Remember how serious the episodes were in season 3 compared to season 2? They were no longer fun topics just a bunch of serious episodes like

Operation Florida
Love in the Ghetto
Family Tree
A Place to Die
JJ's Fiancee 1
JJ's Fiancee 2
JJ in Trouble
The Break Up


So the wheels started coming off way before James was killed off because of the poor episode ideas and how it was no longer fun topics.

They got back to that in season 4 but of James was gone