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I did give this new season a try. I wasn't expecting much because of the last couple of seasons and the network switch and it was still a letdown.

The show has never been shy of being cheesy or implausable but it still managed to write it with enough heart to be enjoyable most of the time and not flat out cringe. This season premiere writing is all over the place, most of the characters are unrecognisable and not in the good way. They haven't evolved or different as a natural result of human ability to change, they are like same names, same faces but completely different personality. Even the actors don't look invested in their characters anymore.

Also I am not exactly sure what changes were made but score for these three episodes was terrible, overly loud, overly melodramatic and weird. Same with camerawork, it gives a bit of the typical soap opera feel - "look, this is a dramatic scene", "here is time to laugh" - to it, which sadly just enhances the subpar writing. I'd rather rewatch first couple of seasons.

I'm sure they stretched these three episodes out (and I mean really stretched) to justify the cost of production. Fair enough. But I wish they'd crafted an original story and not directly stolen from the Poseidon Adventure. That movie's been ripped off enough over the years. Let it rest in peace, already.

I have to agree that the characters are being written differently now. Can't quite put my finger on how they've been changed, but something's not the same. It happens when a show has to jump networks - different execs telling the production people what they can and can't do - and maybe some sort of equilibrium will be found. We'll have to wait and see now that the movie-length epic is over and we get back to weekly episodic stories.

Incidentally, I bet the network hated missing the commercial opportunity to make the ship a Disney cruise liner. Guess they couldn't stand the idea of sinking one of the Mouse's boats.