Until Sunday's shocking double killings, few families seemed more apart from the dark side of life than the Reiners.
For decades, Rob Reiner and his father, Carl, had embodied a gentle, hopeful spirit in American culture, whether Dick Van Dyke's lovable antics on the show named for him and created by Carl, or the openly sentimental ending to Rob's “When Harry Met Sally…”, now held up as the kind of romantic comedy they don't seem to make anymore. Carl Reiner would call his son his favorite director, while Rob would recall being so awed by his father that he wanted to change his first name to Carl.
