"Win Back the Crowd"

Win Back the Crowd is a phrase used for any show that can entice its fanbase to start watching again. Even though the fanbase has revolted against a franchise and declared it "played out", the creator (or maybe even a new one) can actually make the franchise fresh, new and relevant (and profitable) again.

Examples of Shows Winning the Crowd Back

 * SpongeBob SquarePants (season 9-present; 2012-present)ː The most well-known example. In Seasons 6-8 SpongeBob SquarePants was at its worst. However, starting from Season 9, the show has been gradually improving. After the second movie, fans were thrilled due to Stephen Hillenburg returning to the series after his departure following Season 4. What's more, the movie helped to majorly improve the series, being on-par with Seasons 1-3 (and by lesser extent, Seasons 4 and 5) in terms of quality and undoing all of the Character Derailment and Flanderization that plagued the post-Hillenburg era.
 * Thomas & Friends (seasons 17-21; 2013-17)ː Another well-known example. In Seasons 9-16, the show would experience a huge drop-off in quality mainly because of Sharon Miller. Starting in Season 17, however, Andrew Brenner became the new head writer and, alongside other writers, Thomas the Tank Engine would experience a major rise in quality due to the fact that there are references to older episodes and fan favorites like Bill, Ben and Duck have been brought back. The writing style is also more mature than the other CGI seasons and there has been a lot of Character Rerailment, undoing the Flanderization of the later seasons. Thomas, while still appearing frequently, is regulated to supporting roles and the same moderated number of lead roles as other engines instead of being a Spotlight-Stealing Squad.
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003)ː Although the series would experience a decline in Seasons 6-7, Turtles Forever (2009) brought back the show's charm that it had in its first five seasons and ended the series on a high note.
 * The Simpsons (season 32-present; 2020-present)ː Able to recover from its downfall in Season 32. The show has also experienced a massive boost in popularity in 2007, thanks to the acclaimed smash hit The Simpsons Movie.
 * American Dad! (season 14-present; 2016-present)ː Season 14 saw the show recover from its downfall in Seasons 11-13.
 * Regular Show (season 7 & 8; 2015-17): Dropped in quality during Seasons 5 & 6, but then improved after the seventh season.
 * Adventure Time: The second half of Season 5 and Season 6 are often considered to be the seasons that started Adventure Time's minor decline due to occasional misfires, several filler episodes and rushed plot points like Jake's shape-shifting arc, but Seasons 7-10 were when the show would return to form.
 * South Park (season 21-present; 2017-present): After the infamous Season 20 which proved to be South Park's worst season, Seasons 21 onwards proved to be a big improvement for the series with the characters' charm returning to form, better writing and much improved plots.
 * Johnny Test: The show would redeem itself with a fantastic reboot that manged to improve the franchise after its downfall in Seasons 4-6.
 * Tom and Jerry: After the dreadful Gene Deitch era, Tom and Jerry was brought back to its original charm in the Chuck Jones era. Also, despite falling flat again with the two bad TV spin-offs The Tom and Jerry Show (1975 version) and The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, it improved once again with the better TV spin-offs Tom & Jerry Kids, Tom and Jerry Tales, The Tom and Jerry Show (2014 version), the Tom and Jerry Special Shorts and Tom and Jerry in New York.
 * GamesMaster (Series 8; 2021): After Series 5-7 and their focus on Dominik Diamond's self-indulgent goofing around, the show was brought back after a 23 and a half year hiatus and returned to the challenge format of Series 1-4.

Minor
Shows that had a slight improvement but aren't good enough.
 * Family Guy (seasons 9, 11, 15-16; 19-present; 2010-11; 2012-2013; 2016-18; 2020-present)ː Shown improvements in Seasons 9, 11, 15-16 and Season 19 despite the massive decline in quality. Meg and Chris are getting more screentime, and the Meg bashing is much, much less blatant. Stewie starts to show glimpses of his old characterization, the newer chapters have better storylines and fewer flashbacks and pop culture references. However, the characters are still flanderized (except for a few characters like Meg and Stewie), the series still has bad episodes like Boys and Squirrels and And Then There's Fraud and many flaws remains.
 * SpongeBob SquarePants (season 8; 2011-2012) Despite most of the problems from Seasons 6 and 7 being left intact, Season 8 is slightly better as it has a few less bad episodes, somewhat better animation and the characters are a little less flanderized and some characters reverting back to their original personalitites like Plankton, Karen, Pearl, and SpongeBob SquarePants himself.
 * Thomas & Friends (seasons 11, 16, 24; 2007; 2012; 2020-2021)
 * The Simpsons (seasons 12-15, 31; 2000-2004; 2019-2020)

Seasonal Rebirth
Examples of shows that started off mediocre or bad but improved as the show went on.
 * The Amazing World of Gumball (seasons 2-6; 2012-2019): Season 1 (while not terrible) received mixed reviews compared to the rest of the series.
 * Uncle Grandpa (seasons 3-5; 2015-17): Season 3 is considered an improvement over the first two seasons.
 * Steven Universe (season 1 Finale-Future; 2015-2020): Like Gumball, Season 1 of Steven Universe received mixed reviews until the season finale The Return and The Jailbreak.
 * The Cleveland Show (seasons 2-4; 2010-2013)ː Although Season 1 wasn't well-received, Seasons 2-4 were praised as major improvements over the 1st season. The characters (with a few exceptions) were more likeable, the writing was creative and the show had more good episodes.
 * Henry Danger (seasons 4 & 5; 2017-2020): Although Season 3 was considered a slight improvement, Seasons 4-5 were praised for improving the bad characters and making good/decent episodes.
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012): Season 1 was considered by fans to be the weakest season, but the show massively improved in Seasons 2-4, though the show would gradually decline in Season 5, but even that season is good as well.
 * Sanjay and Craig (season 2 & 3; 2014-2016): These seasons are considered an improvement from the first season.
 * Bizaardvark (season 3; 2018-2019): Season 3 is a big improvement over the first two seasons as the acting got better and most of the characters received development.
 * Ultimate Spider-Man (seasons 3-4; 2014-2017) Seasons 3 (Web Warriors) and 4 (Ultimate Spider-Man vs. the Sinister Six) are considered to be major improvements over the first two seasons.

Minor
Shows that had a slight improvement but aren't good enough.
 * Breadwinners (season 2; 2015-2016)
 * Fanboy and Chum Chum (season 2; 2011-2014)
 * The Eggs (season 1b; 2005-2008)
 * Henry Danger (season 3; 2016-2017)
 * Bizaardvark (season 2; 2017-2018)
 * The Thundermans (season 4; 2018)