I really liked a lot of 1970 Paralell time, and found that I did care for the characters; especailly Carolyn and Maggie; the former being so heavily emotionally scarred, and the latter just living a very sad, sad life. Angelique, however, was a whole lot worse than her RT counterpart. She was unhinged, and was keenly interested in torturing people (as evidenced by how she tried to make quentin call maggie back just so that she could ruin her life; RT Angelique, I'm sure, would have been just fine if Josette had gone back to Martinique.) A lot of her story is just creepy (the fate of Dameon Edwards comes to mind); and she seemed to have intense (and intensly sexual) relationships with almost everyone.
What I really wanted to see was Hoffman fired, and Claude North given more of a story. I personally really like Roxanne and her choice of boyfriends. I think people at this message board seem to forget that if Barnabas had become involved with Julia, she would DIE. He is cursed, and none of the cures for vampirism that took place (i.e. Adam, Julia's tinkering with his blood, Angelique's doppleganger) ever dealt with the issue that anyone who loves him will die. Angelique (x4), Josette, Rachel, Kitty, Roxanne (x2,) Viki...are all dead, and Julia would die too if they had an affair.