One of my lovely readers asked me this question and, because the answer is obviously too long and complicated for a comment box, I am dedicating an entire blog post to it. Also I didn't have anything else to write about today. Also I thought the rest of my three readers could benefit from my immense vault of Doctor Who knowledge.

Here is the question.

P.P.S. I finally watched Firefly and (of course) loved it. Now I want to learn about Dr. Who, but I don't know where to start. Do you advise that I begin at the beginning? What IS the beginning? I read somewhere that Dr. Who pre-dates the Christian Era, and I can't read cuneiform. (Seriously, how long has this show been on?)

First of all.  Firefly=Awesome.  Fox=Evil network that will cancel all awesome shows right when everyone gets hooked.  Totally not bitter or anything.
As a classic Who fan, I absolutely can not tell you to just skip to the new stuff.  There is so much history there and to really appreciate the new stuff you need to know where it all started.  To ignore all that would just be, well it should be criminal.  Punishable by being strapped down and forced to watch each and every episode of the classic series without a break.  Except that wouldn't be a punishment.  Except maybe the no break part.  Anyway.  It's bad.  Terrible.

Oh, you asked when it started?  Well the first episode, An Unearthly Child, takes place in the Stone Age.
But, don't you worry, the air date doesn't go nearly that far back.  You only have to go back to November 23rd 1963.  (The day after Kennedy was shot.)  Did I mention that Doctor Who holds the Guinness Book of World Records record for "longest running science fiction tv series"?
Ok.  I guess I can understand that, though you are obviously eager to watch the entire series from the beginning, it might be a bit difficult to accomplish.  #lotsofepisodes

Here is my suggestion for a shortcut.