The Rob Reiner Story: A Hollywood Tragedy (ABC News Special Podcast)

Summary

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20/20: The Rob Reiner Story: A Hollywood Tragedy

ABC News Special Podcast — December 18, 2025

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Overview

This episode of ABC News’s 20/20 delivers an in-depth, emotionally charged exploration of the tragic murder of beloved Hollywood director and actor Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle Singer Reiner. Weaving together breaking news coverage, personal memories, and Hollywood history, the episode first unpacks the events and family struggles culminating in this shocking crime, then shifts into a retrospective of Rob Reiner’s towering career and enduring legacy. Through powerful interviews and archival audio, listeners come to feel not only the loss of a cultural icon but the frailty and complexity of families behind fame.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Breaking News: Crime Scene at the Reiner Home (00:37–05:43)

• Initial Reports and Shock

  • Reporters recount hearing hovering helicopters and learning that emergency services were called to Rob Reiner’s Brentwood home.
  • "When there are a lot of helicopters overhead, you know there's either a chase going on or something really bad has gone on." — Reporter/Journalist [00:41]
  • Two bodies found, identified as Rob (78) and Michelle Reiner (68). LAPD Homicide investigation underway.

• Community and Media Response

  • “It's the first night of Hanukkah... I get a text, oh man, this is at Rob's house. And all I could think was, oh my God, there's no way this could have happened to my friend.” — Friend/Family Member [01:33]

• Police and Press Conference

  • Tension between police and press as details are withheld, fueling anxiety in Brentwood.
  • “Are we safe in Brentwood?” — Nick Reiner (podcast host/son) [02:42]

• Identification of Suspect

  • Rapid speculation and eventual arrest of Rob and Michelle’s son, Nick Reiner.
  • “We know it's a murder.” — Nick Reiner [01:14]
  • “We begin with breaking news from Hollywood actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner's son arrested for murder in the killing of his parents.” — Reporter/Journalist [03:20]

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2. Family Struggles: Addiction, Estrangement, and Warning Signs (05:43–12:07)

• A Public Battle with Addiction

  • The Reiners had long-struggled with Nick’s addiction. In 2015, Rob and Nick even co-created the semi-autobiographical film Being Charlie, depicting their fraught relationship.
  • Notable dialogue includes:
    • “Nick had gone into recovery and treatment centers over and over again. He said that it was a difficult process...” — Reporter/Journalist [06:55]
    • “They design it to make it feel like you're the one that's the problem, which, you know, you may be, but there's also more.” — Nick Reiner [07:10]

• Parental Regret and Family Pain

  • “Rob was very open about the fact that he regretted taking the advice of counselors that they had seen over the years, over the word of his own son.” — Narrator/Host [09:36]
  • “They told us, you have to be tough. ...I'm an actor, so I have to act. I'll act like a guy who, you know, is tough.” — Rob Reiner via Nick Reiner [09:45]

• Recent Events Leading to Tragedy

  • Eyewitnesses report Nick acting erratically at a party before the killings.
  • Nick is held without bail, facing two counts of first degree murder, possible life sentence or death penalty.
  • “There might have been some sort of an argument at Conan O'Brien's Christmas party before this homicide occurred.” — Reporter/Journalist [11:18]

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3. Rob Reiner’s Hollywood Legacy: Family, Career, and Influence (13:13–35:52)

A. Hollywood Royalty & Beginnings

• Born to Carl Reiner, Rob grew up immersed in comedy royalty, shaping his early aspirations and insecurities.
• “If anybody can point to a Nepo baby really working out...it would be Rob Reiner.” — Reporter/Journalist [16:32]
• “When I was a little boy... I said, I want to change my name. ... 'to Carl.' I loved him so much. I just wanted to be like him.” — Rob Reiner [16:00]

B. Defining Roles: ‘All in the Family’ and ‘Meathead’

• Iconic as Mike “Meathead” Stivic, sparring with Archie Bunker on All in the Family, Rob shapes national conversations on politics and culture.
• “Archie Bunker was basically a blue collar worker... couldn't stand his son in law. 'You are a meathead. A meathead. Dead from the neck up, meat head.'” — Nick Reiner (as Archie Bunker) [22:49]
• “We were always able to get laughs along with touching on very serious subjects. And I think that's what made the show so good.” — Nick Reiner [24:17]

C. Director and Storyteller: Crossing Genres

• Comedies: This Is Spinal Tap (mockumentary classic, fully improvised)

  • “The film is a very unusual film and we shot the film without a script. Everything you saw there was completely improvised.” — Nick Reiner [28:35]

• Dramas & Romances:

  • Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men, The American President.

