I've seen most of "Monk" episodes, although I didn't begin to watch until sometime after it began. I believe I've now seen nearly all of the earlier episodes via reruns, but for some reason had never seen this initial episode before.<br /><br />This is my favorite program on current TV, and with the plethora of mindless reality shows and silliness such a "Deal or No Deal" and "1 vs. 100" and other "game" efforts, it is truly the proverbial "breath of fresh air."<br /><br />I like seeing Gail O'Grady - anytime and in anything - and the story here was a good one with which to begin.<br /><br />The really good shows seem to improve with age, even where they begin strongly, and it is true of "Monk." I, for one, am extremely grateful that they don't use the close-up filming as they did here, a distracting element detracting rather than adding to the presentation. I also like the way they have "fine tuned" the characters and their interactions in the ensuing years, and while enjoying Bitty Schram, I personally prefer Traylor Howard.<br /><br />But the best indication of the real quality of this series is that, despite the many improvements made in the successive seasons, this initial effort was better than 99%+ of anything else on the tube, then or now.