If it takes a whole season to set something up without anything entertainment. You’ve already lost more than half your prospective viewers.
Call it what you will, it’s a failing paradigm.
So, by that reasoning, if a novel doesn’t go BANG on the first page/chapter, then it worthless. Not worth your time.
DS9 was a shiny object in a known universe. A universe known to pretty much anyone who enjoys SciFi. And that worked for you. And it worked for the show. They didn’t have to set much up.
I watched it. It was okay. As I said, B5 was better. A better story. JMS said that the whole thing came to him at once and unraveled in his mind. Like a thought ball.
He had the whole five year arc planned out. Five years. That’s how long it was going to take to make - tell - his video novel.
I’m sure if he had DS9/STNG budget, the SFX would have been more up to your standards. But that kind of money brings suits, suits who want control, and more shiny objects and less story.
I disagree with those that say nothing of any real importance doesn’t happen in the first season. Quite a bit does, but it’s subtle. It could have been something just said in passing that would come back later in a big way.
If you ever find the time, sit down and watch it from the beginning. Ignore the lack of shiny objects, take CGI in the context of the time, but follow the story. It’s a good story.