Wonder if HIMYM writers watched this?

I just watched the first episode after years and years and I was struck by a few things. First, the quirky humor and odd characters. You can see the influence of the Pete and Pete creators rubbing off, it seems. While the oddness here isn't as organic - I must admit it feels a little forced - it is a nice reflection of the "dysfunctional-functional" families of the era reflected in Roseanne, Eerie Indiana and Grounded for Life. I would definitely put this amongst the burst of odd/weird shows of the time like Picket Fences, Northern Exposure, X-Files, Eerie Indiana, Pete and Pete and Twin Peaks that will always mark this era for me. Hell, even late night "trashy" shows like Silk Stockings, Nightmare Cafe and Forever Knight were beautifully quirky.

I digress. My second thoughts about the show were that the characters of Mom and Dad, being a kindergarten teacher and architect, remind me a little of Lilly and Ted from How I Met Your Mother. The humor and wittiness of Clarissa and her contemporaries is almost such that, were Ted and Lily to have been the ones to be together, and had they been of age in the 80s, their union might have produced the likes of Clarissa. Just my first thoughts upon watching the first eppy.

I don't know if you're aware of this but I've already changed things. I killed Ben Linus.
--Sayid