I know that for me, i found Hook extremely boring in Season 2 when he was still just a villain and not a love interest, so it has nothing to do with him being Emma’s love interest. They wasted too much time with him then when they could have done more with Cora and with Emma/Snow and Regina/Snow storylines. When Colin broke his leg and he was 0n the show less, i was really hoping that he would go away by the end of the season and be done with.
Then we went to Neverland and he, Captain Hook, still added nothing of value to the storyline about Neverland. It was the Emma/Bae and Rumpel/Bae and Emma/Snow scenes that were the best part of that arc. Then Pan really become interesting later in the arc. Hook is just sort of there.
He is not friends with the Charming family. When they actually talk about him, it isn’t good. They do spend time with him, but as i said, it is mostly in service to saving their family members and not because they are friends or somehow enjoy spending time together. People constantly talk about there being some big friendship between Hook and Charming, but it does not exist. It is all down to people who rewatch Hook scenes over and over again and then take the entire show out of context.