A careful textual analysis of your suggestions leads me to believe that you should be watching Battlestar Galactica. 
Oh my God. Maybe I should!
I often wondered how much the actors on ST were paid. Top stars on hit shows could make a million per episode. TNG was popular during it’s run but I am sure they did not earn as much as top rated network stars. Patrick Stewart I am sure is set for life, Marina Sirtis not so much.
When Michael Dorn went to DS9 after seven years on TNG he probably was paid pretty good, I wonder if he made more than Avery Brooks or more than the DS9 co-stars.
I very much doubt it. It was a very good deal that worked well for both sides, and that rarely means a big pay day. Avery Brooks had them by the balls, though. He was the Emissary. The entire mythology of the show was built around him personally.
Q could have been a more facinating character, but there were several episodes that made him appear to be a buffoon. IMO. unless, of course, he wanted us to think he was a buffoon… hmmm…
Everyone (except for Patrick Stewert) was a little rough around the edges acting-wise on the first season.
He was a buffoon, more or less. He’s possibly the most immature member of the Q Continuum, and his high-and-mighty judging of humanity in the first episode was nothing more than him dicking around with Picard. He has less empathy for mortal viewpoints and thought than even Data and sees nothing wrong with playing with them for his own amusement. Personally, I think Q is a great character as spoiled brat, and has made for interesting stories (some, admittedly, outside the televised series).
Then again, the novel I, Q presents Q in a less buffoonish light, and I think it’s a great book, especially when John de Lancie reads it in the audiobook version. Then there’s the audiobook-only short play Spock vs Q which is an absolute must-listen IMO. The sequel also sets up some interesting introspection into the character.
I’m not sure how buffoonish Q is. He PRETENDS to be one, but it’s a reasonable interpretation of the last episode that he was genuinely trying to manipulate events so that the Q Continuum did not destroy humanity, and that much of his buffoonery was a put-on. And I’ve always thought he should get props for saving the Federation from the Borg, who were already on their way to the borders. His sending the Enterprise to Borg space as he did was a much-needed kick in the UFP’s complacent ass; I always thought it was intended as such.
ETA: For purposes of this post, nothing on Voyager ever happened. Really, aren’t we all happier pretending no such series exists? It is indeed sad that not even Jeri Ryan’s considerable acting chops and amazing bazingos can alleviate the suckitude of that show.
I’d have Katherine Pulaski MD as CMO. I know it decreases the boob factor, but she was a real person a not the new-agey kumbaya types of most of the enterprise.
Troi was like the Jedi, full of powers they continually forgot how to use. either be empathic or not.
Theach Riker to at least be better at pretending to know how to play the trombone.
SEATBELTS and CIRCUITBREAKERS!!!
A main computer that harder to crack than a 386 with windows 3.1.
Gun that don’t miss gigantic and/or static targets.
At least fake the science mission…mostly it’s shoot’em or lame diplomacy.
Man, I’m getting old, I totally get that joke 
And of course you know the desperation abort/retry/fail entails…
The crickets chirping regarding that joke werent making me feel any younger either 
I agree about the technological fixes, but I think the audience would soon tire of a Captain who got his ship shot up every show. Kirk either solved problems with non-technobabble solutions, in other words strategic and tactical ones. In TOS usually we can say after Kirk comes up with an answer “I should have thought of that!” Reversing the polarity of the third module of the deflector gadget, not so much.
I’m with you on Pulaski. Nothing against Gates McFadden, who was quite a comely lass and who should have been given more to do as Crusher, but Pulaski was just…interesting. I liked watching her change her mind about Data over her tenure, too.
I disagree. His acting was very forced and stage-like. Watching some of those early episodes becomes painful, what with him and Riker trying to out ACTING!!! each other. It’s a miracle we didn’t have a cameo by Jon Lovitz playing his Master Thespian character playing an alien.
I agree. I think the actor who handled himself best during season one was Burton. He was, to my senses, easily perceived as the veteran television actor.
Yuck! Pulaski was awful! I so wanted them to have her fall down a turboshaft, or get eaten by tribbles, or vaporized by some God-Thing. Hated her so much it’s painful to remember.
I totally agree that Colm Meaney should have had more of a screen presence, by the way. As DS9 showed, TNG didn’t need just a little bit of O’Brien, it needed Miles O’Brien.
I’m reminded of a story I heard from my best friend, who is a big anime fan. He was watching an English-language interview with a popular Japanese voice actress. During the interview it was revealed that she had learned English from her French teacher. My friend said it was extremely bizarre listening to a Japanese woman speaking English with a French accent 
I can’t entirely agree. Voyager certainly always sucked, but Jeri Ryan’s bazingos did indeed reduce the suckitude. I mean, how could they not?
heh. And John de Lancie certainly hammed it up, too. What do you think the critical mass point is? Apparently Stewart/Frakes/de Lancie wasn’t enough to turn the cosmos inside out…
I admit that I didn’t recall that “live theatre” may require exagerrated poses and movement, which Stewart may have carried onto the set.
I remember reading somewheres that he really does honest to gosh know how to play the tombone in real life. That’s why they kept giving Riker a trombone to play.
No word on whether or not he can play it well…