• On Genre Hopping:

  • “He was incredibly eclectic with the kind of movies that he made.” — Reporter/Journalist [31:42]
  • “There was two things that he really wanted to prove. One was that he was not Meathead. And two was that he could stand up to his father's great work.” — Friend/Family Member [32:36]

• Directorial Wisdom:

  • “My theory about directing is put the audience in the best seat in the house. Give them the best vantage point to see what it is you want them to see at a given moment.” — Nick Reiner (as Rob Reiner) [31:09]

• Classic Lines & Moments:

  • “You can't handle the truth!” — Jack Nicholson, A Few Good Men [29:45, 37:13]
  • “I'll have what she's having.” — Rob’s mother, cameo in When Harry Met Sally [36:14]

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4. Activism, Ideals, and Character (38:50–43:11)

• Political Activism

  • Lifelong Democratic Party fundraiser and advocate: campaigned for Al Gore, Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, and marriage equality.
  • “He's never one about tearing the system down. He's about working within the system. Maybe it's about the need to make changes. And if you go all the way back to Mike Stivik, you can see that line in there.” — Reporter/Journalist [39:32]
  • Parodied for activism on South Park:
    • “‘So I say we fight flyer with flyer. We're gonna use these children to bring the tobacco company down.’” — Nick Reiner (as Rob Reiner) [42:01]

• Personal Philosophy

  • “Rob Reiner, as much as he was an advocate... believed in the power of what happens when two people talk. ...If we can talk, if we can hear each other, if I can hear your perspective and you can hear mine. Maybe the world could be a better place.” — Interviewer/Commentator [42:15]

• Reflection on Life’s Value

  • “When you get to be a certain age, you learn to really love your life. And I want to make movies about people who are embracing life.” — Nick Reiner (as Rob Reiner) [43:24]
  • “Find the joy in your life. ...Ultimately where you're gonna find joy and happiness.” — Nick Reiner (as Rob Reiner) [43:42]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |:-------------:|-----------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:33 | Friend/Family Member | "All I could think was, oh my God, there's no way this could have happened to my friend." | | 02:42 | Nick Reiner | "Are we safe in Brentwood?" | | 06:26 | Nick Reiner | "I'm not gonna sit here and listen to you tell me what a drug addict I am." | | 09:45 | Nick Reiner (Rob) | "They told us, you have to be tough... I'll act like a guy who, you know, is tough." | | 16:00 | Rob Reiner | "I want to change my name... to Carl. I loved him so much. I just wanted to be like him." | | 22:49 | Nick Reiner (Archie B) | "You are a meathead. A meathead. Dead from the neck up, meat head." | | 28:35 | Nick Reiner | "The film is a very unusual film and we shot the film without a script. Everything... improvised." | | 36:14 | Friend/Family Member | "'I'll have what she's having.' That is my mother saying that line." | | 37:13 | Reporter/Journalist | "You want answers? I want the truth. You can't handle the truth." | | 42:15 | Interviewer/Commentator| "Believed in the power of what happens when two people talk... Maybe the world could be better." | | 43:42 | Nick Reiner (Rob) | "Find the joy in your life...in your relationships with your loved ones, your family and friends." |

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Structure & Flow

• Act 1: Shocking crime and investigation
• Act 2: Family and personal history, rooted in struggle with addiction
• Act 3: Hollywood legacy, career, and influence
• Act 4: Activism and philosophy; end with reflections on loss, grief, and gratitude

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Timestamps for Critical Segments

• Crime Unfolds / Breaking News: 00:37–05:43
• Family Addiction and Mental Health Struggles: 05:43–12:07
• Hollywood Legacy: Rob Reiner’s Early Years and Career: 13:13–35:52
  • Spinal Tap, All in the Family, Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, etc.
• Political Activism and Personal Values: 38:50–43:11
• Reflections and Goodbyes: 43:33–44:42

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Conclusion

The Rob Reiner Story: A Hollywood Tragedy masterfully weaves the sensationalism and heartbreak of a Hollywood murder mystery with a moving tribute to the extraordinary life and legacy of Rob Reiner. The episode doesn’t sensationalize; instead, it offers candid perspectives from friends, colleagues, and journalists while holding space for the sorrow and confusion left in the aftermath. Reiner’s career, activism, and profoundly human outlook receive recognition, and the closing thoughts urge listeners to seek joy, connection, and empathy—echoing the spirit of the man the episode mourns.

