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Seized Opportunities
Considering that we got a full season's worth of Doctor-centric episodes, if the writers could go somewhere with his character, they did. As a character that essentially came into the world for the first time (albeit with a lifetime of medical knowledge) in the show's first episode, there were plenty of dramatic options.
There have only been a couple of sentient holograms in other Trek series, and Vic Fontaine would actually arrive on DS9 significantly after the start of Voyager. The other, Moriarty, from TNG, was constantly underestimated by the crew, but the issue of his rights as a living being was kind of swept aside due to his villainous behavior. The Doctor, on the other hand, is a critical member of Voyager's crew, yet he doesn't have any rank or official standing. The show very effectively uses his abrasive bedside manner to make it easier for the rest of the crew to dismiss his demands for new rights and privileges without looking like jerks themselves. The Doctor's place in the crew comes to its strongest conclusion in Latent Image. Up until then, all of his complaints were relatively minor - but having his memory altered because he was having emotional trouble with a medical decision that he had to make crossed a line.
For the first couple seasons, the biggest thing that separated the Doctor from the rest of the crew was his inability to leave sickbay. This restriction was also milked about as far as it could go, until the mobile emitter showed up in Future's End. Picardo has admitted an amount of trepidation about the decision to grant his character that freedom, as he was concerned that his inability to leave sickbay may have been part of what made audiences like his character so much. I can only imagine that the writers shared the same concerns, and I'm glad they they overcame them. Giving the Doctor the freedom of movement was the first step along the path of personal betterment that came to characterize the Doctor in later seasons.
Being a computer program (certainly a very complicated one, but a computer program nonetheless), the Doctor has a unique opportunity for character growth - he can just directly alter his program. He adds various technical and artistic skills, but after Darkling's disastrous efforts at altering his personality, he turns away from that kind of alteration. That makes a reasonable amount of sense universe-wise, but even more sense character-wise. If the Doctor didn't have to work for his character growth, it wouldn't be as valuable when it happens. That might be an interesting place to go with a different artificially intelligent character, but I'm glad they didn't go that way with him.
As for romance... this one kind of straddles the line for me. Too often I felt like his romantic efforts were hormonal in nature, which just makes no sense; it makes no sense because he has no hormones. However, I'm not opposed to the idea that an emotional artificial intelligence could form strong and even passionate friendships. The thing is, that takes time. Whenever he'd have some sort of fling, that's what I have a problem with. But his relationship with Seven was built up gradually and effectively, and made more sense considering the scope of his programming.
Missed Opportunities
Well, these aren't "missed opportunities" as much as they are "not quite perfectly executed opportunities." Since the overwhelmingly positive fan reaction to the Doctor was not entirely expected, his growth was slow at first. Furthermore, the crew's acceptance of him was covered in small ways, in the b and c plots of early episodes. Once it became clear to the writing staff that the Doctor was something they'd done right, these issues were reexamined - despite the fact that it felt strange for the other characters to suddenly lose their progress with their acceptance of him.
I'm also annoyed that the Doctor was left on a sour note at the end of the series. Exploring the Doctor's evolving arrogant attitude toward the rest of the crew could be interesting, even if it made a great character less likable - but that was it. He wasn't given an opportunity to learn humility, or at least learn it is kind of a jerk thing to do to write opuses on hologram rights, only to stat calling your friends "biologics."
If I go through all the missed opportunities for every character that occurred because Voyager didn't spend any time on the post-arrival fallout, I'd never finish writing these evaluations. But, because this is the first, and the Doctor's problems on Earth are hinted at so strongly in Author, Author, I will remark that it's a shame we'll never know what happens to all those mining EMHs.
The Actor
So, the Doctor is a character with lots of potential that the writers actually explored, but that's only part of the picture; Robert Picardo also happened to be the absolute best guy for the job. He has incredible comic timing and delivery, and used it effectively to elevate the dialogue that he was given. It was particularly evident in the first couple seasons, when the dialogue was particularly awkward, but it was interesting to imagine his lines as said by the other actors on the show. For so many of them, it was easy to see how the words would have seemed bland and lifeless, but when Picardo said them, they came alive.
He's also the only actor to share in the writing credit for any episode. Life Line was fun enough, but the real treat was seeing how well Picardo understood his character, and saw an interesting place to take him. While I said at the time that it'd be fascinating to see each of the actors get a writing shot, there are precious few others who I have any faith that they'd get it right. Picardo was a real find, a talented actor who was personally invested in his character.
Final Thoughts
It is a shame that other characters had to give up screen time to allow the Doctor (and others) to dominate the show, but in his case I feel that sacrifice was completely worth it. While other characters I like inspire varying opinions across the fanbase, I've never heard of anyone who doesn't like the Doctor. That doesn't surprise me. He had it all; an interesting character concept, powerful stories that explore every aspect of his character, and an actor that could pull it all off.
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