Higley/Tomlin/Whitesell provided the bones/structure for good storytelling, with much of that regimes strong points being listed above.
Tomlin/Whitesell really built upon that with their last stint and the show was pretty good for awhile under them, until the end of course. One story under them that I wish they would have gotten to tell, or at least I'm curious about, are their original plans for Jordan/Ben/Clyde. It seemed like this would be a rehash of Curtis/Billie/Austin, with Billie/Austin being Ben/Jordan. Would a murder mystery had taken place down the road, with Kate, Sami, Ben, Jordan, and Rafe being the suspects? Who knows? As soon as Tomlin/Whitesell were out of the door, this story and Jordan's rape was swept under the rug forgotten by future regimes.