My first Doctor Who experience was with the Fox-produced TV movie. I enjoyed it, but not enough to try tracking down any of the old TV episodes. I think I read a few of the novelizations that I'd picked up at used book stores, but I don't remember much about them. They were a "no one is willing to drive me to the library this week and I don't have anything else to read" last resort.
I'm very glad that I overcame my ambivalence and watched DVDs of the first few episodes of the 2005 series. I was hooked, and am now slowly progressing through the original series episodes. Hooray for Netflix!