It isn't just Never The Same Colour twice that makes the NTSC picture look terrible, its the lack of horizontal lines. Old PAL tellies might flicker a bit if you've got your face less than 1 foot from the screen, but I haven't done that since I was 8.
Even sat 12ft back from an average sized Yank telly you can still see huge gaping gaps between the scan lines.
I was in the US on a course a year or two back, and the picture quality on the cable I was getting on the 21" telly in my hotel room made me want to puke.
Having adverts interrupting the programs EVERY FRIGGING 5 MINUTES made me want to go on a killing spree. "Hi I'm Bob, Why don't you come on down to 'Bob's emporium of crap noone wants', and I'll give you a free Coronary Heart bypass!"
How the hell do they put up with it?