Viva Connection app not displaying some cards cards

So, I am trying to get the viva connections app setup and working in teams.  I have a couple main issues. 

1. Some cards just don't want to display. For example, the Insights praise card, in the designer I get a message saying praise isn't turned on, when I publish the card just has spinning icon and eventually seems to time out.  Notem this is just in teams.  If I go to the SharePoint page on the web, and view the dashboard, it is fine. Even when designing I don't get such errors and praise not being enabled.

2. The viva connection menu, just shows a spinning circle. I don't get link to the other viva apps. even though they are installed already in my teams, I can browse to them. If I switch to the "new" team's experience.

I have tried clearing cache, etc.  If I switch to the "new" teams experience it works better (mainly the menu). But I still have issues, for example the cards are still a mess. 

hoping someone has some thoughts.