Great post, Necessary Pain. I agree with almost everything you said.
I can't imagine a fan of the show thinking anything on it was ever unwatchable, although the Vito storyline in 6A got a bit tedious, but other than that, I don't see it.
GuineaPig, I don't disagree about Meadow and AJ's storylines independent of Tony being not very compelling, but what were they really given? Once Meadow went off to college in Season 3, the only major things she was involved in were her relationships with Noah, Jackie Jr., Finn, etc. Even her career decisions, etc. were more or less glossed over quickly, or talked about by others, with maybe a scene here or a scene there about it. It was never something that really dominated an episode.
As for AJ, again, he was useless, and it didn't help that Robert Iler never became much of an actor. He was focused on a lot, though, in both 6A and 6B.
But really, who cares that the kids weren't given enough storylines overall?