I liked Picard, but the rest of the cast didn't click for me. I found most of them wooden or boring. And I know it sounds cruel, but my favorite part of S1 was when Yar died, because it meant she wouldn't be back. I never for a moment bought her character. While I admired the show's willingness to put a woman in a role, she just never sold me; she always remained just an actress playing a character. Marina Sirtis was another; she was curvy eye candy, and while it was lovely eye candy, it really annoyed me that she wore a catsuit rather than, yanno, a Star Fleet uniform. Data felt like an attempt to cash in on Spockophilia. Geordie was mostly just the deliverer of eleventh hour technobabble to wrap up whatever the Malfunction of the Week was. ("Captain, what if we... REVERSE THE POLARITY?") Crusher was okay. I have no memory of Wesley. Far too many episodes were shabby retreads (down to the titles) of TOS episodes (and I grew up with the original series, so I really did have high hopes and eagerness for TNG going in.)
It's not like I expect a show to be perfect. I can deal with one or two annoying or boring characters if the rest of the cast interests me enough; I can cut a show slack if it falls down on characterization but has interesting plots or worldbuilding or even cool scenery, (Yes, I also found the sets bland.) I know people love TNG, and so I usually keep my negative comments to myself (unless asked to expound :p). For me, TNG just didn't have enough on the plus side of the ledger. I've heard it got better in later seasons, but... I really don't care.
(And obviously, having said all this, when DS9 hit on all cylinders for me, almost from the start, I was astounded. I'm in the middle of yet another rewatch of DS9 right now, and I'm so happy that I have a fandom friend to burble about it with, because it's one of my absolute favorites.)
Re: Things you liked more than you expected
I admit that I didn't watch much past season 2.
I liked Picard, but the rest of the cast didn't click for me. I found most of them wooden or boring. And I know it sounds cruel, but my favorite part of S1 was when Yar died, because it meant she wouldn't be back. I never for a moment bought her character. While I admired the show's willingness to put a woman in a role, she just never sold me; she always remained just an actress playing a character. Marina Sirtis was another; she was curvy eye candy, and while it was lovely eye candy, it really annoyed me that she wore a catsuit rather than, yanno, a Star Fleet uniform. Data felt like an attempt to cash in on Spockophilia. Geordie was mostly just the deliverer of eleventh hour technobabble to wrap up whatever the Malfunction of the Week was. ("Captain, what if we... REVERSE THE POLARITY?") Crusher was okay. I have no memory of Wesley. Far too many episodes were shabby retreads (down to the titles) of TOS episodes (and I grew up with the original series, so I really did have high hopes and eagerness for TNG going in.)
It's not like I expect a show to be perfect. I can deal with one or two annoying or boring characters if the rest of the cast interests me enough; I can cut a show slack if it falls down on characterization but has interesting plots or worldbuilding or even cool scenery, (Yes, I also found the sets bland.) I know people love TNG, and so I usually keep my negative comments to myself (unless asked to expound :p). For me, TNG just didn't have enough on the plus side of the ledger. I've heard it got better in later seasons, but... I really don't care.
(And obviously, having said all this, when DS9 hit on all cylinders for me, almost from the start, I was astounded. I'm in the middle of yet another rewatch of DS9 right now, and I'm so happy that I have a fandom friend to burble about it with, because it's one of my absolute favorites.)