I think what makes DS9 work is its core premise, and the problem with some of the newer stuff is they’re trying for that tone without that premise to back it up. As Sisko says early on, it’s easy to be a saint in paradise, but DS9 isn’t paradise; they’re at a backwater that’s been ravaged by decades of military occupation and is struggling to get by. On Earth, people can just replicate whatever they need for free, but Bajor doesn’t have a post-scarcity economy and they often need to make hard choices. Half the crew also isn’t from the Federation and doesn’t have that strong sense of morality ingrained in them from birth.