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Transcript

[Narrator/Host]

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[Interviewer/Commentator]

I started to hear helicopters not far from my house.

[Reporter/Journalist]

One thing here in LA is when there are a lot of helicopters overhead, you know there's either a chase going on or something really bad has gone on.

[Narrator/Host]

In the LA Fire Department, they got a 911 call for some sort of medical assistance at 3:38pm on Sunday. Afternoo.

[Friend/Family Member]

And to NSF Investigation, South Chadbourne Avenue, Code 2.

[Narrator/Host]

It was a call for medical assistance. We were able to confirm through property records that this is a home that belongs to Rob Reiner. And then we found that there were two bodies inside the home.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Sources were telling me right away they.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Were saying, we know it's a murder.

[Narrator/Host]

We are following this breaking news. There is a death investigation at a home in Brentwood on Chadbourne Avenue right now. We do know that there are two victims, we're told a 78 year old man and a 68 year old woman. The LAPD Homicide Unit is on the scene.

[Friend/Family Member]

It's the first night of Hanukkah. So I was preparing the candles. And so as I was literally putting the candles in and getting ready to start the prayers and all of that, I get a text, oh man, this is at Rob's house. And all I could think was, oh my God, there's no way this could have happened to my friend. This is the one thing that we all hope and pray will never happen in our lives.

[Narrator/Host]

So the chopper was hovering over this compound in this neighborhood in Brentwood for a good hour or so, and we weren't seeing a whole lot of activity, which almost seemed eerie given that we knew two bodies were found inside the.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Home when this initially happened.

[Reporter/Journalist]

The media was pushed way back down the street.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

There was crime scene tape up. We couldn't see the home.

[Reporter/Journalist]

When we heard from the LAPD on Sunday, they were a little bit cagey.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

We have not identified a suspect at this time. Well, then shouldn't you be looking for one?

[Narrator/Host]

It was almost a combative news conference with LAPD with reporters asking questions of what is happening inside this home.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Are we safe in Brentwood? The neighbors of the community. Oh, are we safe in Brentwood? I'm sorry.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Yeah.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

So we have officers here at the scene. We're not looking for anyone in the Brentwood area at this point.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Police were almost kind of coy about.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

What they knew and wouldn't say that.

[Reporter/Journalist]

They were looking at Nick Reiner.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

And it seems that that was because.

[Reporter/Journalist]

They didn't want to spook him.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

They knew what was going on and they knew who they were going for.

[Friend/Family Member]

As we watched the news unfold, I was actually the first one who said, I think it was his son. It's awful. It's the worst thing I could imagine.

[Reporter/Journalist]

We begin with breaking news from Hollywood actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner's son arrested.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

For murder in the killing of his parents.

[Narrator/Host]

It was early Monday morning when we initially found out that Nick Reiner, the son of Robin Michelle, had been booked into jail and was being held on suspicion of murder.

[Reporter/Journalist]

I was actually on the air in the middle of a report when the producer in my ear said, Nick Reiner is in custody. Okay. I'm actually hearing just now from our producer that Nick Reiner, I believe, is what you said. The son, I believe, of Rob Reiner is now in custody with the lapd. I believe I'm hearing that correctly from the producer. So that's breaking news just in right now.

[Narrator/Host]

I think it leaves people stunned, the tragedy involved here. You have such a storied Hollywood couple killed inside their own home.

[Reporter/Journalist]

We're talking about Rob Reiner, a famous actor, director, somebody who's been just a Hollywood figure for my entire life. Just everybody knows him and his wife, Michelle Singer Reiner, a well known photographer. You have neighbors seeing Larry David show up, seeing Billy Crystal show up, noticing Billy Crystal looks like he's on the verge of tears.

