In my opinion, the featured themes system was not a bad idea, it just needs to be improved :)

For example, it would be great if random themes were shown (just like now) but with a set of rules:
1) Themes need to be updated recently (no more than 6 months).
2) The themes must not have a rating lower than 3 and a half stars.
3) The author of the theme constantly responds to user requests in the support page.
4) Other features that reward the effort of the author of the theme.

This could be an incentive for authors to keep the theme updated and respond to user requests.