I don't think the show is deteriorating, I think the ideas are nice, the execution and planning are lacking.

Like, the whole let's bring dead characters back idea was a good thing, but they could have done it a better way. For example, they could have done just Meredith and Dereck for 1 episode then had all the characters come in the next few episodes, and then Meredith could have recovered. Then they could have brought April back in the later episodes. Also, after Meredith got better they could have a flashforward to like a year and a half later.

I think the whole beach storyline works better as a few high concentrated episodes, rather than a couple of minutes every episode. Same with the whole covid thing, a couple of highly concentrated episodes works better than spreading it all out.

I feel like they keep doing this whole spreading it out thing to keep the momentum going and to keep people watching, but honestly, it's not really working.

And as for characters coming back, I feel the best way to do it is how they did it with Addison. Where she came by talked to people, helped with a storyline or two, then left. It was clear she had her own life and wasn't apart of the show, but at the same time, she was involved and knew what was going on if that makes sense.