I was prepared to give it a go, and found that after about ten minutes, I didn't miss the old gang at all.
I thought it benefitted from the fact that aside from Mel/Sue/Mary being absent, everything else from the opening titles, innuendos, format, and types of competitor were exactly the same as the BBC version.
It's going to take a bit of time for Sandi and Noel to get their chemistry going, but I thought it was a thoroughly strong first episode.