Though I do slightly prefer Sharona, I actually like them both as characters...well, I got used to Natalie after a couple of years and thought she became a great assistant to Monk, but I had been used to Sharona when she left, and I was sad when Bitty left the show. I think I liked the idea of Randy/Sharona more than her as a better partner, but yeah, Natalie was pretty great, too!

I was working on an A.U. fanfic, one where Sharona never left, and the cases in the show went pretty much the same as it went on the show (maybe some added or some taken away) and I had found that I might have shipped Natalie and Monk if it had that way. (I totally don't ship Monk/Natalie as it is.) And then, at some point, I saw Sharona stopping her work with Monk sometime after she and Randy hooked up, and that Natalie would have stepped into the role after she and Monk had become friends (or whatever). So, yeah.

I really grew to like Natalie. Sharona was kind of a whiney B at times.

@pawesome said:

I really grew to like Natalie. Sharona was kind of a whiney B at times.

Kind of whiny??? Ok, I’m only 6 episodes into the first season.

But thus far I find her more than kind of whiney

Plus she seems to be Monk’s boss rather than the other way around.

@VanillaLimeCoke said:

@pawesome said:

I really grew to like Natalie. Sharona was kind of a whiney B at times.

Kind of whiny??? Ok, I’m only 6 episodes into the first season.

But thus far I find her more than kind of whiney

Plus she seems to be Monk’s boss rather than the other way around.

Are you completely missing how rude and inconsiderate Monk is? Sharona used to be his nurse, by the way, and she's only still around because he can't do without her. A totally different relationship than a normal employer and employee. Natalie also gives Monk an attitude and she was usually right to do so, because Monk even refused to pay his assistants.

Sharona though doesn’t seem anywhere near as whiny in Season 2.

Natalie’s first few episodes with Monk kind of had her whiny though too.

But I still have about +20 episodes left to watch

Sharona all day.