com]] to [[Work Com]], the death of {{spoiler|Edith}} and Archie growing into a kinder, less ignorant person with an ethnically diverse social circle which effectively killed his effectiveness as an [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist]].

* Season 5 of ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', which came packed full of [[Flanderization]], terrible handling of a romance plotline, piling on the [[Denser and Wackier]] 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 [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|the main plot]] to make any sense. After Barney and Robin's breakup, the characters had basically no development whatsoever for the rest of the season, which basically crippled the show's ever-present character-driven momentum. However, it never actually jumped the shark by doing 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 [[Will They or Won't They?]] arc.

* For fans of the original run of the Gothic soap opera ''[[Dark Shadows (TV series)|Dark Shadows]]'', the fall seems to have started anywhere between the over-extended 1897 arc and the modern-day Leviathan Cult arc that immediately followed it. Some have said that the 1840 arc toward the end of the series nearly revitalized things, but once the transition was made into 1841 Parallel Time, things were pretty much over.

* Some ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' fans would place this in season three with its poorly received NYU plot and the way the writers sabotaged Chuck and Blair's relationship. Generally though season four is considered to be this trope. Far too much focus on guest stars and the show becoming more and more plot driven at the expense of characterization were the initial reasons, followed by sidelining Chuck and Serena in uninspired subplots in order to isolate Dan and Blair so they could become friends. The Dair storyline is subject to debate in this regard since some fans felt the show got much better but there are just as many fans who hate the pairing with a passion and feel the show has been [[Ruined FOREVER]].

*** Admittedly season six is the last for which the actors were contracted, but as a result of Joshua Safran's insistence on turning it into ''Everybody Loves Blair And So Will '''YOU''', Dammit'' (result? Some of the show's lowest ratings ''ever'') it's definitely the final season and a reduced season at that. [[Sarcasm Mode|Wow, that worked out well didn't it?]]

* ''[[Boy Meets World]]'': Season 7. It had a few good episode and some very memorable moments (i.e. "Playswithsquirrels"), but it was not very good overall. It had many [[Denser and Wackier|wacky and cartoonish]] plotlines that didn't fit with the series, tons of [[Mood Whiplash]] between the wacky plotlines and serious plotlines, [[Flanderization]] up the wazoo, especially with Eric who went from being ditzy to being mentally insane, and just not as many laughs to be had. Fortunately, this was the final season and the finale ended the series on a good note.

* After the second series of ''[[Primeval]]'', the reactions to the show have been very mixed. Critics appear to dislike the fourth series the most, with the fans mainly targeting their hate towards 3 and 4.

* Arguably, ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'' began to rot when Bo & Luke exited and replaced with Coy & Vance. But even after Bo & Luke returned, the show had already shown its age. We already know that the Dukes clan was all goody-goody. It got to the point where you were no longer booing and hissing the star villains Boss Hogg & Sherrif Coltrane, but looking forward to their stark contrast to the Dukes' personalities, and relishing in their comic-relief antics. Especially since Roscoe ''[[Took a Level in Badass]]'' downgrade to become more of a 12-year-old who lives for "hot pursuit." ("Good news, good news! yuk yuk yuk!")

* ''[[Community]]'' looks to be hitting this with season 3, with several episodes poorly handling the characterization and several times up and making previously entertaining characters like Jeff, Annie, Chang, and even Abed completely unlikable, and an increased emphasis on the gimmick episodes which was growing since late in the first season. With creator Dan Harmon leaving as showrunner, possibly because of his real-life feud with cast member Chevy Chase, it looks like the rot may be getting even worse for season four.

 

* [[The Beach Boys]] after ''Pet Sounds'', though their early '70s albums have been [[Vindicated by History]].

 

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' had this problem late in the 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons days, though it was a different sort of rot than usual. Rather than a drop in quality, it was a drop in usability; too many products came out which were not marketable to a general audience, resulting in declining sales and the eventual death of TSR. When WotC took it over, the quality went up, as did the marketability, but 3rd and 3.5 edition suffered greatly from wanting to advance the game towards where it needed to go, while simultaneously trying to avoid annoying the old fans. This resulted in a system which lacked the charm of the older editions, while simultaneously greatly magnifying the issues of [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards]]. It took 4th edition before WotC finally took the steps necessary to truly fix the game, resulting in a great deal of angst from certain players. Those players, however, will contend that it is 4th edition which falls to seasonal rot, as the newly instilled game balance came at a massive reduction in character building options.

