I really don't like Lower Decks. Before you downvote, I would never tell anyone it's bad or that they shouldn't like it. I just really can't figure out why most people seem to like it so much.
Similar to what I've heard many fans of LD say, I don't like Discovery or Picard either but I love Strange New Worlds. That seems to be pretty common among the Lower Decks fandom. Yet no matter how many times I try to watch LD I always end up borderline hating it. I don't even like the crossover episode with SNW.
For reference, the things I specifically dislike are: I don't find it funny; I think that the characters are too cynical, hyperactive or doe-eyed; and I'm normally a big proponent of 2D animation but I don't like LD's art style either.
It's cool that they have brought back so many characters, actors and details from the old days, but to me that's not enough to get over the things I don't like. I'm also not one to notice that they faithfully recreated a minor detail from the classic series without it being pointed out to me.
Is it just that my sense of humor and other tastes are too different, despite sharing a lot of other opinions with fans of LD? Or is it the deep Trek references that people love so much but often go over my head? Or is it something else entirely that I'm not getting that makes so many people love this show?
Whatever it is that's lost on me, I'm glad so many people are getting their joy from LD. I just need to convince my coworker to stop recommending it to me. :P
(I also spent over an hour editing this before posting it to make sure it sounds as diplomatic as possible, so hopefully I don't still manage to piss everyone off with my heresy.)
I like The Orville. I've watched the entire run of the show. Much like you with LD though, I don't quite get how people love The Orville. It strikes me as leftover TNG episodes with a Find and Replace, followed by a liberal coat of Seth MacFarlane's very particular set of Gen X influences. The morality is often pretty clumsy and I can almost imagine Seth and the writers being frustrated by the ambiguity that a good Trek episode can leave you with. Then, the way it had to start with a more Galaxy quest vibe to get a show order from Fox, followed by Seth wanting it to be more serious but also still be a Seth show, it's kind of all over the place. I also find some of the acting performances to be amateurish to the point of distraction.
And for all that, I still like it. It scratched an itch and has a lot of heart. On the whole, it's more than the sum of its parts, but for me it still has a ceiling. I like it about as much as I like Discovery, which I have also watched in its entirety though only once. The two shows' issues are very different though, with the exception of tonal whiplash.
I have come around on LD. I think it is a similar love letter to to Gen2 Star Trek but handles the balance of trek-to-humor better, and for all their cartoon antics, I've found the characters more compelling than The Orville's.