Catch-up TV Triple- Is it me, or are House and HIMYM losing their edge?

Okay. It's a definite "yes" that HIMYM is not the show it was for, arguably, the first three series of its run. It's dipped, the way Friends did, the way Scrubs did, but this time I don't think it's going to "pull a Scrubs" and haul it back for a good couple of series to finish it all (the reboot-esque series nine doesn't count). But having tried to keep an open mind as the sitcom opened onto its seventh series that it might rally, its only dropped further. The inclusion of Kal Penn as main character Robin Scherbatsky's therapist-cum-boyfriend Kevin is frankly appalling. Overacting masterclasses could be run by him, as evidenced by his delivery of almost every 'comedy' line he has, the pinnacle of which has to be "Without laptops". And this reaction.

Talking of Kal Penn, he was pretty good as Dr Kutner in House, which too has now run into strange casting decisions. Including the new Japanese member of House's "team" (consisting of two women, as of the third episode of the series) Dr Chi Park, who is the "nerd" for the series, as the student Martha Masters was last series.

What is it with these shows? Do the teams behind them just get sloppy? Do the characters they have not entertain them any more, to the point where they delve into extremes of derivative, basic or caricature characters to support broad un-laughable comedy or extremes of complex, socially inept and bizarrely demographically assembled characters to give their protagonist fresh meat to react to? I ask, genuinely, interested in the way these writers let their greatest works slip into the greyness that they eventually mire down in before slipping silently away in front of the last few dedicated, constantly disappointed fans in some poky corner of TV hospital.

At least with House the death, should it come, will be quick- all reports indicate, wisely so too, that this will be the end of the show at the end of the series. And knowing when to pull the plug and wrap it up is a talent money-grabbing TV bosses don't seem to get.