 

* The 2005 "Toa Hordika" story arc of ''[[Bionicle]]'' tends to come up as the worst year in discussions, at least it's more universally disliked than some other unpopular years, such as 2009 and 2010. Even the writer himself feels it felt tacked on—which it basically was. So much effort was put into designing the 2004 setting (Metru Nui) that the guys at [[LEGO]] wanted to do more with it, even though the story was arleady fully wrapped up in the previous year. Thus along came the second Metru Nui arc, during which the protagonists turned into hideous beasts (whose toys were also quite unspectacular and bland), the story got needlessly dark and confusing, and due to [[Executive Meddling]], the main hero had such a sudden [[Out of Character]]-moment that the writer detests his part of the story to this day. The only good things to have come out of the story were the character Roodaka ([[Fetish Fuel|who quickly became a fan-favorite]]) and the book ''Time Trap'', but only because its plot was completely unrelated to the bigger arc.

 

** The "One Two" (aka the "Primitive Cultures develop Sesame Street") and "Anatomy Text" strips are considered the major points of contention, as the first is considered the point where Randall's (somewhat hypocritical) contempt for non "hard science" majors became overbearing, and the Anatomy strip is just considered [[Squick|offensive in general]].

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' 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 [[Fanon Discontinuity|pretend it never happened]].

** Still others found it a fairly interesting change of pace that had [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot|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.

* [http://www.cracked.com/article_18696_the-lifespan-every-tv-show-ever-5Bcomic5D.html Abnormality] mentions it, along with [[Franchise Zombie]] and [[Early Installment Weirdness]] tropes.

* ''[[Survivor Fan Characters]]'': Season 8 is widely considered by fans to be its worst season due to its suffering from an overabundance of [[Flat Character]]s and plain unlikable characters, the shafting of [[Character Development]] for bland strategy and repetitive jokes, and a finale that came across as "Isn't this [[Boring Invincible Hero|Boring Invincible Villain]] awesome, and aren't these two guys utter tools who exist just to make her look even more awesome?" to many readers. Most fans agree that the series recovered with Season 9, however.

 

* The fifth season of ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]''. Largely after the writers were given [[Protection From Editors|free rein contentwise]], meaning we got a ton of overtly gross-out storylines with rotting corpses and severed penises, as well as Master Shake murdering a cat.

** Season 3 is the beginning of the show being less consistently good, and Season 4 is when the plots, on average, became much more visceral and dark.

** While we're on ''[[Ninja Turtles]]'', Season 6 is generally considered the weak point of [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 series)|the 2003 series]], due to being much [[Lighter and Softer]] than previous seasons, sending the Turtles to the future for no apparent reason, introducing a [[Scrappy]] supporting cast member in the form of April and Casey's [[Child Prodigy]] great-grandson, and, oh yeah - the fact that, on the order of the [[Executive Meddling|toy company executives]], the writers were forced to ''skip directly from Season 4 to Season 6'' due to the executives feeling Season 5 [[Merchandise-Driven|wouldn't sell toys as well]]. This was particularly painful because Season 5 contained ''the resolution of the show's [[Myth Arc]]''. And once Season 5 did finally come out to much acclaim, the executives' orders seemed even more nonsensical; wouldn't characters like the Acolytes, the true forms of the Foot Mystics and Ninja Tribunal, [[Big Bad|the Tengu]] and his demonic minions, and {{spoiler|the Turtles' dragon forms}} have made great toys?

* ''[[Drawn Together]]'', the first half of Season 3, when the show became [[Darker and Edgier|too dark]] [[Dude, Not Funny|for its own good.]]

** Fans also say that seasons 12 and 15 are suffering rot as well, the latter for deliberately [[Character Derailment|derailing]] the characters for a melodramatic two-parter that ultimately went nowhere.

* ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' fans consider Seasons 3 and 4 (or if not that, just Season 3) to be inferior to the first two story-wise (though far superior stylistically). While Season 2 involved and ended with an exploration into the computer's past and the progression of the major romance arcs, the next two seasons shunted that to the side in favor of episodic filler, which was more often than not dedicated to the increasingly-unfunny escapades of the comic relief characters, particularly Jim.

* ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force]]'' was [[Contested Sequel|contested as is]], but its third and final season, featuring an ungodly [[Villain Decay|villain decayed]] Vilgax as the [[Big Bad]], is considered much weaker than the first two, which both shared the Highbreed arc. ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]'', on the other hand, got the Seasonal Rot going in its ''second'' season, with tons of filler episodes, characters further acting like idiots, and a convoluted main arc plot involving the Forever Knights which, after Season 1's menacing main threat, just can't measure up. Its last episodes fortunately corrected in later episodes, as said arc turned to also involve an [[Eldritch Abomination]] and Vilgax turning back into an actually dangerous, [[Manipulative Bastard]] villain.

* Season 7 of ''[[Family Guy]]'', due to the amount of episodes [[Anvilicious|focused]] [[Writer on Board|on]] [[Author Avatar|Brian's political views]], as well as a few terrible episode premises (i.e. "Not All Dogs Go To Heaven"), massive [[Flanderization]] of the whole main cast (i.e. Peter's reckless behavior in "Baby Not on Board"), and, of course, [[Non Sequitur Scene|a five-minute long Conway Twitty cutaway]]. Part of the reason behind the seasonal rot can be attributed to the 2007-2008 WGA strike that plunged a lot of shows into getting canceled, going on hiatus, or suffering through seasonal rot.

** The decline finally got reverted in Season 9, especially when Stephen Hillenburg returned as showrunner for the second half of the season after the release of the second movie.

* Chris Savino's run of ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'' (seasons 3 and 4) and ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' (seasons 5 and 6) were heavily criticized by fans due to the fact that these seasons made [[Executive Meddling|without the original creators]] after the shows were [[Uncancelled]] due to boring plots, ungodly amounts of [[Flanderization]], and a really unfitting art style. Plus, with ''Dexter's Laboratory'', they got rid of the Justice Friends and Dial M for Monkey segments.

** Fans of ''[[Show Within a Show|All My Circuits]]'' are also split about Bender's run as Calculon's son. Younger viewers loved his [[Do Not Do This Cool Thing|glamorizing views on smoking and burglary]] while parents despised him as an [[Moral Guardians|antisocial rolemodel]].

** ''Futurama'' itself is considered by many to be going through this in seasons five and six, ever since it resumed airing new episodes on [[Comedy Central]].

** And, to a lesser extent, Season 5, probably due to it coming directly after the extremely well-received Season 4. It's still generally accepted, though, mainly due to its awesome [[Grand Finale]] (the two-part final battle, ''not'' the [[Broken Base|controversial]] actual last episode.)

** Thankfully, the rot finally got reverted during Seasons 17-21. With Andrew Brenner replacing Sharon Miller as head writer, the series was set to recapture the charm of the classic era and the Railway Series Books.

** Sadly, the rot relapsed during Seasons 22-24 (AKA "Big World! Big Adventures!") when a lot of changes were introduced to the series that didn't go over well with fans, like removing Edward and Henry from the Steam Team, the introduction of two new female characters Nia and Rebecca after complaints that the series was not diverse enough, having Thomas travel around the world (which, while not a bad thing in particular, was poorly handled), the introduction of imagination sequences, faster paced visuals, and the mix of cartoon physics with realistic physics.

* To some, season two of ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'' is this, thought YMMV. Over focus on romantic side plots, less focus on their battles and less action. Thought the ending managed to fix that by revealing [[The Masquerade]], leading to it [[Growing the Beard]] in Season 3.

* Even the most staunch of its fans will admit that so far, season 5 of ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' has been complete and utter garbage. Apparently, it's not enough to deter the execs, who have already ordered a season 6 against the wishes of many people who would rather see that time and effort put towards a second season of ''[[Titan Maximum]]'', the show Seth Green unceremoniously self-cancelled to increase his focus on ''Chicken''.

** More accurately, the episodes from the middle of the third season just haven't been as good as episodes from the second season and the first half of the third. That said, the show is still quite good - it just seems to have peaked in quality sometime around the [[Big Damn Movie]], ''[[Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension]]''.

 

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[[Category:Index Decay]]

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