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!

I found James' story REALLY boring!

Different strokes...

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. 

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. 

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

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... 

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

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

 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.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper