User blog comment:Mobo85/"Phineas and Ferb" to end in June, but all is not over.../@comment-3263817-20150531053041/@comment-11071310-20150621175549

I would say that the show's overall quality fluctuated a bit at times throughout the run, but it never, never got nearly bad enough to be considered "jumping the shark." It had its ups and downs, like any show; but season 4 actually had a lot of really great episodes in it.

It seems to me like seasons 3 and 4 were the experimental seasons. Seasons 1 and 2 had a lot of classic episodes that followed the show's usual formula, but the second half of the show was more about subverting expectations and trying new things. Sometimes it pays to take a chance and try something you've never done before, sometimes it doesn't. But, experimentation in writing is commendable regardless of how it turns out in the end, because it's a way of improving yourself. For instance, I think the Star Wars crossover was a huge improvment over Mission Marvel (but that's just my personal opinion). People would have lost interest if the show had continued to follow the usual formula of the earlier seasons every episode. The show had to evolve, and even though the formula never really left (it wouldn't be P&F without it), it was nice to see some episodes that didn't use it as much, if at all.

The P&F writers never stopped caring about the show, and they never lost their creative stride. A lot of other long-lasting shows don't have the privilege of saying that about their writing team (not gonna name any names...). Again, the show had its ups and downs, but that's only natural.

The show's run a long time, but I think P&F could have lasted much longer, too. But perhaps it eventually would have jumped the shark. Even if we think they ended it too soon, Dan and Swampy closed the show because they didn't want it to overstay its welcome, and that, again, shows how much they care.