I don't think the game is meant to appeal to the cricket purist - I think The Hundred has been designed to get new people who aren't currently interested in cricket interested, hence the (near) equal billing of the women's teams and the live music, DJ's and fireworks.
I think the ECB have finally realised (20 years too late) that moving all cricket to Sky has lost a generation of fans and potential players, and now they are trying to reignite interest in the game.
It's working! As a result, my 10 year old son who has never been interested in cricket before has watched a majority of The Hundred games with me, and wanted to go and watch it live. I managed to get tickets for Southern Brave at Southampton on Friday, and most matches appear to have sold out.