Well, as a fan, I can say that the first episode was just about as good as anything I could've come up with - it's impossible to judge the overall quality on one single episode, though, and no doubt there will be stuff that I wish they would've kept, or not kept, or whatnot.
I'll talk to my mom about it tomorrow, probably, and see if she "got" it - she's kind of my gauge for people who haven't read the books, lol. It's easy enough for me to say I don't think I would've been too confused by who was who, but I've been reading the books for years, I know all the characters like I do my own family (better, in some ways...), so I'm not a good judge.
But we'll see!
( A few minor ramblings that some might consider spoilery. )