Kind of agree - I'm not a frothing-at-the-mouth-fan-boy, but the show has so much going for it right now, but I keep feeling that the writing for the past 4 years has really been (mostly, not always) letting the show down.

Totally agree with 7 to 8, and especially considering that some (many?) viewers wouldn't even have been familiar with Who at all.

I loved Rose's (first departure). I wish, that RTD didn't decide he had to leave the series with a happy ending for all.

Yes, this is a potential problem created at the outset of New Who - that the TARDIS isn't quite as crappy as it used to be.

No, you are right of course - I was oversimplifying - but I still feel that it was so tacked on and for me completely lacked ANY impact.

I think you are inadvertently pointing out a shift that has happened with "New Who" that is part of why the show doesn't quite work for me as much as it used to:

The real issue that I had with their 'deaths' was that it it wasn't just understated, it was underwritten - the whole scene played out like an afterthought. It made it feel as if the episode was written with them staying on, and that mid-production, they decided they were leaving.