I'm in the process of rewatching the series, so I need to vent.

Civil War Ben - It's not so much that the character is bad, because Richard Beymer is always entertaining. It's that the whole subplot completely destroys the conflict between Ben and Audrey, and effectively kills off Audrey as we came to know her. Watching her become daddy's little executive and try to save the business is painful; not just because it completely ignores her knowledge of what a monster he is, but she's the only person who can connect Catherine and Ben to the mill fire. So much potential. Goodbye captivating subplot! Hello pine weasel fashion show! The only positive is that it was an excuse to bring back Jerry Horne, Johnny Horne, and Dr. Jacoby.

Windom Earle - They should have kept him in the shadows; it was far more intriguing and terrifying knowing that Windom Earle could be anywhere or anyone. Everything about him was silly and cartoonish. The disguises were awful, as was the Bond-villain-style "I'm going to explain what my plan is with visual aides" setup for Miss Twin Peaks.

John Justice Jingleheimer Wheeler -  The winner, hands down. And not just because he's a poorly-written, one-dimensional, last-second replacement for Cooper. Billy Zane is just terrible. Despite Wheeler's supposed virtues, there's nothing about him (for me, at least) that's remotely engaging or likeable. He comes off as slimy and pompous. And he wears a sweater that a blind Bill Cosby wouldn't be caught dead in tucked into his pants. The writers have Ben constantly remind the audience of what a good, upstanding, Prince Charming kind-of-guy Wheeler is, because we'd never ever feel that way about him that way based on the way he's played. The guy's middle name is Justice, for crying out loud. How bad is this guy's acting that we need to be beaten over the head with the idea that he's noble? They should have just had him walk across the waterfall and heal Gordon Cole's hearing while they were at it. Nice to know that he has photographs of Audrey when she was 10. That's far less creepy than her not-quite-relationship with Coop. Sigh. I like to think that they filmed 26 takes of him seranading Audrey on the picnic, and had to keep the one where she only kinda sorta starts laughing at him. There is absolutely zero chemistry between Zane and Fenn, and their interactions make the Audrey/Bobby pairing look like a masterpiece by comparison.

 EDIT: Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where's the Tylenol?

 Same here. Evelyn's subplot to me totally destroyed the whole romantic angle with James. He just jumps from one "love of his life" to the other, doesn't he. If he was supposed to be a bit more James Dean, than he should have been a bit more bad-ass. In stead, he just does the puppy-dog eyes over and over and becomes totally ridiculous in his so called real love morals, etc. Bobby is less of a slut then he. If Evelyn hadn't happened, though, he could've still sort of stayed a romantic hero and the first man who actually loved Laura (and Donna, by proxy). 

I agree. Louie was very aggrivating. And I too am finding that all characters are somewhat tolerable, and had some purpose when written in... I think that maybe the delivery of the characters by the actors/actresses may have brought about some of the unfavorable reviews from fans. Evelyn's storyline did seem random, but maybe had some deeper purpose we didn't get to see b/c the story wasn't received well by fans. 

I liked the Annie storyline, but think the acting could have been better. I also think that the Audrey/JJ Wheeler (I always screw up his name so I'm using initials) storyline would have developed into something interesting in the third season... he was too good to be true - I think something sinister was brewing beneath that we would have seen in Season 3.
 

I vote for Lana... (ironic, I know)