>>149727283
Season 4 and 5 were pretty much released concurrently with each other, so it's really them as a whole, and that's when most of the complaints of characters getting flanderized and autismo-triggering episodes like A Wishful Life, and I remember people railing against Sarah Frost and other directors and a lot of the shows woes being blamed on Hartman working on DP.
Then again, I always found it hard to believe that FOP was cancelled because of ratings in season 5. I think Hartman legitimately wanted out, he said so in a long-post on his forum (I know a few of the archive turboautists here might be able to dig it up, but it was the post where he announced Danny Phantom's cancellation). But other projects just fell through and he was forced back into it. Season 6 and the mistakes beyond always felt a bit like self-sabotage more than anything.