As much as I am a fan of The Real Ghostbusters, sometimes, a show can fall from grace real hard thanks to any reason. In season three, they had to recast Peter from Lorenzo Music to Dave Coulier (best known as Uncle Joey from Full House) because Bill Murray complained about Music making Peter sound too much like Garfield, and even Janine was recast, even to the point where past episodes started to be redubbed with those two new VAs (which if people had the two versions taped back then, they can see Dave's voiceovers did not have the same emotion as Lorenzo's did).
However, before the fourth season, a focus group named Q5 came along and started laying out plans that they say would save the show (even though at the time, it was the number one show on Saturday Morning). ABC approved of it, but not without resistance from some staff members (including writer J. Michael Stratzynski, who would make good on his threat to leave the show after ABC chose Q5's side).
The result is Slimer And The Real Ghostbusters, a full hour continuing the adventures of The Real Ghostbusters, but now, Slimer has a bigger role thanks to Q5. Each episode from season four onwards has Slimer in a bigger role, operating the ghost trap and Peter being nicer to him. Speaking of Peter, he was dumbed down for this incarnation. For rescasts, Arsenio Hall is out as Winston, being replaced by Buster Jones, and now, restricted to just driving the Ecto-1.
Also added are short Slimer cartoons. These shorts are basically done as a different animation company, these shorts are basically Slimer engaging in Looney Tunes-style slapstick with the Ghostbusters as well as new characters created specifically for said shorts. Some episodes have Slimer helping a friend while dodging Professor Dweeb, an insane scientist who wants to capture and study him, while others have him at odds with Manx, a orange cat who causes trouble for Slimer. While this series had some good episodes, I think they would have been better as their own show, as they serve as nothing more than a reminder that The Real Ghostbusters lost what made it great (even going as far as to have Professor Dweeb appear in a couple of TRG episodes, in which he was still the same as the Slimer shorts).
Yeah, this was bad, as adding Slimer in the name caused the ratings to drop. It also didn't help that some episodes either parodied other TV shows (one episode had the Ghostbusters deal with a trio of ghosts parodying the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, while another involves a ghost family who are inspired by The SImpsons), but it did have some good episodes (hence the two star rating). One of the being the prime time special The Halloween Door, which was written by J. Michael Stratzynski after he was brought back when they agreed to his terms), which didn't have the Slimer moniker and because it was a prime time special for Halloween, it didn't have the restrictions ABC placed the shoe under for Saturday Morning. Also, Janine You've Changed is worth a watch, as it is written by JMS and was done as part of his terms to return to the show (which was to restore Janine to the way she was before season 3). But yeah, this is a classic example of how focus groups can cause a great show that is number one at the time to fall far from greatness.
