I didn’t think any particular seasons were discussed more or less than others. Didn’t think the show had much talk at all on the Muppet forums (and I was a fan of the show when it aired).
8pm on a Sunday isn’t a particularly late time for people. When I was in Elementary school my bedtime was 9PM, when I entered middle school (a year before the show premiered) my bedtime was moved to 10PM. And the year this show premiered, Nickelodeon began to switch to Nick at Nite at 8:30, when previously Nick at Nite started at 8. I don’t think many kids would be in bed by then (maybe if they were really young).
I feel like I remember the first season a lot better than the later seasons. Off-hand, I can’t think of many that came in later seasons (I think the Yertle the Turtle “the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence” is one), if I look at episode guides for a reminder I’ll probably remember most of the episodes. And I don’t think I ever stopped watching the show during its original run (and this was just a few years when I would phase out of watching Nickelodeon programming).
season one had some great episodes, like Yertle being accused of stealing a statue, The Grinch ruining a vacation spot, a family finding a creature that never finishes things, Fox convincing Knox to go on a vacation with him, an episode with a father who’s too interested in something (and I forget what) to spend time with his family.... was it season 1 or 2 that had the episode featuring a storytelling machine that allows for two stories (including a backstory on how The Grinch got Max)? And was it season 2 that had the episode where Jane Kanagroo gets a cleaning machine (with the motto “you can never be too clean”)?