Those weeks during PT when most of the cast was off filming HODS are a chore to get through, particularly the Cyrus Longworth/John Yaeger scenes. It's obvious that the writers were in a holding pattern at this point in the series, stalling for time until the "Old Guard" returned.
For similar reasons, I get impatient with 1841PT. I suspect that once the decision was made to cancel the show, the writers were forced to drag out the lottery business further than they would have had the show not been cancelled.