Lol...so this would, best case scenario, hit screens 10 years after Beyond? Stick a fork in it, it's done...click bait!

I guess that would be anyone interested in character development rather than the kind of 2-dimensional characters seen in TOS. After 72 episodes, no one on that show got a promotional as I recall. And while the bridge was diverse, it was loaded with stereotypes. I found Michael's journey engaging, not just her Starfleet career but her backstory as well. 

 

Good character development generally stands out in my mind because the story builds a character to meaningful, memorable moments where we see their growth through false starts, actions, imagery, symbolism, rebirth, etc.

 

I can't think of one single moment in which Burnham learned a single thing which was conveyed to the audience in a gripping, believable, emotional, memorable way.

 

This show tells rather than shows, and that's not a good way to present character development (or anything else really).  Burnham gives lengthy speech, log entry, or internal monologue proclaiming to have learned something, then proceeds to unlearn it in the same episode, repeat.  Remains 2-dimensional.  Maybe 2.1-dimensional after 5 seasons (which can be said about most other Trek characters).

 

Given the chance to do it all over again she'd still start the Klingon War.

As good as Prodigy is, my assumption is that the target demographic wasn't watching and not enough of us adults were, either (though should have been).

 

The direction things have gone for all the current shows seems to indicate the key to success (as perceived/observed by the production team) is pandering as much as possible to the aged fandom who "gets all the references".  This shuts out nearly everyone else.  Which is fine, if it works.  But meanwhile, it already takes a LOT to get the attention of kids today.  They're too busy watching YouTube and TikTok to watch a TV show that isn't as hyperactive as technology has made all of them.

If the story DISCO intended to tell was the ascension of Burnham to captain...who was asking to hear that?

 

I can slog through one more season, but glad it will be the last.  Hope they have done their best in S5 to increase the overall quality of the series rather than maintain or decrease it.

Picard S3 worked, sort of.  It was still quite a ways from perfect, but it beat S1 by a mile and S2 by a country mile.  Raffi should have just been written out IMO.  On the Ready Room they have talked about how the writers are all major fans now --- I feel like sometimes that shows through in negative ways such as trying to make every single line Worf utters into a punchline.  Worf now even seems fully aware of it; originally he had no sense of humor and now he's "grown" into a self-parodying standup comic?  When his Klingonisms were more sparse and came out of nowhere, they hit harder as comic relief; now they seem excessive and predictable.  The characterization of Worf is probably my biggest problem with S3, followed by several that are more forgivable.  Also felt like they drew out the "mystery" of Jack a few episodes too long.

So my current feelings are that Season 2 has kinda pushed the envelope a little too far for me.  While I enjoyed watching the crossover episode, if I ask myself "is this good Star Trek" the answer is no.  Other episodes this season have bordered on, or crossed over into, "boring/pointless" territory.  And while I am a huge fan of musical theater, I am grimacing imagining the amateur hour (both writing and performing) we are in for with Subspace Rhapsody.

 

At the end of the day I still appreciate the show as the most Star Trekky thing in production right now, even moreso than Picard S3.  However, I wish they would cool their jets a little bit and focus on telling good stories you don't have to be a major Boimler to get anything out of.  I felt S1 did a better job of that than I've seen out of S2.