That's what it's become, hasn't it? Introduce new character... older characters become attached to new character and are once again happy inside... new character dies an agonizing death (after a new-character-centric episode telegraphs new character is about to die)... older character is sad... rinse/repeat.
Yep they did it well on The Farm with the daughter being in the barn, that created such a buzz that they had to do it twice every season. I check in on episode reviews from time to time and it's still the same.
