Buffy is pretty easy to figure out, though. You have some goofy, campy episodes in the first two seasons (that I like, but others don’t), consistantly high-quality episodes from mid-season two through season three, consistantly mediocre material in season five, and garbage in seasons six and seven.
I’d say that season four of Buffy qualifies, though. Pick an episode of season four at random, and you could either come up with “Hush” or “Beer Bad.”
If you cap everything, the board software downgrades every letter but the first. Curiously enough, it is typically written as MAS*H. Apparently it was a mobile army surgical h.
I’ll say it. The current Battlestar Galatica is ‘uneven’ at best.
The Michael Scott character from The Office is annoyingly inconsistent throughout the shows run.
Sometimes he’s just a cartoonish bumbling idiot running amuck with no consequences to his actions and little to no common sense. Like trashing the warehouse with a forklift or ruining Phyliss’ wedding.
Then in other episodes he’s got a human side with depth and comes off as a guy who is just misunderstood.
The reverse is true of “Just Shoot Me.” Most of the episodes were tepid to horrendous, but every once in a while a true gem would emerge. Like “Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot PPPPIIIIIEEEE.”
Season 4 is where we’re stuck. Ever since they went to college the writers just started scratching their heads, like “what now?” “shit, dude, I don’t know, let’s do another “drinking is bad” episode.”
Doctor Who itself, both old and new, would fit this category pretty well, too.
I can’t think of another recent episode of any show that is both universally loved and loathed by fans more than “Love and Monsters,” so that tells you a lot right there. But also, for every “Blink” we have a “Daleks in Manhatten.”
Old school Who, well, you never know what you were getting there.