I thought that was kinda the whole point of having Worf and Riker -- to sub in for Picard, who was more of a renaissance guy who thought his way through problems.
I know we have already complained about ST tropes in the past, but it's just a common one that they center a show around the bridge crew and then send them immediately into danger. That's not how hierarchical structures work, really. You're not sending your generals and high-leadership onto the front lines of a war or into unknown territory, but it's a convention of TV shows because that's who the audience wants to see do things and sitting on the bridge for 45 minutes every week gets boring. (They'd get involved in high-face encounters / diplomatic issues, sure.)
I know ST: Disc was trying to deal with this by focusing on Burnham, although a lot of the bridge crew would still get wrapped up in these missions.
Well it worked when DS9 or even Enterprise suggested Starfleet wasn't quite a shining beacon, because there were intelligent writers and there was still some grey area, viewers generally left to come to their own conclusion. "In The Pale Moonlight" did a good job of this. Trek always bordered a little on preachiness, but seems like new Trek is a little more preachy and wants viewers to accept one message as a foregone conclusion. It's condescending IMO.
I don't care how big a tool McFarlane is, this is one area where Orville gets it right. Can't wait for season 3.
I think it's a problem with all the reboots, series are getting recycled by people either using them for other purposes or to reflect things that weren't baked into the original.
I think I mentioned before I was really into STTNG when it was airing, but over the years it didn't age as well for me. There are still some really great episodes (Tapestry, Inner Light, the Worf arc w./ K'eylar -- I remember my jaw hit the floor when he goes after Duras or whoever, then tosses in his badge.... and I really liked Ensign Ro), but a lot of it is just kind of toothless and sterile to me nowadays. And it is like the appearance of diversity without really being that diverse.
Maybe at the time, that was the best Star Trek could be? I dunno.
McFarlane soured for me a lot over time, I found a lot of his Family Guy humor more meanspirited than either South Park or Simpsons (go figure) and don't like his live-action stuff; but yeah, I'd consider watching Orville and he must be doing something right.