Mourning the loss of the creator of an iconic sitcom

It was a few weeks ago now that a Hollywood legend passed away.  Carl Reiner died; he was 98.  Reiner created and produced the beloved sitcom “The Dick Van Dyke Show”.  I am certainly on the list of people who love the show, and the same goes for both my mom and dad.  It is because of Reiner’s genius in crafting this iconic show that the news of his passing hit me rather hard emotionally (the fact that he actually passed away on my birthday didn’t help, either).

The Bible says, “A merry heart does good like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones” (Proverbs 17:22).  Laughter is like medicine; it is therapeutic.  In these days we live in, too often they are somber, serious, and heavy; I submit that we all need such medicine.  Thus, I find it an enduring treasure to watch “The Dick Van Dyke Show”, which never would have existed had it not been for Carl Reiner.  The world lost an immense talent, and I want to express my deepest condolences to his family.  He is survived by a daughter, two sons (including Rob Reiner, Archie Bunker’s son-in-law from “All in the Family”) and five grandchildren.  His wife, Estelle, passed away in 2008.

(Information from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/arts/television/carl-reiner-dead.html)

This same resource puts it very well when describing Carl Reiner.  It states, “Mr. Reiner was a gifted comic actor; but he spent most of his career slightly out of the spotlight – writing, directing, and letting others get the laughs.”  This is certainly true for “The Dick Van Dyke Show”.

For example, in the show, Carl Reiner only appeared on camera sporadically.  He would show up from time to time as a random character at a dinner party or a narcissist painter (in the classic episode “October Eve” who painted Rob Petrie’s wife, Laura, “as he saw her”), but primarily Reiner stayed behind the scenes during the show’s 5-year run.  In fact, for years the part of Alan Brady – Rob Petrie’s boss – would appear occasionally, but like the character of Wilson from the show “Home Improvement” you could never fully see his face.  That is, until the 4th season when we finally saw that it was Carl Reiner all along.

Once again, my dad loved “The Dick Van Dyke Show”; he knew the value of laughter.  As I begin to wrap this up, I want to highlight an episode from the 4th season.  In an episode entitled “My Home Sweet Home is your Home” Rob recalls the story of how he and his friend Jerry Helper both tried to buy the same house.  The unique aspect of the house, and the episode, was the basement had a massive rock in it!

At one point in the episode, Rob and Laura mull over whether to go ahead and get the house even with a big rock in the basement.  Rob says, “Outside of the rock, and the price, and the closest, and the narrow garage, it’s almost perfect.”  It’s a great line, and it makes me think of my dad.  Sometimes, Dad would construct a similarly long list of negative items together like that, to get a laugh.  He might have said something like, “My head is pounding, my shoulder hurts, and so does my back.  But other than that, I’m doing great!”  A merry heart, one that laughs often, really is like a good medicine.

Kevin