DuracellEnergizer said:

I haven't read any of the books, but I can see why you don't like the new stuff; series that outlive their original creator(s) and become serialized tend to become crappy/extremely unfaithful to the source material.

This. Well-reasoned critique, Warb, though I haven't read that series.

I've been on an Oz kick, reading all of Baum's Oz books. I'm wary of subsequent authors' Oz books based on what I've read. Though I also take issue with Baum himself not being consistent. The George Lucas of his day ;P

I loved the Boxcar Children series. But after other authors took over I didn't feel like they were "real" Boxcar Children books. They just felt 'meh' to me.

I've never encountered anything so glaring as what you describe. That even the publisher didn't notice or care!