I find Kobayashi is around where it starts to pick up. I’d say just watch the rest of season 1 before deciding if you want to continue, but at the very least, if you’re worried about wasting your time, to episode 11 (frames the plot for the rest of the season) or episode 13 (the most classically Trek episode of the season, honestly).

Unfortunately, Jankom Pog never goes away, but somewhere in late season 1, he gets less useless at least and earns the right to be more annoying that Neelix. Also, if you’ve been finding Rok an annoying helpless child up to this point, she becomes a much better character (probably the most useful crew member) after episode 8 through a slightly O’Brien-esque process.

Season 2 is great and worth having watched season 1 (not to say season 1 is bad, but season 2 is way better).