actually my understanding is that the decisionmakers at Paramount waited for the contract with Brandon and Braga to expire in order to bring in new blood.
J.J. Abrams is the one responsible for this.
Keep in mind, they have been redoing the special effects of the original serices via CGI.
The only way to save the franchise is to get far away from the PC stuff. (PS tiny spoiler, but Lenard Nimoy is supposedly appearing in this one. If you know what happened in the episode “Yesteryear” in the animated series...Seleck(sp?) makes an appearance.)
IOW the same Kirk who read the “We the People...” with passion as words with meaning, or the Uhura who explained the natives of the planet were worshiping the “Son of God” not the “sun”, or the crew that kills off Landreu, or the holds that liberty for all is a voice for the individual and not some collectivist BS then we will be on the right track.
On the other hand if they go prodeviant and fully collectivist nuclear holocost and french wus socialist, then no amount of snazzy special effects will save it. (seriously some fan based internet productions, per sheppard smith [figure out why he would report that one] are portraying some relative of kirks as a homosexual in the future)
LOL!
That about covers it.