Matt Smith isn't bad, he's just different. More reserved than the Tenth Doctor was. Eccleston (Ninth Doctor, the guy LockeCole posted a picture of) is probably still my favourite Doctor, even though he was only around for one season.
In any case, it does take some getting used to. Took me a couple of years of my friends geeking out about it, and linking me to various clips, before I finally sat down and started watching it seriously, but I'm definitely glad that I did. I also find that I liked the episodes written by Steven Moffat a lot better than the ones that Russel Davies did... the gas-mask children episodes were written by Moffat, and he writes most of the newer stuff as well.