The first half of season 4 of Star Trek: The Next Generation is rife with stories about the families of characters:
- S4E1 The Best of Both Worlds Part II: Not family-based, but sets up a reason for the Enterprise to stay a while at Earth, needed for the following episode.
- S4E2 Family: Picard returns to his ancestral home in France. The Rozhenkos visit Worf. Wesley watches a holographic recording of his dead father. And of course, the episode title is literally "family"!
- S4E3 Brothers: Data and Lore are summoned to their dying creator, Dr. Soong. Two young brothers make up after a prank nearly kills one.
- S4E4 Suddenly Human: The adoption of the grandson of a Starfleet admiral by an alien captain creates an incident.
- S4E5 Remember Me: Not directly about family, although Dr. Crusher finds everyone disappearing, including her son.
- S4E6 Legacy: The sister of Tasha Yar, who died in season 1.
- S4E7 Reunion: Worf reunites with his mate K'Ehleyr and discovers they have a son Alexander.
- S4E8 Future Imperfect: Riker awakens to a simulated future where he has a son.
- S4E9 Final Mission: Not a family episode.
- S4E10 The Loss: Not a family episode.
- S4E11 Data's Day: Miles O'Brien and Keiko get married.
These are by no means the first episodes about character families. Worf's backstory has been thoroughly covered by this point. The death of Jack Crusher, and the closeness between Beverly and Jean-Luc has been mentioned several times. Deanna's mother has already appeared too many times. We have met Data's brother, "grandfather" and "child". Riker's estrangement from his father is explored in The Icarus Factor. And more family-based stories appear in later seasons, but not with the density of this half-season.
Why are there so many family-based stories at this particular time in the series? I am looking for an out-of-universe reason (which why it is posted on Movies.SE instead of SF&F.SE). Developing a character's family can generate new plot ideas, introduce new characters, and extend the freshness of a TV series, but why not spread them out more? Was there a new producer or script supervisor behind this change?
Edit: This is not an opinion-based question.
- Whether an episode is "family-based" can be objectively determined -- does the plot involve a family member of another character? That's not a matter of opinion, any more than an episode being "Klingon-based" is a matter of opinion.
- I have presented clear evidence that there is a pattern.
- In the comments, Valorum has presented a possible explanation from the cast and crew. Thus, there can be an answer to this question that is based on official sources, instead of a guess or opinion of the members of this site.
- In the case of a question asking about the increase in "Klingon-based" plots starting with season 3, producer Ronald D. Moore publicly acknowledges that it was directly caused by his hiring as a writer, then script supervisor, then producer. That's not an opinion. Why would a surge in other kinds of plots be any different?
Thus, the downvotes and attempt to close the question are completely uncalled for.