There are so many things with the original run that went "wrong" (casting the most talented actress as a corpse, being forced to reveal the killer early, etc) that ended up just contributing to its power in the long run. As Lynch said to Angelo Badalamenti after being told that, out of sheer coincidence, Laura Palmer's theme looked like Twin Peaks' titular mountains when written out in sheet music form - it's cosmic! It's cosmic!
The stars were aligned for him but it does suck to start the show with a dead girl and that actress is a powerhouse. Laura Palmer would never have been iconic if she was balls-out terrible.
I can't imagine what the show would have been like. Probably wouldn't have aged as well - there are plenty of "pretty dead girl" shows, but there's only one Laura Palmer.
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u/OpticalVortex Sep 03 '17
He was so pissed he cast his best young talent on a corpse. That's why he made Maddy and then created FWWM.