Well Drtooth, so far your prediction has pretty much been confirmed - so far this season, the episodes have been kind of meh: really tired, really formulaic, nothing worth getting excited over.
Well, Ken Scarborough is writing again, his two episodes so far ("Surprise!" and "The Substitute Arthur") kind of have the same spirit as the old classic episodes of ARTHUR, but they both kind of fall flat... actually, both new episodes so far this season have fallen flat. "The Friend Who Wasn't There" does a pretty good job at sending the message across that kids today are so wrapped up in gadgets and other gizmos that it's pretty much zapping them of any kind of natural imagination (that, and it was also to see that Nadine apparently has a deep inner obsession with D.W., in spite of what a brat she is, dreading when the day will come when D.W. outgrows her).
Basically, it's like so far, the stories kind of build themselves up, and then they just end on a really flat note. "Surprise!" has been the worst offender of this so far: much of the episode is spent with Francine, Muffy, Buster, and Binky coming up with revenge plots for Francine to get back at Catherine for not inviting her to her Sweet 16 (which is a pizza party at a bowling alley for some reason), then it pretty much ends with Francine being all I had my plan all plotted out, but then I remembered how all the crap Catherine's put me through in the past made me feel bad and I didn't want her to feel the same way, so I decided not to get back at her after all. Really.
"The Case of the Girl with the Long Face" has a similar setup: much of the episode deals with Buster and George determined to figure out why Fern is so sad to the point that she's basically secluded herself from everybody, and then in the end, she finally confesses, "Oh, I just felt sad for no reason." Honestly. I can kind of forgive it on the grounds that as a kid's show, they're probably trying to tackle the issue of emotions in a way kids can understand... but it just really bugged me that after all the trouble Buster went through with his case (which itself was entertaining in that old black-and-white noir style) it turns out that Fern was sad for no reason at all.
Oh, and once again, Arthur and D.W. have new voices. Actually, for the first time since, like, Season 7 or 8, D.W. actually sounds more like herself again... Arthur on the other hand sounds like a girl now (I don't mean the reverse puberty voice he went through from 9 to 15, but I mean to say, he actually sounds like a girl). Bailey doesn't even sound like himself, even though Bruce Dinsmore is still doing his voice.