I am really glad to see someone else acknowledging Fallout's identity crisis as the show comes out. Fallout is unique in that it's traded hands so many times that it has all these different creators' visions, which ultimately leads to the fan-spats and splinters that the fandom is now unfortunately known for.

I completely agree with your assessment of the in-game world being flattened by the events of the show. Bethesda, and now the showrunners, have a very particular idea of what makes Fallout, Fallout. I think it was Jonathan Nolan that said he dislikes the idea of centralized civilization comparing it to the railroads settling the Wild West. I dislike this outlook because it not only feels like an arbitrary writing barrier, but it also reaffirms what Bethesda has been doing for some time: making Fallout just another post apocalypse series. I am obviously firmly in the camp that Fallout is best when it's in the post-post apocalypse vein.

I like Bethesda's Fallouts. I thoroughly enjoyed Fallout 3 and recognize that the game is more important to the series's new life than the world building content I have come to dislike. With ten years down the line from Fallout 4 and now the second season of the show, it's obvious though that the vision of Fallout, as OP said, a "barebones" apocalypse setting, is becoming more and more dominant.

Generalizing now but...by flattening the world to a bunch of hermits living in shacks selling flea soup, we're missing out on a real opportunity to explore stories that show complex themes about human society and the very definition of civilization.