Despite Star Trek: Discovery’s critical success, it was far from a fan-favorite. Though all four seasons boast an average 85 percent critical score, the audience score is at a dismal 37 percent. Since audience scores are more strongly correlated to overall viewership, Discovery simply wasn’t pulling the numbers to make it a financially viable intellectual property.
The dark thing was a major turn off for me too. It just didn’t FEEL like Star Trek (even before getting more into the story lines themselves). I started watching The Orville around the same time and actually continued watching that despite a pretty rocky start because they nailed the Star Trek feel.