I wonder if part of the problem here is that the fans and the show writers had different interpretations of the show. To many fans (you and me among them), SGA is a show about the relationships of the team of four, and their friends. But to the show-writers, it's apparently about something different - not the team, but certain protagonists; not about relationships, but action and spaceships. So Teyla and Ronon aren't actually the major characters that we see them as, but supporting characters, no less or more important than Elizabeth or Keller or Woolsey. And John & Rodney's friendship (or John & Ronon's, or John & Teyla's, or Teyla & Ronon's, or Rodney & Ronon's...Teyla & Rodney never was, sigh) isn't a key relationship in the show, but an entertaining bit of interaction that served to impel certain plots and could be ignored when unnecessary.

And romance is just another sort of character interaction; it's not the major theme of the show, and it doesn't change the show any to add it, because character interactions aren't the point of SGA (to TPTB). I don't think the show-writers are thinking that they're writing a soap opera now (and really they haven't been; "Brainstorm" is the only episode that the romance is the key plot point, rather than just an element). But to all of us who aren't really into romance, and were watching for the other sorts of character interaction that they're now leaving by the wayside, the show seems fundamentally altered.