I happen to be a fan because of seasons 1 & 2 which I adore majorly. They were a big part of my life growing up and i even remember certain episodes as being on when I was a young child, so it is for personal reasons that I love them so much. The problem for me is seeing people who were already pushing 30 when filming, age EVEN MORE in the later seasons. Season 3 just feels like a re-tread of season 2, which was at the time far more fresh. By the time they are going to college it feels just really mediocre, the storylines don't feel as fresh and there is no fun in the show any more. The reason why its so much fun at the high school age is because of the actors being older than 16 at the time of filming, so its almost like they are older anyway. I can't believe the show ran for as long as it did, because it starts to change when it gets to season 3. The fun aspect of the show feels lost, it's less about teenage issues any more, the show in seasons 1 and 2 has a real heart to it, but it feels just like any other TV show in the later seasons. I don't like looking at them in college, they just feel too old as characters by that point. I don't think i'm alone here. A lot of people worship this show because of seasons 1 & 2, and the rest of the seasons are not really the reason for the show's popularity. Don't get me wrong I love the characters, but what they decided to do with them just really doesn't make any sense.

Does anyone agree that this show would have been better if they had kept it at high school and wrote in some new characters?

it's such a shame that I only get seasons 1 & 2 to enjoy, it does get repetitive once you've watched the episodes as many times as I have, but they are so good, they are like little movies.