I credit DS9 with helping me survive depression and trauma far more than therapy, medication, etc. So it has a very special place in my heart! I watched it twice in 2013/14, but I haven't rewatched it since then. It's maybe time. I pretty much agree that it has objective flaws but I don't care. I kind of feel the same way about Buffy -- parts of it are objectively very bad, but I love it so much.

I think The X Files and Buffy both managed to strike a reasonably good balance between monster-of-the-week and serial/overarching storylines. I think in subsequent shows, you can see the transition happening more clearly and more clumsily -- shows like Lost and Heroes that were trying to be just serial and failing. We have some shows that do the serial thing excellently now, but I think a lot of shows would be better if they'd try to strike more of a balance.