The first season of this series is top notch with its characters and humor.
The second season maintains this. Not quite as strong as season 1, but season 1 set a very high bar (no pun intended).
The third season is still good, but there's signs of its quality dwindling.
Season 4, a portion of the episodes started to get irritating.
Season 5, this was when the show got more annoying than irritating, and when everyone hated Diane.
Season 6, a very refreshing change of pace, with the introduction of a great new character running the bar.
Season 7+, the show pretty much runs out of steam. Sure there's some episodes here and there, but they did appear on a consistent basis (let alone a regular one). And the new character from season 6 downgrades in quality the longer the show goes on. In fact, everyone degrades in quality. Early in the show, just about everyone was a love-able jerk. Now they're just flat-out jerks.
Thankfully, the very last episode of the series ends on the best high note possible. So at least it had that going for it. Most sitcoms, especially those that run past their prime (which is virtually all of them) usually aren't lucky enough to get that much.
The second season maintains this. Not quite as strong as season 1, but season 1 set a very high bar (no pun intended).
The third season is still good, but there's signs of its quality dwindling.
Season 4, a portion of the episodes started to get irritating.
Season 5, this was when the show got more annoying than irritating, and when everyone hated Diane.
Season 6, a very refreshing change of pace, with the introduction of a great new character running the bar.
Season 7+, the show pretty much runs out of steam. Sure there's some episodes here and there, but they did appear on a consistent basis (let alone a regular one). And the new character from season 6 downgrades in quality the longer the show goes on. In fact, everyone degrades in quality. Early in the show, just about everyone was a love-able jerk. Now they're just flat-out jerks.
Thankfully, the very last episode of the series ends on the best high note possible. So at least it had that going for it. Most sitcoms, especially those that run past their prime (which is virtually all of them) usually aren't lucky enough to get that much.