Happy Public Domain Day!

[triplemultiplex]

That's the way it should be.  There's no way one can keep the same character(s) doing funny and interesting things for 9 decades.  At some point, best to move on to new characters exploring new universes and meeting new friends and foes.

I think there are ongoing shows that illustrate this quite well; that they're out of new ideas so maybe it's time to close the book.
Everyone likes to try and find the "jump the shark" moment for a series, but I'd look for the "we got a new mattress and now our sex life got worse" episode.  That's the real sign a show is ready for the retirement home.

[Scott5114]

Disney hardly has done much with Mickey in recent decades but has given a ton of secondary characters stuff like memorable TV shows and/or movies.  About the biggest thing Mickey was featured during my lifetime was video games.

That's the problem with making one of your characters your company mascot—they're not allowed to have any opinions or do anything interesting because then it might be taken as the company endorsing that.

Hence wife my and I have much of an affinity for characters like Scrooge McDuck, Chip, Dale and Goofy.  They all were memorable in lifetime because they were allowed to develop.

Ryan North seems to be having the same problem.