Spongebob Squarepants
Well I can't answer that question for every show. But I can say with affirmation - Spongebob Squarepants is not worth watching anymore! I was going to break down every season and every episode to help define my response but there were complete seasons where not one single episode could match up with the quality of the first few seasons. So how did the show devolve?
The Beginning: Stephen McDannell Hillenburg was a man who pretty much wanted to create a wholesome show about sea creatures he thought up one day. I call Seasons 1-3 "The Golden Era". There was an even number of awesome, average, and terrible episodes. Awesome episodes, like "Bubblestand (2a)", "Pizza Delivery (5a)", "Dying for Pie (24a)", "Band Geeks (35b)", "Idiot Box (44b)" demonstrate a civil relationship between Spongebob and Squidward. One being optimistic in everything he does and one pessimistic after years of being rejected. In each case you see their identities sort of switch as they both try to achieve a common goal.
Objectively, there are actually a few episodes that are terrible. There are some episodes where it is embarrassing to see Spongebob continue to make things worse for people because nothing is being done to rectify the problem. Both "My Pretty Seahorse (42b)" and "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve (49b)" stand up as episodes I refuse to watch because they tack on a problem that never should have happened in the first place. "Your Shoe's Untied (21a)" would also fit that description if it wasn't the fact it was trying to be educational. Plenty of episodes demonstrate the character's flaws without extending the consequences of those mistakes onto other people.
I've heard from many people about how funny The Spongebob Squarepants Movie was. I think it reached that knife's edge of being just a tad too ridiculous. We received a dumbed-down King Neptune that isn't anything like the one in "Neptune's Spatula (19b)". We got a somewhat risque version of Patrick and an ignorant version of Spongebob. It made me question how the movie could contrast the series so much in both animation and tone. At least there was some sort of educational point of what it means to be an adult in there somewhere. But that is when I realized that it was only the beginning.
The Change: Stephen Hillenburg essentially steps down while Paul Tibbitt decides to take control of the intellectual property of Spongebob Squarepants. That is when things changed. Seasons 4-9 is the "Money Era". It is when the characters stopped feeling like normal characters. They become one-trait jokes. Flanderization as it were. It is hard to explain as many of these episodes revolve around these exact characterizations. Ms. Puff's whole life is to pass Spongebob's driving course, Plankton's whole life is to steal the Krabby Patty formula, Squidward Tentacles whole life is to get revenge on Spongebob as seen in "Little Yellow Book (182a)" . Even Mr. Krabs will ultimately do anything to make more money, sometimes being blind to the fact that the consequences outweighs the expense: "One Krabs Trash (46b)", "Born Again Krabs (56a)", "Money Talks (88a)", "Penny Foolish (102a), "Kracked Krabs (132b)", "The Cent of Money (139b)", and "Married to Money (196b)".
But something else changed. It wasn't just the fact that I stopped relating or even caring about the characters anymore. The overall number of visual gags saturated the story. Characters physically morphed to unbelievable heights, reactions were exaggerated, and the ignorance of everyday ordinary activities made me cringe in 90% of the episodes. "That's No Lady (75b)", "The Gift of Gum (80b)", "House Fancy (101a)", "The Splinter (105a)", "Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy (129a)", A Pal for Gary (131b)" are only just a few of the terrible ones I can think of!
Although the number of average episodes remained the same, the number of "good" episodes can be counted on both hands. That's right - 9 good episodes in 6 seasons. They are: Squidward's innovation in "Krusty Tower (69a)", Spongebob's tomfoolery actually helping Squidward "The Two Faces of Squidward (99a)" and "Enchanted Tiki Dreams (145b)", interesting perspective into culture "Dear Vikings (114a)", number of continuity references in the special "Spongebob Last Stand (134)", Comic-book references of Mermaidman and Barnicle Boy in "Back to the Past (135a)" and "Mermaidman Begins (163a)", a happy (in a non-violent kind of way) Plankton in "Plankton's Pet (186b)", and Pearl learning about popularity in "Mall Girl Pearl (197a)".
It is kind of amusing that the top 100 episodes here and here include episodes just from the first four seasons (except for "Sand Castles in the Sand (121a)" and "Spongebob Vs. the Patty Gadget (88b)" both being rather decent episodes). Even random reviewers like this one agrees with me on most of my points completely by accident!
At least they made attempts to do different things. Season 5 starts off with origin stories for Mr. Krabs and Plankton "Friend or Foe (81)" with mild results and the completely unnecessary downgrading of Spongebob's abilities in "The Original Fry Cook (82a)". Season 7 had six Bikini Bottom Legend Episodes (140a - 142b) and Season 8 had five Vacation Episodes (159 - 161b). Certain holiday specials contained stop-motion with episodes 156 (mildy), 175, and 220.
Then something very unusual came out February 5, 2015. They released The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. The first half of the movie had me laughing, smiling, and chuckling. Some of the jokes were solid and the humor was very down-to-earth. Then the movie turned to 3D-animation style and it wasn't that appealing anymore. But the whole thing surprised me. Could this be a prelude to a better Spongebob? Was this a chance for them to revert back to their greatness 15 years earlier?
ReInvention: Seasons 10 - 11 answers that question with a maybe. While standard episodes usually have 40 12-minute episodes and a few specials, Season 10 had a total of 22 episodes. Many of these episodes do not stand out as interesting episodes. "House Worming (207b)" was very gross in its implications. Yet the concept in "Burst Your Bubble (210b)" was worth exploring.
Season 11 slowly detracted from petty revenge stories but still continued its over-simplification of character development with crazy and wacky story-telling. Oddly enough, this season definitely had my attention a lot more than the previous other seasons. "Spot Returns (217a)", "Doodle Dimension (229a)", and "Bubbletown (240a)" bring back old characters. "Squid Noir (224a)" had an excellent setting while "My Leg! (231a)" was more meta than I could handle. "Whale Watching (233a)" was pretty wholesome to a closer Pearl-Squidward relationship. The only terrible episode I can think of is "Ink Lemonade (231b)".
This is also when I realized that they were really trying to push more educational episodes. Every now and then you will get an episode with Sandy Cheeks going into more details on technology and science. I noticed it first in Season 9's "The Fish Bowl (196a)" but more apparent in showing off what sea-critters naturally do in "Feral Friends (215a)" and physics in "Goons on the Moon (237)".
Summary: I have a feeling the creator of Spongebob Squarepants never expected to exceed three seasons. Without his guidance, the animated show turns into a repetitive slop of mindless entertainment and vulgar humor to hold your attention. This could be either good or bad depending on what you value most from your characters.
9-14-2019