Hi -- This was a real interesting thread, wish I had been here when it was fresh. However, I can't resist posting a few thoughts of my own.
Ned Stuart -- I kept wishing the werewolf would eat him slowly and messily.
Annoying abrasive and so bullying and abusive!
Amanda Harris ties with Ned. One dimentional, whiney --altoghether annoying. Joke between some friends is that there was a script mixup, and she was originally one of Barnabas one dimentional wimpy SYTs. That overnight "once in a lifetime love" that we are TOLD EXISTS BUT ARE NEVER SHOWN BEHAVIOUR TO SUBSTANTIATE just does not cut it. No motivation shown. Textbook example of "tell not show" writing. Not to mention that she would have been an acceptable doxy for the original self absorbed Quentin but NOT a "true love" for the more mature responsible man he had since become. The Orpheus Euridice scenes are SOOO painful. As a long time Indiana Jones fan I kept saying "Oh my God its Willie Scott -- only NOT played for laughs! I kept hoping she'd fall off the bridge and get eaten by alligators..... As Prof Stokes so aptly put it
Then there's Maxim and Mrs. No Name DeWinter -- oops I mean Quentin and Maggie Collins. I tend to be slightly more forgiving of THEM though, because they were trapped into it by the source material. When they decided to do "Rebecca" they got stuck with the mousy no spine Mrs didnt even have a first name DeWinter and her arrogant hotheaded spouse.
That one DID kill his first wife though, but he made up for it by NOT wearing a horrible orange plaid jacket.....
And here's a final silly point to ponder. On soaps, according to my (now late, unfortunately) best friend who was a big soap fan, daytime soaps often required their actors to wear their own clothes when the setting was present day. Imagine if you will the tongue in cheek scenarios that might explain Selby actually OWNING that Orange thing. (OK, I know that oogly plaids like that were in style then, but the silly explanations are WAY more fun).