By "build on what came before" I am also including building on what the show establishes. Look at DS9. There were some weak attempts in the first season to cash in on the TNG fanbase (a Q episode, the Duras sisters, etc). That ended pretty quickly, but as the show became more serialized, more and more plots were predicated on either earlier episodes, or at least the character development that earlier episodes allowed for. While it was never fully serialized, by Season 7, every single episode was at least partially, if not entirely, predicated by events which happened earlier in the series.
VOY and ENT (in the first two seasons at least) failed in large part because of the use of the "reset button" meant not only was there no real drama, but also that rather than follow up earlier stories, the writers had to go back to the well repeatedly, basically reinventing the wheel each time with a new wacky sci-fi concept to put the crew into. This is an insane way to do things, because the conflict that really drives stories comes from character, and without dynamic and growing characters, you're either going to be writing the same story over and over, writing your leads inconsistently, or scratching your head trying to find some completely off-the-wall new scenario to stick them in.
DIS is serialized, so it doesn't need to fall into this trap. But I really got the feeling at the end of the season that the writers were basically saying "sorry, forget all this, LOL!" Even with my dislike of the tortured plot logic of DIS, it's better they work with what they have created than discard it and have a soft reboot.
