Q: The writers do seem to keep great track of each characters' history, bringing up something random in one episode and then revisiting it episodes later. 

A: I'd like to think that it's all on purpose, but then it's like: "Okay, we have three days! What do we write? Remember in the last episode, when we were talking about the goat? Let's bring that back!" But really, we've got some very talented writers, and the series is somewhat based on our creators' lives. Carter's supposed to be Ted, and Craig and his wife, Rebecca, are Lily and Marshall. So it all started from from a really sweet, down-to-earth place.