Agreed. He was one of the better actors in the cast, & we never really got a solid showing of that. Prior to TNG, he was the only one who I'd ever heard of, because of his work on "Roots"
Though not knowing him by name, I had seen Spiner on "Night Court" & was a bit leery, before seeing the pilot. Now I realize what a lucky break it was that they got him. He's got great skills. Stewart is of course brilliant, even if I wasn't familiar with him prior to Picard
I didn't know him by name either, but I had seen Wheaton in "Stand By Me" & thought he was a much better fit for that part, than Wesley. Not sure who to blame for the awkwardness of that character
Frakes, Dorn, Sirtis, & McFadden all struck me as mediocre tv/soap actors, who didn't offer much stand out talent. I'm not saying they're bad, just not stand out talent. They grew into their parts well enough. Actually, bringing in Michelle Forbes, Dwight Schultz & Whoopi Goldberg was a big help to the supporting cast, imo
Crosby wasn't all that great either. In fact, she was probably the least skilled of the bunch. Her reprisal in "Yesterday's Enterprise" cemented that fact for me. Great episode, but her performance was rather wooden, & unsympathetic
Oddly, I do think that Diana Muldaur is a pretty solid actress, but something about her character didn't appeal to me much. I suppose I wasn't alone there
de Lancie was a great talent to have involved too. Any scene with him was always good
