At the end of the day, I can totally see why they didn't recast her after what happened with Donna Reed.. I can see why they didn't kill the Pam character because of what happened with Patrick returning. They were put in a tough position here. Part of me says they should have just killed the character and refused to let Victoria come back(had she ever been so inclined)since she wanted to leave, and the fiasco with Patrick, but then.. we had only gotten a season of them reunited. I'm sure TPTB, and "most" of us, were hoping we could eventually get more. They might as well have killed Pam, though, with the treatment she got from then on out. That said, though, out of all the options, and the rough spot that this was, they sort of had the right idea in having her disappear, but it needed to be written in a much better way. Bobby exhausts all of his supplies to find her. That's what they needed to do. He gets the divorce papers and all of that, and knows she's not in her right mind, and goes on searching. Once Cliff and him find her, maybe then, yes, then maybe it happens where once he finds her, Pam(played by Margaret Michaels) lies and says she's fallen in love with her doctor, but we know the truth. That part could still work, and give Bobby the freedom to eventually move on and start dating again. I think this would have been the best case scenario. It's not perfect, but better than how it played out. However, I'm still not 100% convinced that a recast couldn't have worked, had they gotten a big name that looked like Victoria, and acted like Pam, not trying to reinvent the character.