Even though I have always HATED Power Rangers I still remember the first "Day of the Dumpster" episode premiering that morning... as if it were yesterday. I thought I was waiting for the Ghostwriter on PBS but somehow I was on the wrong channel. A lot of shows had their times moved around to make room for the new shows so I ended up wasting all morning waiting for it and watching a bunch of crap I didn't care about. I suffered through Rita Repulsa getting released to terrorize Angel Grove *specifically* before the rest of the world while Zordon and Alpha recruited a bunch of teenagers who make way too many noisy arm movements and were just too cool for Skul and... ARGH! Perhaps I remember it so clearly because it made the wait for Ghostwriter so excruciating. The reason I didn't realize it wasn't PBS was because the commercial breaks were full of non-commercials where a couple of the actors from Power Rangers would talk about each new show.
Yes, I realize how bad Ghostwriter is but it always ended on cliffhangers, I was young, and I had been watching it since I was even younger.
Around 1995/1996 when I was 15yo I remember talking to someone after I kicked his butt at Killer Instinct on X-Band. We talked about games a lot but the dude just kept trying to get me to watch Power Rangers and play soccer games that were popular in other countries. When I'd point out what I didn't like about Power Rangers (or J-League!) or what seemed undeniably stupid, he'd point out that it was actually Japanese. I was baffled because I didn't understand how he could think that changed anything. He was a little older than me. I wondered how he could tolerate people in costumes breaking cardboard buildings. I'd ask directly and he'd always go back to the "people don't understand... blah blah blah... Japanese" thing.
When he started telling me to watch Ronin Warriors and other anime I soon realized that he simply likes anything Japanese BECAUSE it's Japanese. These days we have these freaks everywhere but back then it was a total "WTF?!" I mean, I like a lot of Japanese media but simply being Japanese isn't enough... it has to be good on its other merits.