It's close enough that Trek doesn't need to do it again in a single series. We saw Kirk interact with former Captain's crew including Spock, command the ship himself with that crew member, and nearly pass the refit off to Decker. We also saw Sulu get his own ship. Which, imo, actually makes more sense for an anthology as the new ship model demonstrates the new era.
If it "makes no sense" it's only because you've grossly misquoted what I said. I never said "you can't top Kirk and co".
I actually said Shatner and Co., referring to the real life performers. And I said you couldn't top how they demonstrated the march of time. Which you chose to cut out of the quote for some reason. We see these people play the parts when young, age, play the parts older, and even interact with newer younger crews, including TNG itself. We see those younger crews go on their own adventures. I really don't think anyone is going to outdo that in a single series.
Maybe Trek shouldn't aspire to be another "me too" anthology. That's the kind of unoriginal thinking that caused STD to become another "me too" prequel.