To be honest, i felt it did in season 3. But i still came back for season 4 and I feel that the quality improved greatly. Although quality lies within the eyes of the beholder. But the number of new recruits to the herd doesn't reflect on the show quality. It's really not possible to draw a serious conclusion from that. (edit) And for the record, I started watching almost at the end of season 1, and only became a part of the community when other people started conversing with me about it on twitter. I never sought out the fandom. It found me.