POD in First Season
You would have to have a POD in the first season where they kept on with the cutsey-poo "Oh, look, here's the First Captain's Chair", or "Oh Look, Here's the First Phaser" sort of thing.
Instead of really exploring a much smaller Known Space, they would have to go for absurd story arcs about homicidal aliens bent on destroying all earth, or a bunch of ripping time-travelers who "just happen" to arrive in enterprise's timeline.
As it was, the First Anti-Romulan Federation almost did them in, but was saved by the way the Vulcans showed up as not being all that high-ethical do-gooders and a bunch of utilitarians after all.