Surprised nobody has mentioned babylon 5 in regard to satisfying the fans and not degrading into ever diminishing returns but going from strength to strength. That’s what you get with one person’s creative vision i guess, plus doing the majority of the writing. There are two kinds of people in the world - babylon 5 fans and those who haven’t tried it yet.
Oh i agree about not having sympathy with walt in the end, he was a complete and utter evil bastard. I think i remember vince gilligan being quite dismayed at the character being held up as some sort of folk hero.