I think the pitfalls of Katie show how bad writing (that doesn’t play to the performer’s strengths) can undermine even the strongest actors. HT is great but Victoria was becoming damaged even before she left the role. She’d be more believable in the “take charge” moments where AH is less credible (like the arguments with Adam), but she’d still have to deal with the squishy wifey/mommy stuff because that’s what CBS wanted for that character. Certainly she likely wouldn’t have had the Billy romance (although, who knows? Maybe she would have sparked with Billy Miller), but she’d have had something else that would have sucked, and we’d be bemoaning her character in the same way we do for Ashley, et al (if HT didn’t leave on her own out of frustration—she seems like she’s happy to coast over at B&B, a more pleasant set).