It’s from Joe, so take it with a pinch of salt, but will be a shame if it’s true. It’s been refreshing to have a happy, more emotional Doctor for a change. Although yes some of the writing has been… Yeah… Still a big improvement on Chibnall’s era, but that’s a pretty low bar.
TBH I don’t think there’s ever really been a time when Doctor Who has been running on smooth rails lol, or at least not since the 80s. The Baker and McCoy eras sounded like chaos by all accounts, the first RTD era was rough enough that Christopher Eccleston left and is still a bit spicy about it, and The Writer’s Tale makes the Tennant era sound a bit better but still pretty messy.
Moffat’s run seemed to run a bit smoother, but you still hear stories like the writing and production of the 50th anniversary and season 7, so maybe he just managed it a bit better and we didn’t hear about it as much.
Chibnall’s era was a mess off and on screen, some episodes are barely even coherent IMO. Even if you don’t factor in COVID disrupting production.
And then back to RTD2, which seems to be proving that you can’t fix things by just throwing money at them. But maybe that’s just part of the DNA of the show now, it’s just a chaotic mess run by a series of mad people that sometimes manages to be brilliant for reasons nobody fully understands lol.