I've been watching old episodes of THE INCREDIBLE HULK (with Lou Ferrigno) and KNIGHT RIDER lately. In both cases, I've been like "Oh my God, I actually LIKED this stuff? How hokey!". Oh yeah, and the original Saturday morning show LAND OF THE LOST. I had a crush on Holly when I was 6 years old, but now the acting just makes me cringe.

I think what you also have to remember is that, even during it's original run, TNG didn't have much to compare to. I watch it now in comparison to, say, Firefly, Farscape, nBSG, and it doesn't really stand up, any season, to any of those shows in acting and overall quality. It's still good. Just not...GREAT.

The original Bob Newhart Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Avengers (with Diana Rigg), The Prisoner, The original Dick van Dyke Show, The Match Game reruns on GSN(!) all survive the test of time for me. Interestingly, as I've been watching The Avengers with Linda Thorson, which I hated first time around, I'm starting to appreciate it more. Are there shows that other people hated first time around, but like more now?

Ooops! Forget what I said about the episode title.

^Actually, it's called "Skin of Evil." There are some shows and movies I liked when I was younger and it shocks me when I watch them today and realize how much they sucked, but TNG certainly isn't one of them. I'll take TNG over 99% of the crap on TV today which is why you'll catch me watching it on other Star Treks on DVD way more than any current TV show. In fact, even when I watch TV, more often than not I'll be watching reruns of older shows like Cheers and Seinfeld than the newer shows. Broadcast TV is really terrible these days.

TNG's first two season aren't great especially compared to the rest of the series but I would hardly call it "cheesy and badly acted". Even though season 1 & 2 pale in comparison to season 3 on, there are still some gems there. Emily, the episode you weren't sure of the title was called Disaster.

All of the Star Treks took a season (or more) to go from mediocrity to greatness. Its in the inherent complexity of writing for sci-fi, you have to focus on the story AND the technology, but when it works thats what makes it so memorable.

The first season of TNG was pretty bad. Everyone was trying to find their place, I think. My favorite 2 episodes are Data's Day and The Thread (not sure of the title - but it is the one where the ship hits something and knocks out everything and Picard is stuck in a turbolift full of kids; Worf has to deliver a baby and Riker carries Data's head to engineering to save the day) and I believe they stand the test of time.

Yeah - this was an early ep, the one I clearly remeber today was the one with the evil La Brea tar pit beast who kills Tasha off.

Star Trek: TNG took a while to find its stride. I remember seeing an early episode some time ago (with a beardless Riker), and not only was the actin weak, so was the plot, and so were the effects. But, unless I'm really losing my mind, it got much better later on.