[Friend/Family Member]

Just accepting that fact that this could have happened in his own from his own son. It sent shivers and chills down all of us.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Tonight. The new and horrific details beginning to emerge and what we're now learning about.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

The scene inside the home.

[Reporter/Journalist]

This began when Rob Reiner's daughter came to the house and discovered that he and his wife Michelle were both dead. It is horrifying. Top to bottom, kind of beyond reason and beyond imagination. What the police are telling us is that they believe that Nick Reiner murdered his par home and then at some point during the day, took off.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Resources from Robbery Homicide Division, working with.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Gang and Narcotics Division were able to.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Locate our suspect, Nick Reiner.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Obviously, this is a shocking case, but it's not new that there were long standing issues with the family, particularly surrounding the fact that Nick Reiner had a lot of troubles.

[Narrator/Host]

The Reiners had sort of a troubled relationship with Nick Reiner.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Hi. And how are you?

[Reporter/Journalist]

10 seconds.

[Narrator/Host]

I am joined today by the father and son duo, director and writer respectively, of the new film Being Charlie. Some of the Reiners documentation of talking about addiction troubles in their own Family was the 2015 film that they made called Being Charlie.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Things I Cannot change.

[Narrator/Host]

Charlie, why don't you tell us what.

[Friend/Family Member]

You want to thank God for?

[Reporter/Journalist]

Being Charlie is very heavily inspired by Nick's struggles with drug abuse. Charlie, take a seat. Dad, I'm not gonna sit here and.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Listen to you tell me what a drug addict I am.

[Reporter/Journalist]

But also heavily inspired by his relationship with his father because there is a strained relationship between father and son as the son is battling substance abuse problems. Here's how it's gonna go. You can either head back to treatment.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Or live on the streets.

[Reporter/Journalist]

It's your choice.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

I get asked this question a lot, like, why would you want to put your story out there? And it was never that difficult for me to share what I struggled about. It was just like, I have a lot of experiences that might be valuable to other people.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Nick had gone into recovery and treatment centers over and over again. He said that it was a difficult process and he didn't think it worked necessarily.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

It's usually like they get out and.

[Reporter/Journalist]

They go back several times and they.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Think it's their fault rather than the program thinking it's their fault.

[Reporter/Journalist]

You know, they design it to make.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

It feel like you're the one that's the problem, which, you know, you may be, but there's also more.

[Reporter/Journalist]

It's more to it than that.

[Film Critic/Industry Expert]

He became homeless because he refused to.

[Narrator/Host]

Get treatment, which is incredible to think about. A kid from Hollywood royalty who grew up in a home in Brentwood homeless and struggling with drug addiction.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

I produce and host the Dopey podcast. It was not meant to become a recovery podcast, but it did. So when I heard Nick talking to his dad, I just knew it would be good for our show. Hey, what's up?

[Interviewer/Commentator]

There he is.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Nick Reiner. How are you? Pretty good. I think there's an unspoken bond between addicts in recovery or addicts in general. So when Nick came to my apartment, it was almost like we were in treatment or we were in a detox or we were in a rehab or an AA meeting or something. I wound up having a cocaine heart attack. I got totally spun out on uppers I think it was coke and something else. And I was up for days on end, and I started punching out different things in my guest house, the tv, and then I went over to the lamp. I think it got very scary for him. I had no idea how difficult it was for him.

[Friend/Family Member]

I think that when you grow up living around drug addiction and alcoholism, it's a lot easier for you to accept it and process it when it comes to your own family. When we don't understand the plight of our friends and our family, and we don't understand what a slippery slope drug addiction is, it's hard for us to have empathy for it.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

He would always describe his parents as very accepting, and he always felt guilty for putting them through any kind of pain.

[Friend/Family Member]

Addiction is an hour by hour, day.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

By day decision on the addict's part. I think his mother really cared about him. I think his mother took his situation very hard, and I think he really cared about her, and I know that she meant so much to him.

[Narrator/Host]

Rob was very open about the fact that he regretted taking the advice of counselors that they had seen over the years, over the word of his own son.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Just like it says in the movie. You know, anybody with a desk and a diploma, I listen to, because you don't know how to handle it. They told us, you have to be tough. It has to be tough love, which is not my nature, but I did. I'm an actor, so I have to act. I'll act like a guy who, you know, is tough.

