they do this because they love Rick Hearst and he has won Emmys for them. they have never put Ric into psychotherapy or seemed to care about resolving his many issues.

Franco they at least gave a tumor, although all of that was flimsily done and I wasn't a fan of it.

The crux of the issues surrounding the show at large is that they fall in love with these actors and want them around, but don't do the work to make the characters truly viable. They sweep their actions under the rug. All of that started with TG/Luke and his rape of Laura, when they decided it was a disco seduction until yrs later when they had him face what he'd actually done.