Voyager: I really would have kept Kes

This is a comment to a poll post on Google+.

AFAIK, the powers that be introduced Seven, but then were short on money, so they had to remove either Kim or Kes, but Kim's actor was named one of "50 most beautiful people", and so it was Kes who had to leave.

Instead, I would have definitely kept Kes, but given the actress some time to recover from the stress of work during the show's hiatus.

And as one of "50 most beautiful people" that season, the actor who played Kim would have been easily lapped up by another show.

So, I would have certainly kept Kes as part of the primary cast, because Kes was the soul of the show. Imagine the friendship between Seven and Kes :-)

I would either have removed Kim, Neelix, and Chakotay (and maybe Tom) from the show, or at least from the primary cast, and given them recurring roles instead.

The PR spin would have been about keeping the show within budget.

And in-universe, there would have been a realistic story depicting discord within the crew about having a former Borg onboard, while at the same time they met USS Equinox or another old Starfleet ship.

Preferably, I really would have given the pink slip to Kim, but the episode "Nightingale" showed another potential future path for Kim et al.