I agree with you that Peter David had to alter the Supergirl concept substantially in order to make lemonade out of the lemons he had been given with Byrne's blob Supergirl.
But ATLANTIS CHRONICLES was about as necessary as a can opener at a robot convention.
Paul Kupperberg, in his guest-issue of JLA in 1983, gave a pretty convincing union of Arion with Aquaman's Atlantis that was straight-arrow simple: underneath Atlantis there was an ancient, more magical version that now is in ruins, which previously was the Arion Atlantis. There. Problem SOLVED. Peter David's "blonde hair is the remains of a curse" explanation would fly, if it wasn't for the fact that I can recall many scenes of blonde haired people in crowd scenes in Atlantis as far back as the 1960s.
Aquaman's concept, once straightforward, was muddled up by having him be the son of a wizard and heir of AT LEAST three curses... Peter David's landlocked cities of Atlantis in the Himalayas was not only a bad idea, but something of a contradiction in terms.
Though I must say, I loved the idea of Aquaman having an Eskimo son, even if said kid was a big whiner.
Tara Reid's antics generally bug me when I am stuck watching them.
Thus, Supergirl being depicted as a Tara Reid lookalike bugs me.
Lots of more intelligent people than myself have expressed how our society and media have misplaced priorities. Thus, I have nothing to add to this perspective except this: I’m sure the Supergirl writers, Loeb and others, are EQUALLY tired of people who are famous for being famous.
So...why did they create a character in their image?
Because it will attract women readers? HA! Michael Turner and the naked entrance from the pod pretty much sabotaged THAT idea. Here’s a clue: women like reading about WOMEN, not male sex fantasies. Only men like Barbarella; women like Nancy Drew.
A bit of fun cheesecake isn't bad if it's built into the character: ladies AS WELL as fellas admire Wonder Woman, Catwoman, and Xena: Warrior Princess. But this is SUPERGIRL, who is our collective national little sister, our collective national girl next door. C'mon guys, not EVERY female in the DC Universe has to be Wonder Woman.