That people here say they miss Scott's antics is only symptomatic of how much detrimental JS's tenure was to the perception of what the brand stands for.
Yes, Franco's work was certainly prone to jokes and a imbued with a tongue-in-cheek spirit but that was not in itself its raison d'être. Like Miuccia Prada after him, Moschino's creativity fed itself from from a short-circuit born out of his love for clothes and, at the same time, an impatience (not to say despise) for the fashion world. His clothes were not crass pranks for the IG crowd, which is pretty much what Jeremy Scott stood for, but well made, fundamentally classic wardrobe staples with a twist, for real people to wear.
I see a lot of this spirit in Appiolaza's approach. He seems to me someone who knows the archive very well, someone who really, really gets Moschino, not just the gaudy part of it.
During JS's years, the brand grew only thanks to the godawful LoveMoschino diffusion line, while not many customers in their right mind spent their money on the tasteless runaway proposals. I hope Appiolaza manages to get the mainline the attention it deserves.