I think old is always gold, maybe because when MEIEJ started, it was a new show, a new story, a new couple, so all the charm was there, with time passing we got used to the show, the couple and with bloppers, expectations not being matched, disappointments, the show lost some of its shine, but still we loved Rishbala, post leap we were just expecting some decent nice story, we knew we won't get another character like Rk, but still we had some hopes of getting some strong appealing hero, but the continuous abrupt changes of tracks, cast.. leaded to this mess, so for me even if the second couple isn't as much appealing as the previous one, the connection with the past and the consistency in the story could have still made the show watchable if a decent story and a minimum of logic is maintained in the post leap with the new couple, that's what made the other show succeed and its TRPs are increasing week after week
Our show as Shruti said in another post never tried to connect the loose ends and tracks couldn't be tackled the right way moreover each time they bring characters and then they dismiss them abruptly, so there was a huge disconnect between tracks, even when the same character is concerned, you get to see that character as a completely different one in the following track, Raju who was asthmatic became Raja and asthma problems disappeared, had Asthma been a mental disorder I could still understand!!!! Madhu Jr became all superwoman in full hate mode towrads Raja (even before Marital r*pe) when she didn't display this much hate towards AK! there are many other things...
To sum up, emotions weren't shown properly, so we couldn't relate to our leads, there was continuously changes of tracks without justification or tying loose ends so we couldn't feel the smooth flow of the story