I was either a student or in the military. I was aware of it, of course, but I never watched even one episode all the way through. The state of TV Sci-Fi was so bad in those days I never made an effort to watch it, I really had no idea how good it was until I started watching re-runs, years later. By the time TNG came on line, though, I was a fan. It was even better, although it lacked the novelty of being a groundbreaker like TOS. I don't think I missed an episode.

I was first exposed to the original series, dubbed into Spanish, and in black and white, when I lived in Puerto Rico. I spent a lot of time in hotel rooms with little else to occupy my time.