Why seasons 1 and 2 are my favorites

In seasons one and two, season two especially, Drake and Josh are shown to have a much, much closer and and less animosity-fueled relationship, especially in season two. Compared to seasons 3 and 4, they fight much more, and it usually ends up with Josh getting hurt, betrayed, or somehow stuck in a horrible situation, be it involuntarily chemically bathed or intentionally kicked in the face and incapacitated when he's upset to see that his dance partner and own brother betrayed his trust. Hell, that entire episode was basically nothing but Josh getting physically and emotionally hurt, while Drake was an insensitive moron that caused Josh to have a terrible birthday.

In season 2, episodes focused on developing their relationship as brothers (or just them being a team in general) and not just the cliches I mentioned above. Some examples:

Guitar: Josh accidentally destroys Drakes guitar, feels horrible, pays a sum of money to get it fixed, Drake finds out, and is more than happy that his brother went through the trouble and reimburses him.

Movie Job: Although Josh is clearly upset that Drake took Josh's dream position at the Premiere Theater, Drake realizes how much Josh loves his job and takes the blame for a disaster in the theater that Josh was basically responsible for.

Football: Drake tries to "dedorkify" Josh through Football, and Drake gives Josh encouraging statements before and after the game that Josh plays.

Smart Girl: Josh helps Drake "cheat" and after leaving because of frustration and anger, makes amends with him and receives help in getting revenge on Megan.

Little Diva: The two barely bicker at all in this episode and team up to help/fake Ashley Blake.

Blues Brothers: If I remember correctly, they don't bicker at all in this episode, and Drake for the most part seems dedicated to get Josh over humiliating himself.

Mean Teacher: Josh helps Drakefigure out a way to break up with his Kelly, who has a "laughing problem". Although Drake causes Josh's lucky shirt to become dismembered, the two work together to get it fix and fi

Gary Grills: The two work together again to sell grills. Barely any bickering.

Drew & Jerry: The two replace eachother with lookalikes, and later feel bad about doing it and makeup in the theater.

Honor Council: Josh helps Drake after he's wrongly accuse of pulling a prank in the school with Mrs. Hayfer's car. Josh helps prove Drake's innocence against Mindy, and Drake repays him with two attractive girls.


And the opposite extreme, Season 4:

Josh Runs Into Oprah: Drake forgets Josh's birthday, but throws a special surprise birthday for some chick he barely knows. Drake is the entire reason Josh accidentally hits Oprah with his car, and Josh gets blamed for it. Drake causes Josh to have an involuntary chemical bath and feels no remorse when Josh drops a guilt bomb on him.

Vicious Tiberius: Drake puts up a fuss with Josh with Josh's cellphone somehow and it ends up in the toilet, and Drake flushes it out of stupidity.

The Wedding: Drake obliviously strands Drake and Josh by giving away Josh's bag that had his keys in it. Later, he crushes Josh's foot with a rock and causes Josh's jacket to become shredded.

Mindy Loves Josh: Drake flings something in Josh's eye out of being startled, assaults Josh because he might be in true love with a girl, then tries to rub his insecure, man-whorish qualities on Josh by convincing Josh to break up with his the person he's in love with.

Who's Got Game: Josh falls down the stairs for the umpteenth time and no one gives a damn about it.

My Dinner With Bobo: Drake steals Walter's car by tricking Josh into thinking they were in a running contest to see who could use the car that evening. Later, Drake wants to share a car with Josh after he lost his own. Drake deceives Josh and takes the money that was supposed to be for purchasing a car to share, buys a primate and steals some of Josh's personal savings to help pay for it.

Eric Punches Drake: Drake AGAIN corrupts Josh into thinking it's necessary to be insecure and make a scene with his ex-girlfriend.

Steered-Straight: Drake corrupts Josh into using a fake ID-card.

Dance Contest: After Josh spends lots of hard work of finding a competent dance partner, Drake steals her from Josh using a camcorder that he took....from Josh.

etc.

Now let's talk about Megan. I thought she was a great character in the first half of the show. I hated her by season 3, where her only purpose was to maim Drake & Josh and make Audrey and Walter look like bigger fails of parents. I remember in the episode Smart Girl, Drake threatened to tell on Megan for one of her pranks and she responded "No, you'll get me in trouble!".
What would she have done if it was season 3 or season 4? Use some demonic reverse psychology on him or reverse blackmail him by telling their parents something that's not even true ("gazebo" from Really Big Shrimp, for example).


Basically, Josh got mega unluckier/more prone to terrible accidents, Drake got man-whorier and douchebagier, Megan got sociopathic, and the parents got nitwittier.

So, I'd rate the seasons from best to worst as shown:

Season 2
Season 1
Season 3
Season 4



Now, before anyone says it, I'm aware that the earlier seasons had a few episodes where D&J where arguing nonstop, and Megan being evil. As well as the later seasons had episodes like Paging Dr. Drake, Girl Power, Little Sibling, Josh is Done, Megan's First Kiss, etc. I'm also aware that the show is a comedy and not a drama, and etc. etc. I also do not hate Seasons 3 or 4 by any means, I just much preferred the first two.



So yeah. Agree/disagree?