[Nate the Great]

Nicholas Meyer says that it's still the same continuity, but they've found a niche that allows for some freedom.

Uh, Nick? No, there isn't freedom. This is the era of "The Cage" and we know what that looks like. It is not a "niche" where new things could happen!

The bizarre thing is, if they wanted something resembling the TOS-era but still have freedom, there's plenty of things that happened in the movie era that we could've explored. The ships and uniforms looked pretty good, too. Assuming that the Monster Maroons entered service in 2278 (incidentally, Memory Beta recognizes this nickname and Memory Alpha does not), events from this era that could be further explored are...

2278: The encounter in the Typhon Expanse between the Klingons and the Bozeman. Have Grammar do voice-overs or logs on screens where his image could be deaged. What was the aftermath?
2280: The Charulhan/Andorian hostage situation as depicted in the novelization of Star Trek V. A key point in the life of Ambassador St. John Talbot, but we wouldn't have to see him, or even make direct references to Star Trek V. Just mention the Charulhans and the Andorians, have a few missions to Andor, and have details in the background for the fans to see.
2282: Treaty of Ectair, the result of a confrontation between the Federation and the Romulans. Again, no direct reference, but I would like to see Romulans in Discovery.
2284: Reliant assigned to Project Genesis. Just namedrop the ship and Captain Terrell, perhaps have a classified cargo run to Regula I.
2285: Events of Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock. Mention Spock's death, describe the aftermath of Excelsior's sabotage, what happened to the transwarp project.
2286: Events of Voyage Home. Aftermath of the Probe incursion. Perhaps recast Jillian Taylor and have a story regarding George, Gracie, and their son Harpo.
2287: Events of Final Frontier. Were the ambassadors returned to Nimbus III? Were there security changes to prevent another Sybok incident to occur?
2289: Ra-ghoratreii elected Federation President. As long as we have a recast Sarek, explore Federation politics at this time. What were the Klingons like just before Praxis exploded? Were they as warlike as ever, or were they already on the road to peace?
2293: Events of Undiscovered Country and the beginning of Generations. There's plenty to cover here in the aftermath of Khitomer. As a fan of the novel Sarek, I think it'd be fun to adapt some of Peter Kirk's career in diplomacy here. Once again, make use of a recast Sarek. How did the Federation react to the "death" of Kirk?