Since Disney put Star Wars: The Force Awakens in theaters much original story material has been recycled...over and over. Fans critize it a lot, and who can blame them? Star Wars--the original trilogy, anyway--was fresh. The prequels were controversial and trash, except for a few scarce diamonds in the rough. The sequels were supposed to innovate, but the results were subpar.
Where I'm going with this is Star Wars hasn't seen a lot of new material, and not for lack of unique materialโ-plenty to find in Legendsโ-and hasn't seen a refresh in what made the originals so incredible. Family made it so valuable. Star Wars is a success because families love to watch it together. That's why the Mandolorian is golden--it's a family-friendly and action-packed story with plenty of heart and soul. (Won't go into depth on Clone Wars and Rebels series but both hit these marks.)
That's why the series Acolyte and Ahsoka are so criticized. Not for a set of "strong female main characters", but because they don't hit the necessary marks to make the show enjoyable for everyone in the family. No one wants to watch a series that has a focus on Force users with purposefully different hairstyles or ANY sexual material (looking at YOU, Acolyte). And, no one wants to watch a bunch of sci-fi witches chant nonsense or listen to endless and useless bureaucracy (looking at YOU, Ahsoka.) Also many of those character lack depth and development, leaving the audience questioning their actions and reactions.
Kenobi was just bad. It took a wonderful character and reused old Luke material, which included making him a hermit and erasing his finer qualities which fans love. It's one of those 'turn your brain off because it doesn't make sense.' It lacked heart, and ultimately the only scene anyone cared about was that duel between Vader and Kenobi near the end. Cut the rest.
I don't go into depth on Andor either because it's a great show and doesn't have any glaring issues or reasons why it stands out, other than it's a diamond in the rough. Otherwise it's just kinda there.
Skeleton Crew is a show that I half expected to be a repeat of all of the above negatives. Somehow, though, it managed to defy the odds and is a really decent show even without comparison to other Star Wars' series. It holds its own.
However, the acting--especially on the kids' and parents' parts--could be improved. Also, the owl alien (Kh'ymm, I think), was a very forgettable character. I forgot she existed after the episode she showed up in first and only remembered after a recap in the last episode. She's important, though, (at the end with the rescue) so I feel like her lack thereof, while not a glaring issue, is a problem worthy of mentioning. Besides those two points I think it's a good series overall. Boring at the beginning, but once it started rolling it almost felt like it couldn't be stopped!
So, a round of applause for Skeleton Crew for not screwing up with Disney's latest trend of cinema sins. This series gets a solid B+ in my book. It's not groundbreaking, but it also doesn't recycle much old material unashamed. It's family-friendly too, and each member can find something they enjoyed. It keeps you engaged well enough to forget that Star Wars is sinking like the Titanic, and forget how simple the plot really is.
So, good job. 4/5 stars for you, Skeleton Crew.