title: Spyder plots not allowing enough user control
body: <p>I am running python (3.8) via spyder (4.1.4) on a Windows laptop.  I need to plot multiple series on a single graph, then do the usual things like adjusting axis limits, positioning the legend, etc.  Spyder will not let me do all of this in one single plot.</p>
  <p>For instance, the following produces two different plots:</p>
  <pre><code>plt.plot(seriesa,'o')
  plt.plot(seriesb,'o')
  </code></pre>
  <p>and so does this:</p>
  <pre><code>fig = plt.figure()
  ax = fig.add_subplot()
  ax.plot(seriesa,'o')
  ax.plot(seriesb,'o')
  </code></pre>
  <p>I can get both plots in one graph by doing the entire thing in one command:</p>
  <pre><code>fig = plt.figure() ; ax = fig.add_subplot() ; ax.plot(seriesa,'o') ;  ax.plot(seriesb,'o')
  </code></pre>
  <p>(which seems like a hack to me, but I'll do whatever works).  But then I need to adjust the y axis limits, and the command</p>
  <pre><code>ax.set_ylim((0,2000))
  </code></pre>
  <p>has no effect on the plot.  And the command</p>
  <pre><code>plt.ylim((0,2000))
  </code></pre>
  <p>opens up an entirely new plot.</p>
  <p>I tried inline plotting too (unchecking the &quot;Mute inline plotting&quot; menu item), with no improvement.</p>
  <p>How do I get the control I need with my plots?</p>