It did. At the time, there was basically nothing like it on TV. It wasn't just the scifi stories themselves, it was the budget. Nothing like it had been seen. Star Trek: TOS reruns was a high budget show for the time. It's primary competition is Doctor Who reruns on PBS, and while it may have had good stories at times, it's a series whose idea of "high budget villian" is wrapping a guy in bubble wrap and spray-painting it green.
So at the time, the first season didn't seem so bad. It was probably on par with what most people of the time expected. In hindsight ST:TNG may seem like "a decent show with a bad start", but at the time it seemed like "a pretty decent show that just kept getting better". ST:TNG is part of what set the modern bar, and it's a lot of what set the modern bar if you kind of lump it in with Deep Space Nine.
By modern standards it is weak because the tech of the time didn't support season-long arcs because there was very little rewatchability, but if you try to delve into science fiction prior to ST:TNG, be prepared to... make concessions.
One of the very best features of ST:TNG is it's lack of major season-long arcs. I find shows with deep season long plot to be much too stressful to watch. Unfortunately, this is common with nearly all Netflix shows.
Many shows are like movies, where stopping between two episodes feels like you're stopping a movie right at the most intense spot.
You either binge watch the whole show, or rage-quite at 3am never to watch another episode.
TNG had the right number of multi-episode arcs and recurring characters (especially Q). Also every season finale was a cliffhanger two-parter with the first episode of the next season. Unlike TOS, it felt like things that happened in the episodic TNG episodes (heh) actually mattered in the larger world, even when it wasn't directly a part of a story arc.
DS9 is my favorite though, partially because of the story arc. It was also done quite brilliantly, with the story arc always being present, but not really solidifying into something substantial right away. This along with Babylon 5 were amazing. Prior to these shows, the only television sci-fi I had ever seen with a story arc was Robotech. Battlestar Galatica (original) had something of an arc, but was more like TNG.
I found out that I personally prefer two types of shows:
- ones with a season-long arc. This gives the authors time and space to develop the characters, and reach a satisfying conclusion. But these often suffer from pacing issues, because mid-season episodes become filler.
- ones with episodic stories and with a season-long arc (a problem or a villain that keeps popping up). This helps with pacing, but still lets authors build up momentum and develop characters and stories. These often suffer from underdeveloped arcs though and unresolved season cliffhangers hinting at "that arc we developed, it's so much bigger than you thought".
So at the time, the first season didn't seem so bad. It was probably on par with what most people of the time expected. In hindsight ST:TNG may seem like "a decent show with a bad start", but at the time it seemed like "a pretty decent show that just kept getting better". ST:TNG is part of what set the modern bar, and it's a lot of what set the modern bar if you kind of lump it in with Deep Space Nine.
By modern standards it is weak because the tech of the time didn't support season-long arcs because there was very little rewatchability, but if you try to delve into science fiction prior to ST:TNG, be prepared to... make concessions.