It wasn't the actor's fault, he was given absolutely nothing to work with. Every time I've seen him in anything subsequently he's been a likable character and a good actor.
I really don't know why his character was on the show the writers clearly didn't have anything for him to do.
On the flip side of that, I don't like him as an audiobook narrator. Quite a few authors who grew up with TNG and write sci-fi now have him do narration, and he's just kinda meh as a narrator.