I think CS is a symptom rather than the cause. Ultimately, the show became at one point or another a kind of cash grab that was no longer interested in creatively reimagining familiar fairytales while telling complex stories about hope, family, and fate/connections. And yeah, I also think much of this had to do with the fact that A and E are not only incompetent storytellers, they are also unoble to learn from their mistakes. At any sign of criticism they seem to either throw a boy-tantrum or lie. But criticism wouldn’t even be a huge issue if they had a vision for the show and the world they are building which they clearly do not. Also, they have a pretty amaterish understanding of what raising the stakes might look like aside from an exercise in shark jumping.
Ultimately I think OUAT ended up with the mixed blessing of getting a bunch of excellent actors it doesn’t deserve, and who have managed to keep this disaster going long past the point of where it ought to have tanked.
I stand by my zombie OUAT analogy.