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

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

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

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

Making a Seasonal Rot worse is if the creator of the show is still heavily involved.

Notable Offenders The Simpsons (Season 11—present; 1999—present - became the longest decline for any television series) Pokémon (Season 14-16; 2010-2012) The Fairly OddParents (Season 9—10; 2013—2017 - Season 9 introduced Sparky, but due to low ratings he was removed without explanation, but was replaced with a new character: Chloe Charmichael, who was even worse.) SpongeBob SquarePants (Season 6-8; 2008—2012 - The show has redeemed itself and improved since season nine and especially the post-sequel era.) Family Guy (Season 7—present; 2008—present) The Office (Season 8—9; 2011—2013) Fireman Sam (Season 6-present; 2008-present - The show used to be in stop-motion animation but the show went downhill when it switched to CGI) Thomas & Friends (Seasons 8-16, 22-present; 2004-2012, 2018-present - Season 8 introduced a retool for the series. Seasons 8-11 aren't too bad and it wasn't until Season 12 when the rot really started to kick in. It improved in Season 17, but went downhill once again in Season 22 with another retool known as "Big World! Big Adventures" (though not as bad as S12-16), and is going to go downhill even more in Season 25 by looking very cartoony and bouncy and taking away the Brtish tone the franchise had for decades.) Two and a Half Men (Season 9—12; 2011—2015) Oggy and the Cockroaches (Season 4—6; 2012—2018) Johnny Test (Season 4—6; 2009—2014 - Went downhill during the Cartoon Network Era. Similar to SpongeBob, the upcoming seventh and eighth seasons are looking to be improvements.) Total Drama (Total Drama All-Stars & Total DramaRama; 2014, 2018-present) Dexter's Laboratory (Season 3—4; 2001—2003 - Continued after Ego Trip, which sounded like a good series finale) The Powerpuff Girls (Season 5—6; 2003—2005 - Continued after the departure of creator Craig McCracken) Ed, Edd n Eddy (Season 5—6; 2005—2008) Johnny Bravo (Season 4; 2004) The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (Season 5-6; 2005-2007) Game of Thrones (Season 7–8; 2017–2019) Cheers (Season 11; 1992—1993) Danny Phantom (Season 3; 2006-2007) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) (Season 6-7; 2006-2009) The Price is Right (Season 18; 1989—1990, and season 31—audition period of 39; 2002—2011) Looney Tunes (1933—1935, 1962—‎1969) Tom and Jerry (1955-1958, 1961-1962) Saturday Night Live (Seasons 6; 11; 20; 1980-1981; 1985-1986; 1994-1995) Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Seasons 7—17 of the US syndicated version; 2008—2019, and series 22—30 of the UK version; 2007—2014) Betty Boop (1934–1939) Popeye The Sailor (theatrical cartoons) (1949-1957) The Pink Panther (1978-1980) The Loud House (Season 5-present; 2020-present) Bunk'd (Season 3–present; 2018–present; Seasons 3-5 removed several characters, and replaced them with new, unnecessary characters.) The Ren & Stimpy Show (Season 3-5, Adult Party Cartoon; 1993-1996, 2003) SML (Season 8-present; 2016-present) Super Sentai (Season 11 of Showa Era; Hikari Sentai Maskman 1987-1988; Season 13-14, Season 19, Season 22, Season 25, and Seasons 37-39 of Heisei Era; Kousoku Sentai Turboranger 1989-1990; Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman 1990-1991; Chouriki Sentai Ohranger 1995-1996; Seijuu Sentai Gingaman 1998-1999; Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger 2001-2002; Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger 2013-2014; Ressha Sentai ToQger 2014-2015; Shuriken Sentai Ninninger 2015-2016) Minor These are the ones that aren't bad enough for a page here.

American Dad! (Season 11—present; 2014—present) The Big Bang Theory (Season 4—12; 2010—2019) King of the Hill (Season 9—13; 2004—2010) Dragon Ball Z (Season 7—9; 1993—1996) Futurama (Season 6–7; 2008–2013; These seasons were mostly not as well received as the original 1999-2003 run due to flanderization of some characters, bad episodes and continuity errors, however these seasons aren’t too bad and they do have great episodes such as "The Late Philip J. Fry", "The Prisoner of Benda", "Game of Tones" and "Meanwhile") Naruto (2005-2007) The Real Ghostbusters (Season 3—7; 1987—1991) Happy Days (Hollywood Part 3-Fonzie's Spots; 1977-1984; hell, this show made Jump the shark.) Family Feud (1992—2006) Wheel of Fortune (Season 21—present of the syndicated version; 2003—present) Star vs. the Forces of Evil (Season 3-4; 2017-2019) Woody Woodpecker (1962–1972) The Boondocks (Season 4; 2014) Doctor Who (Season 22—24 of the classic series; 1985—1987, and seasons 6—8 and 10—present of the relaunch series; 2011—2014, 2017—present) Regular Show (Season 6–8; 2014–2017) The Amazing World of Gumball (Season 5-6; 2016–2019) Danger Mouse (2015) (Series 2; 2017-2019) SMG4 Series (Season 9-present; 2019-present) Gladiators (Series 5-7; 1996-1998) GamesMaster (Series 5-7; 1995-1998) The Loud House (Season 4; 2019-2020) SpongeBob SquarePants (Seasons 4-5; 9a; 2005-2009; 2012-2014) Angry Birds Toons (Seasons 2-3; 2014-2016) Grojband (second half of Season 1, 2014-2015, until it's 2-part series finale) The Fairly OddParents (Seasons 6-8; 2008-2012) Johnny Test (Seasons 2-3; 2006-2008) Avatar: The Last Airbender (Season 3; 2007-2008) The Simpsons (Seasons 9-10; 1997-1999; The infamous episode "The Principal and the Pauper", it led many fans to believe that The Simpsons went downhill after this episode, however despite this episode, these seasons are still good and many fans still consider these seasons the "Golden Age" for the show.) Saturday Night Live (Seasons 28; 30; 33; 35; 38; 39; 44-present; 2002-2003; 2004-2005; 2007-2008; 2009-2010; 2012-2013; 2013-2014; 2019-present) Turma da Mônica (Seasons 6-present; 2009-present) Rugrats (Season 7-9; 2001-2004) The Angry Beavers (Season 4; 2000-2001) Sesame Street (Season 30-present; 1998-present)