I think it gets slightly better after the third season. You might want to try Voyager or Deep Space 9 (spin-offs of Next Generation). I think they are more interesting.

Start in the 3rd season. If you don't like it you might just not care for it.

it takes a couple seasons to get going back and get characters established then it's quite good

I enjoyed it, but I agree that it develops as it goes along.

original series was good

I'm a science fiction fan (but don't consider myself a Trekkie) and although I think the original series is great, when I tried TNG it seemed boring and the characters seemed flat and dull (except for Data). So should I try it again, or does it basically suck throughout?