What proof do you have that making aliens that didn't look at all human was a choice for TNG. They had to use the makeup people they had and they didn't have an unlimited budget as you admit. Oh and at the time it aired TOS was one of the most expensive shows on Tv,so how come they get a pass? They shouldn't,and you keep insisting that TNG was the only show that ever had aliens that looked human,it was not.
Also how did the show that got the best ratings of any Star Trek series and became just as much a part of the pop culture as Star Trek damage Star Trek?
Oh and again go rewatch the episodes you will find tons of debate between the character but in the end Picard was the captain so the crew did what he said because that is how the military or any job with a chain of command works. it seems to me your problem is with the fact that the crew didn't commit mutiny every single week. That may seem dramatic but it's not realistic and it would have gotten old after a while. TNG and TOS were set up to explore SCi-Fi ideas and a lot of that technobabble you complain about has a basis in real science and that was the point of the show a lot of weeks. They would take something that was a theory at the time and expand upon it. If that isn't your cup of tea then that is fine but to call anyone involved lazy or say they were damaging the franchise doesn't make sense to me. If anything those types of stories are harder to write then a bog standard action adventure story. i know because I have tried and you have to do a ton of research and come up with a way to explain it to the average viewer and given the rating TNG got and the fact that it is fondly remembered by so many people I would say everyone involved did their jobs. Oh and I always thought the aliens looked really good,it's only after CGI came around(Something that didn't get into full swing until after the series ended)that I heard anyone complain.
You say TOS should be judged against other shows of it's time well then the same holds true of TNG. The other Sci-Fi shows from the 80s don't hold a candle to it and it had a level of personal conflict that went well beyond what had been present on TOS. Even if it didn't just having people fighting doesn't make a story well written. You seem to think that if you put two characters into a room and they don't instantly pull out knives and try to kill each other then the story is badly written. I don't know what to tell you other then that is not how humans in general and military personal act in real life. Also there are other things you can do with those character and there is nothing wrong with having them debate what the right and wrong thing to do is. Conflict for the sake of conflict is not good writing it is just forced.
All I can say if if the charge is that the characters on TNG were friends and were not plotting each other's deaths at the drop of a hat and they resolved conflicts like adults with words then guilty as charged. I don't think Star trek is the franchise for you. I think maybe you should give the Sci-Fi version of BSG a try,it seems a lot closer to the type of show you would enjoy.