Miami season 1 wasn't originally a RH show and it showed (no pun intended). It was called Miami Social Club but was edited and reworked as a RH before it went to air. As a result, it was very choppy, inconsistent and not that good. Bravo didn't hold that against it, so when Andy came in and revamped it for season 2, it was produced as a proper RH series from beginning to end and the results were much better. I consider season 2, its first real season. S1 was a completely different beast.
I know you are in the UK but the DC scandal here was huge. The Salahi's crashing the White House was talked about for months and the response towards the show was extremely negative. I think Bravo just wanted to wipe their hands clean of it and move on. It made sense to me why Miami got a second season and DC didn't. With DC, they probably should have shelved it like NYC and come back to it later
IA with Chris, in that they should have just axed Michaele bc she want a star. IMO, she was the biggest turn off from that season and why I had trouble watching it. She was by far the fakest housewife ever and her interactions with the women were never genuine. It was hard to relate to her and she brought the series down. She should have been cut and gotten someone else without her baggage