Evidently there does need to be that much time to create the visual effects that we see. It's probably the reason most of these episodes come across like short feature films then just your average weekly TV series.
Personally, I'm glad they take the time to make the series the best it can be, because it has really hit it out of the park for me in the first two seasons.
I am a huge TOS fan, and I always have considered TOS the number one Star Trek franchise series overall to this day. However, strange new worlds is the first Star Trek franchise series that could Dethrone TOS as my number one Trek series and move it to the number two position for me. (YMMV)