10 Bad Seasons Of Otherwise Great TV Shows

Here's another example of a season right after the showrunner was fired, although unfortunately with The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin was gone for good. Supposedly he never even watched the seasons after his departure. 

Sorkin was fired from the show after the fourth season, leaving the writers of Season 5 struggling to keep the ship afloat without him. They did an okay job, but Season 5 definitely had a lot of problems, and it's hard not to imagine what could have been if Sorkin stayed on board.

First of all, it's the darkest and most unpleasant stretch of episodes, with a lot of the Aaron Sorkin feelings of hope and optimism starting to fade away. It's barely ever that funny, whereas in the Sorkin years, humor was a huge part of the show's tone. Characters like Toby are starting to just become dark, brooding jerks, and of course there's the famous scene of Josh screaming at the capitol building.

It's an unpleasant year full of everyone being mean to each other in a series that used to be so notably upbeat, although it does have the truly excellent Supreme Court episode. Luckily, even without Sorkin back on board, The West Wing was able to quickly recover, and Season 6 and Season 7 were both fantastic, shifting focus to the presidential campaign and breathing new life into the series.