I would watch the sh!t out of a Fall of the House of Newman story. Hell, it may be the only way to make them interesting to me. They wouldn’t have the balls to really do it, though. They are coasting along on this vaguely aspirational idea of the Newmans from years ago. That is SO played out.
They toyed with a Newman scandal surrounding Amanda’s grandfather, and of course it turned out to be a gigantic nothingburger, allowing Victor to just stroll in and save the day in a story he had no business being involved with.
Ashland could have been a great opportunity to actually topple NE, but you never ever believed he was a true threat. This show has a very sitcom mentality where they feel we expect the heroes to be unscathed at the end.
I would love to see a Bernie Madoff-type character wreak havoc on the town.