[Narrator/Host]

Being Charlie was an outlet for them to handle some of their family issues that they'd experienced and to let people know that this is something that goes on even in families like theirs.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

The father character initially was. It was harsh on him, and I believe it or not, was not wanting the character to be that villainous. And it was hard for him for a while to think that I thought of him that way and to get.

[Reporter/Journalist]

To convince him that that's not how I felt.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

I did think that, and I thought, oh, God, that's what Nick thinks of me. And, oh, my God, you know, I thought that that was, you know. But then he actually came about halfway through the process. He said, you know, the father should be. It should be a little bit more dimensional. Oddly enough, I took that as to be, oh, he's feeling better about me now.

[Friend/Family Member]

I think that probably helped his son immensely, and I think it helped him immensely as a father and son to work through those problems.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

There's a father's love and trying to help his son and get out the other side and live happily ever after.

[Friend/Family Member]

And I knew they weren't.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Life is not white picket fences and happily ever afters.

[Friend/Family Member]

I can't tell you how they went from there 10 years ago to where we are today.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Nick is in county jail in Los Angeles, was being held without bail. There are eyewitness accounts that we've received that Nick was acting erratically. There might have been some sort of an argument at Conan o' Brien's Christmas party before this homicide occurred.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

These charges will be two counts of first degree murder with a special circumstance of multiple murders.

[Friend/Family Member]

These charges carry a maximum sentence of.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Life in prison without the possibility of.

[Friend/Family Member]

Parole or the death penalty.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Once he is medically cleared, he will be brought to court to be arraigned on these charges. At that point, he will enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.

[Narrator/Host]

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[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

To the left.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Rob, let me back. Oh, Ryer.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Rob.

[Narrator/Host]

Rob Reiner is sort of synonymous with Hollywood at this point and has been for decades. He's the son of the icon Carl Reiner. Their stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame are right next to each other.

[Film Critic/Industry Expert]

Rob Reiner was really kind of born into storytelling.

[Reporter/Journalist]

His father famously created the Dick Van Dyke Show. The Dick Van Dyke show starring Dick Van Dyke. Rob actually lived as a kid in New Rochelle. And anybody who knows anything about the Dick Van Dyke show knows that Rob and Lori Petrie live in New Rochelle. His father was the host of the show within the show.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Well, hear me out, Alan. You're impatient. I'm not impatient.

[Reporter/Journalist]

And your time is up.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

You have the impatience of genius.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Go ahead, finish your thoughts.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

From the time we met, we saw comedy and what was funny, eye to eye. He was the great human beings.

[Reporter/Journalist]

I think he was probably the best.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Human being as a father and a husband and as a producer and writer. He was perfect. God, we got along so well. It was five years of looking forward to coming to work in the morning.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Carl Reiner is a superstar all in his own right. Carl reiner, we begin with in the writer's room of your show of shows, the number one show in the nation.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Hello.

[Reporter/Journalist]

There's your roving reporter Carl reiner here at LaGuardia Airport.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

It was the Sid Caesar show, a sketch show, a variety show with the greatest writers room in the history of writers rooms, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Neil Simon and Carl Reiner writing these fantastic sketches.

[Reporter/Journalist]

One of his most famous routines is a 2000 year old man, where Carl Reiner is a straight man interviewing Mel Brooks, who is a man who claims he's 2,000 years old.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Folks, this is my credo on how to live for 2000 years. Be a friend to yourself, shake your hand and pat yourself on the back. Take care of every part of your body as if it were your own from the day you're born until the day you die. Never leave the house might be raining and there's tough guys out there.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Rob, growing up would be seeing his father work with the greats here in New York, like Sid Caesar, Imogene Koca, like Mel Brooks, who became his lifelong friend. These are comic giants and these are all giants that are like in his house that are working with his father. And you cannot help but imagine how all of this rubs off on him.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

In a conversation with Terry Gross from FRESH AIR on npr, Rob Reiner told about growing up as the son of Carl Reiner.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

When I was a little boy, my parents said I came up to them and I said, you know, I want to change my name. I was about eight years old, I guess I said, I want to change my name. And they said they were, oh, my God, this poor kid, he's worried about being in the shadow of a famous guy and living up to and all this. And they said, well, what do you want to change your name to? And I said, Carl, I loved him so much. I just wanted to be like him.

