Thread:Fire Eater/@comment-25086035-20150310180804/@comment-1037137-20150310195700

I'm glad I'm not the only one to find TDPI underwhelming. Not terrible, but by no means great. The season is less painful than TDAS, but that's probably just because the elements from TDI they keep destroying with each subsequent season are not present here. And in this, the season was oftentimes unfunny and more of an annoyance, with more than half the cast being people I could not bring myself to care about save for five. And only five. Not good in a cast of thirteen, so it's my least favorite cast. And realism definitely has been thrown out the window. I GUESS I can sort of excuse the artificial nature of the island, but everything else about it kind of tests things a bit. Though not as bad as say TDAS, I don't know. And the challenges definitely fell flat. They don't stand out unless you're talking Scarlett Fever, which I didn't even think was that brilliant.

Though the interactions I'll admit are a step up from ROTI, a season I still do like in spite of its major, major flaws. Interactions were not a strong suit in that season, at least here they felt more varied for the most part. Like everyone was not necessarily confined to their own chosen inner circles, regardless of whether they were friends or enemies.

That they are not. Not even TDA and TDWT succeeded in that, with TDA lacking any real energy or direction and TDWT giving in to some really ridiculous nonsense that otherwise broke the flow of a season that was initially doing very good. But to make matters worse, as of late the show does seem too preoccupied with its kid appeal which is not even done correctly and in being as over-the-top and dramatic as possible but never thinking this stuff through before they put it in, with so many plots ending up abandoned or destroyed along the way. There's no concern for character development and balance, consistency, or anything beyond the raw drama, which even this show cannot afford to limit itself to.

And I agree that the ROTI cast is not fleshed out enough. There were some excellent people in that crowd and they didn't exploit their full potential, and eventually shifted all focus exclusively to Mike and Zoey, who ended up taking over pretty much the whole show in TDAS to a catastrophic level, at the expense of the 2nd AND 1st casts, the first having not competed in any way in three years prior, and their return here was completely ruined. And as for the 3rd cast, either they will get replaced or they will be derailed next. Derailment is a major issue with the show, and the primary reason I think it is on the decline.

Yes, Fresh doesn't have it all together, that much is a given.

Cartoon Network and Teletoon are both responsible for at least some of the more unpopular decisions with Total Drama. They are the ones forcing this shift to a much, much younger audience, CN was responsible for the shortened intro, Teletoon was responsible for the love triangle in TDWT, both studios have had enormously negative creative input that is interfering with the show's original concept and its in-season stories. It's been like that ever since Total Drama came to the States between TDI and TDA. It's no coincidence in my mind that the decline started showing signs at that point in time when that happened. I'm told it's not all Fresh's fault that this is all going on, but they do still shoulder some responsibility. It's their writers who wrote up the things fans did not like most in the series.

Could be a mix of both, perhaps.

Let's hope so. Same with Total Drama if it comes back. They've got to get their act together by the next season if it does eventually come.