Watching the second season has been so enlightening to me!  I have a whole new outlook on the James character.  Maybe it's my age.  I'm not quite sure.  I think James is a really nice guy.  I think he tries really hard to be a nice guy.  I used to think he was a woman switching punk, no better than the rest, but when he has the breakdown after Maddy is killed and drives off into the sunset, it kind of breaks my heart.

 When you look back at your teenage years, remember all the angst?  Remember how the whole world revolved around you and your friends?  I just see that so much in James and Donna. 

Even Donna, the day after her best friend dies, can only go on and on to her mother about how she thinks she's in love with James, blah blah...

Then, don't even get me started on his naivety of his relationship with Evelyn.  Here's this poor kid, stopping in for "a beer" (I just noticed that btw) and this nice lady wants him to look at his car.  Something a typical teenager would do.  "Cool, I get to work on an old expensive car".

Poor James.  His mom deserts him, his dad took off, and his aunt is Nadine!

Ban her^^^

Come on now!  I used to think James was awfully sappy, but now I see a different side of him.  Poor guy.  If you look at him from a psychological standpoint, his mother is an addict, he finds that in Laura and tries to "save her".  Then he goes for the stable girl, but runs from her.  Then he gets messed up with a lying manipulative woman again, then back to Donna.  I really feel bad for him.  But I still don't like his song.

Ban her^^^

I found James' story REALLY boring!

Different strokes...

I've never understood the vitriol towards James. I know a lot of it's tongue-in-cheek and people aren't really going about their day-to-day lives simmering with hatred for a television character but it's become a massive cliche to dislike James (and Donna) over the last few years.

And honestly, I have to wonder how much of it is really due to James and Donna as characters rather than the post-TP exploits of LFB.  :)  Maybe that's just me.

When you look back at your teenage years, remember all the angst? Remember how the whole world revolved around you and your friends? I just see that so much in James and Donna.

Even Donna, the day after her best friend dies, can only go on and on to her mother about how she thinks she's in love with James, blah blah...

Enough hating on James because he pulls all the tail. 

Can he help it if girls like him and he has hormones and a soft heart? 

I know what you mean, Leo'sGirl. James and Donna remind me of James Dean and Natalie Wood in Rebel Without a Cause. They're teenagers who have all this passion they can't really do anything to change the world with, but at least they understand eachother.   

Hello all, after lurking on here for awhile I finally found a post that I need to reply too, so I registered to do so.

 James, James, where to begin. The song? The homoerotic biker getup? The terrible buzz haircut? The sappy storylines?

"Just youuuuuuuuu and IIIIIIII"..........I think most of us can agree that he was the least intriguing character next to Nadine on the whole show. 

James, James, where to begin. The song? The homoerotic biker getup? The terrible buzz haircut? The sappy storylines?

"Just youuuuuuuuu and IIIIIIII"..........I think most of us can agree that he was the least intriguing character next to Nadine on the whole show.

Interesting choice for a first post, but as far as least intriguing?  Even James detractors are going to disagree with you there. (See the Most Irritating Characters thread that was recently revived,)

 As far as homoerotic, I don't recall any chaps, but if leather jackets are strictly gay porn, then Bobby's guilty, too, along with everyone else at the Roadhouse in the pilot.  Doesn't Ed Hurley wear a leather?
 

I dunno. Bikes turn most chicks on. I don't particularly like Harleys, but lots do. 

Well I ride a Vespa...it seems to get chicks.

And don't get me started on Bobby....uggh, I was waiting on the edge of my seat for just about every episode for someone to off that guy. 

I thought Bobby was cool when it first aired ( I was fourteen), but now when I see his hair he needs to cut it in the front.

The headband in episode 15? I want to punch him in the face.

That was in Bobby's phase (you know teenagers) when he was thinking about dropping a rap album.

Bobby and Shelley make me so much more angry than James and Donna. James and Donna: they're playing junior detectives and aren't they cute?  Shelley actually LISTENING to Bobby tell her to bring Leo home.  That girl has NO spine.  Can you EVEN imagine quitting your job to feed and bathe the man who hung you to die in a mill fire?  WOW!  Granted my name is Leo's girl, but that in itself is another story...

As far as homoerotic, I don't recall any chaps, but if leather jackets are strictly gay porn, then Bobby's guilty, too, along with everyone else at the Roadhouse in the pilot. Doesn't Ed Hurley wear a leather?

In retrospect, what's funny to me is Detective Donna. She moves from one case to the next the entire series.  Let's see, there was the necklace, Jacoby, Harold, James and Evelyn, and Ben Horne as her father and then in FWWM she basically stalks Laura.  I always thought it was funny how nosy she was and how she was always investigating things like it was her alcohol or something.

Shelley is the classic "battered wife." It makes you so angry to see someone like her be so weak and hopeless but you can't really do anything about it no matter what you do. That to me alone made her storyline more intriguing than Donna and James. I mean don't get me wrong, James and Donna's storyline has a lot of interesting parts to it, namely Harold which I consider one of the saddest moments of the whole show, but James as a character (just like Bobby) makes me want to slap Mark Frost & the co-writers.

but I suppose in any show that has multiple storylines there's going to be some filler in there no matter what you do... 

Nice work booth

That made me laugh out loud Booth

Ed, James, Scotty, and Cappy could form Twin Peaks version of the Village People and perform at the Roadhouse

That made me laugh out loud Booth

Ed, James, Scotty, and Cappy could form Twin Peaks version of the Village People and perform at the Roadhouse

 Umm, the Village Peeps had a COP (Andy), a NATIVE AMERICAN (Hawk), a construction worker (maybe Toad), a  COWBOY (Harry has the hat)  & a sailor (maybe Nic Cage, in a special cameo).  Let's cast appropriately, huh?  Black Lodge Man (to the tune of Macho Man) will be their big hit. (James is out. His voice is too high)

The construction worker can be easily substituted by a logger (Janek or Pete), this is Twin Peaks style! Plus JJ Wheeler can do the cowboy, I never saw Truman as much of a singer (PROVE ME WRONG FWWM DISTRIBUTORS!!!)

That made me laugh out loud Booth

Ed, James, Scotty, and Cappy could form Twin Peaks version of the Village People and perform at the Roadhouse

Umm, the Village Peeps had a COP (Andy), a NATIVE AMERICAN (Hawk), a construction worker (maybe Toad), a COWBOY (Harry has the hat) & a sailor (maybe Nic Cage, in a special cameo). Let's cast appropriately, huh? Black Lodge Man (to the tune of Macho Man) will be their big hit. (James is out. His voice is too high)Or Windom could do be all of them.

a construction worker (maybe Toad)

Just slap a hardhat on Bob. Denim overload.

I just wanted to quickly agree. James is an ass, but I actually like him now.

I just wanted to quickly agree. James is an ass, but I actually like him now.

 This made me laugh.

When it comes to James, the lights are on and no one is home and he always runs from his problems by taking off somewhere and brooding on his motorbike.