Barclay's actor has become a truly odious person in real life –– I don't think the TNG cast (Stewart in particular) would have agreed to have him on the show.
That’s true but I would think that the career path to captain would be more agnostic. Starfleet would benefit from having captains with tactical backgrounds, scientific. Backgrounds etc.
Probably not need but it would be helpful when determine where to apply what limited resources (time, staff, ship location) is most needed for a given mission
I can’t quite imagine how the TNG -> Picard timeline for her works out given this, presuming this is meant to fit into the same timeline. Can someone who knows the comics universe lay it out?
I'm watching the first season of TNG now with someone who's never seen it before. That's forced me to look at the series with fresh eyes. One thing that strikes me is that TNG took a lot of risks in the beginning to make a new kind of Star Trek. I see the Crushers as one. Some risks didn't work out as well as others, but Star Trek overall benefited. IMO, it would be edifying revisit Dr. Crusher and see more character growth like in Picard.
Wesley's mom, a main character, was initially going to be the ship's teacher. They shifted her over to the empty doctor position without changing much about her. Then they made a new teacher who was also changed to be a bridge character, as the ship's pilot.
While Riker and Troi are adapted from Decker and Ilea, Beverly was more extrapolated from yeomen Colt, Smith, and Rand.
Edit: specifically, their bios were mostly about a potential relationship with the captain, how competent they were (making them reasonable mates for him), and having the "walk of a striptease queen."