Eboni's arrival was at the wrong time; it was during COVID and a major presidential campaign. Had she come on a year before or even a year after, I do think she would've been better received. All that needed to be done was a bit of re-tooling of the franchise and all would have been fixed. It happened before and it would have happened again. That being said, I'm open to welcoming the new housewives and giving them a chance.
COVID did not help RHONY at all. New York, as a setting, is the unofficial final housewife each season, and it was pretty much standing still during filming, so it just lacked that lifestyle we'd seen for the series' entire run. Even their time in Salem was... lacking. I've been to Salem and it's HOPPING 24-7 during the Halloween season, and what we saw was.... not it.