Yeah, I quite liked the early days of the Eleventh Doctor - although I was wary of the lightweight feel of it from the start. I definitely agree that the seeds of the problems since were sown right from the start, though! Can't quite agree that the companions rescuing the Doctor was a change in the new show, though - I've seen a good 75% of the classic show and the companions took their turn rescuing the Doctor and saving his life pretty consistently throughout! The Doctor was usually the one who saved the day in the end, admittedly, but not always - he didn't always save the day at all, in fact. He's always had his losses.

So I have had Clara issues for a while
Oh, me too, sister, me too! I wanted so badly to like her, especially since I never really liked Amy all that much, and Clara had so much potential that's been completely wasted on overblown plots and it's just too late now. The damage is done. It's the first time a Doctor Who companion hasn't felt like a person to me and I'm really sad about that.

Small-scale, intimate storytelling, that's what the show needs to get back to. A struggle doesn't have to be world- or universe-shattering to be significant in the life of an individual. If we could just bring the focus back to the characters and stop tossing out absurdly enormous plots that aren't really explored at all...

Well, we can keep our fingers crossed, I suppose.