The old series had its moments. Most notably Ace, though Turlough's first three stories (or at least the first and third) work on his development, and I think you could make the case that some thought went into the first Romana over her first season, and there was some development of Jo as well, though its unclear how much of that was deliberate.

But for large parts of its run it was just as guilty of inconsistency, saved possibly by the fact that it so rarely brought companion's families into things after the first episode.

I'm not so bothered by the Amy and Rory's reaction to losing River, we are given to understand that they had several months off-screen to adjust both to the idea that there was a daughter and that they had lost her so quickly. Given the strangeness of the whole situation and the rapidity with which they gain a daughter, lose a daughter and then re-gain her as an adult (all within a few hours) it seems plausible to me that after a few months the lingering emotion is acceptance of the situation they are in paired with regret that they were not able to do the parenting themselves and hence the bad way they handle Amy's subsequent infertility. It's a shame that the final resolution (the adopted child) never makes it to the screen, but I don't think the fall out from what happened was ignored.