I've loved every single actor who played the Doctor (especially poor Colin who really got a chance to shine with the audio adventures).
The strengths/weaknesses of the show rest on two vectors, the production team and the internal politics of the BBC.
Michael Grade tried his upmost to kill the show because he was in a relationship with Colin's estranged wife.
John Nathan Turner (well meaning chap in many ways) thought the only way to fight the growing gap between the production values of a cheap as chips BBC show with the sort of special effects that American imports like Glen Larson's shows was to play up the Pantomime potential of wobbly sets and turn it into a spoof of it's former self instead of going in the opposite direction and not present story elements it couldn't afford.
The BBC foolishly assumed it couldn't do story lead visual effects for Doctor Who when not long after dropping the show perfectly acceptable effects were turning up on Red Dwarf.
It pitched it's tent on the American co-funding idea and a generation of families went without a Doctor on the box and the BBC lost out on VHS and later DVD sales of the stories that never were.
It's hard for some American viewers to understand that Doctor Who isn't just a television show, it's not even a cult television show like Star Trek, it's a national institution along the lines of having a monarchy or a nation specific holiday.
Discussing, even moaning about it is as British as commenting on the weather.
Dave himself isn't the thing some fans didn't like about the show (far from it he trumps Tom Baker on many best Doctor polls) it was more that RTD took total ownership of the institution and sucked most of the magic out of it for a while (in the same way that George has for some done with his own creation only Doctor Who wasn't Russell's creation in the first place).
He basically did what JNT did but during a BBC boom period and therefore with more money to spend and their full support most of the time.
If Dave had stayed on for the change over to Steven Moffatt I'm sure the link between him and the sense of relief felt with the change of lead writer wouldn't have been so intertwined.
Having a new Doctor and a new show runner and a new look refreshed the show in 2010 but then there was a recision and the BBC under attack from the Government and their friends in the Murdoch clan (don't be fooled by the hacking story it was just a cover for Rupert and Sons not to pay for something they eventually hope to obtain once the financial crisis miraculously repairs itself).
The media started to pick up stories of fans not being happy and ran those when there are always unhappy fans posting on the web (it's that sort of show).
The viewing figures (adjusted for new technology) are if anything higher than they have ever been before.
It's just a oncoming storm in a tea cup.