I'm a huge sci fi fan, I love Star Wars, Trek, Gate, just about any sci fi movie, etc. I have never been able to get into Dr Who but the rabid fan base makes me feel like I'm missing out. Not sure what it is about the show but I just don't get it, I guess.
To be fair the first season when it returned with rose is just alright and I almost dropped it as well. The next doctor Tenant really did the role justice and peaked the show for many of us.
Same, the mannequin episode is one of my favorites. Wish we’d got more Eccleston, although the latest True Detective turned out wildly anticlimactic he’s still excellent.
I did enjoy the manequien episode. Personally I thought his portrayal was fine considering it was a revival as a whole, the season was alright. Hot take, I think rose is one of the lesser sidekicks and I personally didn't care for how much importance she had to the story and how it came to be. I did really like how tenant acted off of her and the story though.
Granted it's been a very long time since I've seen who, I dropped it after the 12fh doctor cause I didn't have time to watch but I do intent to pick it back up and I'll probably do it from the Eccleston season. Maybe I'll like it better on a second watch.
Take what I say with a grain of salt cause it also took me 3 tries to get past the first 3 episodes of game of thrones, but after I was all in.
Start with Blink. It's a very famous and popular episode with Tenant and it's basically a standalone. It's an especially good entry point as the Doctor is barely in it.
You might get lost a bit with some story threads. If you really have no intention on watching the previous doctor I would watch a season recap video online. That way you're familiar with the important bits of lore and story lines and whose who but it shouldn't be too bad. They don't really delve too much into all the old doctors lores and stories, and when they do they refresh your memory, so at most it's one season of stuff before tenants.
That's where I started and still really enjoyed it a lot. Definitely a character here or there that they assumed I knew but for the most part it all made sense.