Also Spongebob's now ran by Derek Drymon and the headwriter is Steve Banks (former Jimmy Neutron and Hihi Puffy AmiYumi writer).

what about stephen hillenburg?

Actually, is season four animation actually worse? I always thought that it was better than before, but it just wasn't likable. Is it worse?

Season 3's animation was too pixelly. The animation in season 4, however, started off rough then quickly improved itself.

It was okay.

To me, Season 2 went downhill because:

Humor- The humor is just less original and not very funny. It feels like it only appeals to 6-year olds.

Plotlines-The episodes have even more childish plotlines than any other season. Although they aren't the main focus of the show, childish humor and childish plotline makes it boring.

Voices- Although no character's voices have been changed(with the exception of Mama Krabs and a few other minor characters), some character's voices have undergone some changes. The most obvious is SpongeBob's, who sounds a lot higher than usual(I used to not mind it, but it gets really annoying). Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, and Sandy have some minor changes in their voices, too.

Animation- The animation starts out sloppy, and although it gets better, it gets worse again throughout the season. For example, the characters have smaller heads, smaller bodies, in some cases thinner, and sometimes unnecessary colors(Plankton's mouth is purple in "New Leaf"!)

The episodes are also centered too much around the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs, and Plankton. Squidward also gets tiresome while Patrick only has a big part at the end of the season. Also, the writers exclude some smaller characters such as Larry and Mrs. Puff in most episodes, causing them to run short on ideas. The episodes are starting to have songs, like "Fairly OddParents", and most of them are terrible. The episodes are also very fast-paced and shorter than usual.

Here are my thoughts on this season and the other seasons as well.

Season 1 was branching the whole show altogether, as the characters were developed vastly well over the 40 11-minute episodes produced. Although the voice work was still underway (you can tell, because Patrick's voice was a little darker), the writing was improving as time wore on. The show didn't gain popularity until towards the end of the season. Some gems include Ripped Pants, BubbleStand, F.U.N, MM&BB's 1 & 2, Pizza Delivery, SB-129, The Paper, and Opposite Day.

Season 2 rapidly improved over the first as some significant changes to the show ensued, most notably in the artwork: the animation was better, the colors were produced digitally, and the writing was some of the best of the show with no duds in this season whatsoever; The half-hour Christmas special was even the best use of Patchy the Pirate. I mean this is by far my favorite season. Some gems include Christmas Who?, Squid's Day Off, Wormy, Shanghaied, Pre-Hibernation Week, Band Geeks, Squidville, and I'm With Stupid.

Season 3, while still stellar, did contain some weak points. Patchy, in particular, was shoehorned pointlessly into not one, or two, but three more half-hour episodes ranking into some of the weakest episodes of the series, as there are some episodes that are average as well, including Born Again Krabs and The Great Snail Race. The animation, too, was a few steps down from the second season. Still, the stellar episodes more than make up for the weaker ones. Some gems include Just One Bite, Idiot Box, My Pretty Seahorse, Squilliam Returns, The Camping Episode, I Had An Accident, and Plankton's Army.

Season 4 got off to a rocky start. It was a couple years since the crew had done a single episode as they were working on the big screen movie. As some longtime vets have returned for this season, some new writers were hired as well, a few of which have worked in other Nickelodeon shows as well. The first few episodes were some of the worst of the series, but shortly afterwards, the show jumped back up to speed as it showcased some more stellar hits (...well, with a misfire here and there), and almost fully regained the silly and nonsensical humor the show was famous for. It isn't a stellar season in any means, but thankfully the episodes hit more than miss in this season. The animation, too, was much better and more vivid than than the first three seasons. Some gems include Skill Crane, Patrick SmartPants, Enemy-In-Law, Funny Pants, Krusty Towers, Squidtastic Voyage, Wishing You Well, The Thing, and That's No Lady.

Judging by the commenting in this forum, and everywhere else, I believe the fourth season is where fans are split down the middle, where some fans complained how bad this season is while others embraced this season. I fall into the latter camp here, because to me, there's still some good in this season. We just need to give the show some more time. I mean, who knows? Maybe the fifth season will be an improvement over the fourth, and if not, well, the show would be canceled as it's best to quit while they're ahead.