@CaptObvious @commander_la_freak

Yes, TNG started before the breakup of the USSR, so criticism of capitalism was a pretty radical thing to put in primetime in America in the late cold war. The Ferengi were explicitly analogized with "Yankee traders" to make it clear that they were basically "Evil Space America" as a twisted mirror alternative to the Federation's "Good Space America" with only the nice parts.

@Hogger85b @khaosworks The designer must have made it to at least the Warp Physics 102 class the following semester.

@maegul @williams_482 I think it would actually be good TV for Lower Decks. A California class might have to visit a Galaxy class saucer that has been left in orbit for a month managing a research expedition or a conference, while the stardrive section got delayed hunting a Romulan warbird.
It just wouldn't be good television for a show set on a Galaxy class ship. The only way to do a "split ship" show would probably be to mainly follow characters on only one half.