To be clear I hated most the personal life drama on SGU too. I skipped just about every scene with the guy's wife back on earth, and the stuff with Chloe and the young army dude..the doctor chick had plenty of shitty drama too.
But I really loved the main plot, and general Sci-fi parts of SGU. And some of the actors, like the mad scientist guy was very well played, and the black army dude was just awesome.
I guess the difference is that the plot and writing in Travelers was nowhere near good enough to make up for all the shitty drama.