Both Hope and Mike should have been brought back.
Maybe they got the idea for eviserating the Bauers from watching Bill Bell successfully (eventually) almost totally replacing his initial core families. GH also sank many of their original core characters and went on to be a huge hit. They didn't get rid of them, but pushed most of them way into the background.
But I think in Y&R's case it was a little different because the show hadn't been on the air that long, comparitively speaking.
Maybe it would have made sense to phase out the Bauers if they didn't still have ties on the show, but they did. A lot of history tied to the Spauldings and Roger Thorpe. It's kind of wild that Ed became Alan's enemy when his real nemesis was Mike. It's insane that Hope wasn't there for her grandmother's illness and memorial, and wasn't there for her son's weddings.
Bringing Hope back had so much potential. Was she going to be stronger, more confident, less vulnerable to Alan? Or still the sad sack who couldn't control her drinking? Or something in between? Maybe she could have taken her grandmother's place at the hospital. There were so many things they could have done with her character.
I'm guessing they kept Ed and Rick around to placate veteran viewers. Yeah, we still have Bauers, we still mention Bert now and then, what else do you want from us?
By
DeeVee ·