I'd have to agree...Nick Brendan saved that character. He was so self-deprecating. And irreverent. A better actor than people give him credit for. I liked him up until a few episodes in S5, S6 and S7...I can understand why a lot of Xander fans disliked the latter seasons, the character's writing went downhill.

And I think it was Suave Xander that began to bug me. His speech to Buffy in Into the Woods - annoyed me. But he made me laugh in CRUSH and IWMTLY.
I wanted to kill him in Entropy - Grave, which made Grave difficult to bear, actually.