I think if Pulaski had been there from S1 she would've been better received - except for the anti-transporter thing, that was just too much copying McCoy.
None of the audience knew much about Data then, and so her questioning of him "It does know how to do that, doesn't it?" probably would've gone down better, as we were learning about him at the same time, unfortunately, by S2 most of the audience loved Data, and they didn't like Pulaski having a go at him, and so it put them off her.
The supposed romance between Picard & Crusher was never going anywhere back then anyway, but there wouldn't have been any of that with Pulaski anyway, and so you would've had a stronger, more experienced doctor, and someone that could've been a confidant for Picard, and someone that had a bit more bite to them, and could've stood up to him when he was in the wrong.
It does seem as if the cast didn't really welcome Muldaur though, as if it was somehow her fault that Gates wasn't on the show anymore, and I've heard that some resented her getting paid more than they did.
