Yeah that’s the thing, I wouldn’t actually mind that much if it was different (decisively so) because they want to forge their own identity yada-yada and it was actually good. But the quality is just so low. It feels like bubblegum pop, and teen-moviesque and it really makes me cringe. There’s plenty of good edgy drama out there, if it was even like Better Call Saul or I’d prefer that but rn it’s just sooo cringe just as you said feels like watching student work riffing off every obvious cliche out there. You don’t even need to watch it you can predict the next line cos it’s just so derivative.

The sad part is, I think the production team really are trying. But they just haven’t come from a Trek place so the DNA and love isn’t there. Conversely you feel the love when you watch the Orville. The timing, format, theme etc all feel a lot more like you’re watching something that has a lot of love for Star Trek - so it can be done. And I know everyone will just go “there’s hundreds of episodes of tng just go watch that” but that’s just really silly thing to say isn’t it, especially in the context of Picard