I don't read the manga, but I watch each show every week.
AND......I LIKE BOTH EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE SO SHITTY. FUCK, IT'S JUST CONTENT.
But it's like what one person wrote earlier. They have long periods of GARBAGE followed with EXPLOSIONS of awesome.
For example, the recent Bleach and Shippuden.
Bleach: You normally watch it for the giant boobs and humor associated with your favorite characters, but then stuff like just several(?) episodes ago, Aizen pulled "the most evil switcharoo in existence",and wounded everyone so that they could watch the rest of his epic ass-kicking. Manga readers are way ahead of this, but you still gotta see it animated.
Naruto: Yes, I hate the fillers with a passion, but the entire Naruto/Shippuden series are good at tear-jerkin with the story lessons and lol-jerkin when it comes to Naruto or Gai Sensei.
But, I think EVERYONE watches for the ninja combat. The fights.
I liked that one called "10 vs 1000" with the puppets in the first season of shippuden.
There was this one filler (last week?) called "the old soldier", and I actually LIKED it. It was as if they put an entire season into one episode (reminded me of the Naruto season where they chase Sasuke and they leave two dudes to fight each other except THIS was better) Good story with GREAT combat and fresh characters.
So ya, I hate/like both but I'm stuck watching them every week when I'm bored.