It... was rough, yeah. In context of later episodes, it comes off as less egregious. At that point, I think they did have an idea of where the show was going and how they were going to develop the characters. I suspect, on the production side of things, they purposefully ratcheted up the Rick & Morty similarities early on to appeal to board-room bandwagon syndrome. ...i have no evidence of this, it's just the vibe I get...