Random fact of the day: Gates McFadden (a.k.a. Dr. Crusher) knows how to ride a unicycle. Watch this old interview for evidence (the riding starts around 1:24)! Lol!
Gates McFadden has many little-known, under-appreciated talents, I'm sure. Before joining TNG's cast, she had been trained as a director. If I recall correctly, though, she only directed one TNG episode. Wow ... I wonder what FIRST CONTACT would've been like with Gates McFadden at the helm. Or INSURRECTION, for that matter. I was always under the impression also that Gene Roddenberry favoured actors playing woodenly in STAR TREK to make the aliens seem more believable. I wonder if this directive is what affected her performances early on - particularly when it came to her impassioned pleas. But even then, she did a lot to make Dr. Beverly Crusher a likeable character. She was always very charming.
I think this was more the case after Rick Berman gained more control over production. We already know he had odd ideas about what was the most suitable type of music. Any awkwardness by the actors in the first season is more due to writers finding the characters' voices which fit the actors, who were still trying to find their characters. Actors had to say the lines as written, they couldn't alter dialogue to be more comfortable to their natural style without a producer's approval on set.