TNG is entirely monster of the week, including the mandatory "See, everything is back to normal" shot in the end. That said, certain themes and characters are explored and revisited throughout the series. If you mainly enjoyed DS9 and Voyager for their overarching plots, TNG probably isn't for you. Its first season was cringeworthy, too. As far as I know, DS9 along with Babylon 5 pioneered the whole idea of having continous storylines along with a main plot throughout their lifetime. TNG came before that. If you enjoyed DS9, the story of Babylon 5 is definitely worth your time. The first season isn't great, but well worth sitting through with the knowledge that it gets dramatically better. You'll have to deal with early CGI, which looks quite hilarious today. In later seasons, the visuals easily surpass DS9's model based shots, though.
You should try to get your hands on some Blake's 7; it's the granddaddy of TV space operas. It might not be the best show out there (it didn't get the budget it really needed), but you can see its influences on the shows like B5 and DS9.