The reduction in cast and the sudden change in production staff and writers took the show in a dramatically different direction from Season 1. The first episode of the second season dealt with what became of Janice's "trailer", rather than answering questions about the characters who had disappeared, and the second episode wrapped up Tom Smithson's storyline. The premise of the show then changed from that of a complex comedy of manners to a simple situation comedy, indistinguishable from other sit-coms of the day. The series format abandoned the soap-opera style and half of the second season were standard, stand-alone situation comedy episodes. The result was a major decline in the overall quality of the series. Ratings steadily declined throughout the second season.