I actually enjoyed the early part of 2008 more than I expected to when it got repeated on Challenge a few years later - the point where I feel it changed now were the first few games in March, there was Andy who was virtually in tears throughout, then a hat-trick of trainwrecks with Margaret, Joy and Steve (Joy in particular being really sad to watch) and IIRC that was the end of a recording session too. Although Sarah who played the first game after that got a massive feel-good OPW it felt like that's when the irreversible happened.
2013 was actually a similar pattern to be honest - having reviewed it the early part of the year was good if the games were taken in isolation rather than goings-on on here but the decline came around late spring/early summer