I've recently re-watched seasons 5 & 6 and it's pretty evident the character of Chris and the direction the producers seemingly were trying to take with Becker having a love interest really impacted the show to lose so much of it's original spark.

Add to that Reggie and Bob gone also. The character of Chris was really forced whether it was deliberately in the writing or just how Nancy Travis portrayed the character. Maybe it was just me but I noticed upon re-watching that the character of Chris seemed as though the writers or producers wanted her in the forefront of everything even overshadowing Becker himself.

It's such a shame as I think once Reggie went , followed by Bob and Chris was the focus of many of the later episodes along with Becker the show really was following the same sitcom formula of the main character and a love interest losing it's original charm.

Anyone here?

I completely agree with this. Once Bob and Reggie were gone, the "tensions" causing the humor were no more. Nancy Travis while a good actress I'm sure, did seem to be forced on us. (An aside - I didn't / don't like her in Last Man Standing either, won't watch it. )

Agreed. She's a fun actress but this wasn't a great character for the show.