[Reporter/Journalist]

These days, Nepo babies get a bad rap, but if anybody can point to a Nepo baby really working out and being kind of the, the uber Nepo baby, it would be Rob Reiner. Talk about a guy born into something and then making the most of it, right?

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

People would come up to me and say, your father is the sweetest, nicest man. And all I could think of was, I'm not him. What am I gonna do? How do I follow that? How do I be this person that everybody regards as, not only is he nice, but he's talented. Everybody says he's the most talented man, and he's the sweetest man, and all those things are true. And it was a very tough struggle for me to find myself and find out who I was and that I was different from him.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

On Howard Stern, he said that he felt his father did not think he was. What's interesting about that is that most of the laughs that Carl Reiner got was as the straight man. And if you Fast forward to 1971, there's Mike Stivic in Archie Bunker's living room, and it's mostly Archie getting the gags.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Archie, want to play? Nah. What is it? It's a new game. It's called group therapy. Is that anything like Monopoly? No, no, no, no. This is an adult game. I ain't playing nothing dirty.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

So maybe they were both straight men down deep after all.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

When you were a little boy, your father didn't recognize you as funny. The guy who recognized you as funny was Norman Lear, who was a friend of your dad. That's exactly right. I was, like, 9, 8 years old. I was playing jacks with his daughter, right? Explaining the rules to her. And apparently I made Norman laugh. He says to my father, you know what? That kid, he's really funny. He's really funny. And my father said, what, are you crazy? That little. That guy. So he didn't see it at all? No, no, he. I was a brooding kid sitting in the corner. I mean, what. That's not funny.

[Friend/Family Member]

I mean, Carl Reiner went on and on as a historical piece of comedy forever. And he will always have that place where Rob felt a little bit in that shadow. And it was always important for him to rise above it, rise above being Carl Reiner's son and find his own own identity and niche, his own place in history, which, of course, he did. And, God, I could only imagine the things that he still would have done.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Carl then moves his family from New York to Hollywood to try his hand in the movies.

[Reporter/Journalist]

He graduates from Beverly Hills High School. Among his classmates are Albert Brooks, another comedian, another guy of his generation who becomes famous. If you're charting the different relationships in this, you have to remember the relationship Between Rob Reiner and his ex wife, Penny Marshall. Penny Marshall is the sister of Garry Marshall, who was a TV producer again involved in the Dick Van Dyke show and ultimately in the Odd Couple. In the early 1970s, Penny Marshall had a role in the Odd Couple. She was Myrna, the secretary.

[Narrator/Host]

Oh, Ms. Donga, you should go to bed.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Her character's name was Myrna Turner.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

You've got insomnia.

[Narrator/Host]

Oh, I didn't want to insult you and tell you how terrible you look, but now I can tell you you look terrible.

[Reporter/Journalist]

She goes on to become a global star in Laverne and Shirley.

[Narrator/Host]

Just try to get to the door.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Come on, try to get you.

[Film Critic/Industry Expert]

So Rob and Penny Marshall were basically neighbors while growing up in the Bronx.

[Narrator/Host]

Well, we were both born in the Bronx. We lived across the street from each other. The Bronx. Except his father was working more than my father, and he moved when he was 7.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

But you did not know each other?

[Narrator/Host]

No, he was younger than me.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

But she knew a lot of the people that lived in my father.

[Narrator/Host]

I knew my cousins, and I knew his father lived there because he gave good trick or treat on Halloween. We'd go to call Ryan. It's a trick or treat.

[Film Critic/Industry Expert]

Rob and Penny met just as his career was starting to flourish. She became a really, really beloved filmmaker. He became a really popular actor, slash filmmaker very quickly.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

In what would later be seen as a remarkable power couple of comedic talent, both in terms of being actors and in terms of eventually becoming directors. Rob Reiner and Penny Marshall were married from 1971 till about the end of that decade. She had a child from an earlier marriage named Tracy, who Rob would eventually adopt, and Tracy Reiner would be part of their family.

[Film Critic/Industry Expert]

Their relationship ended rather amicably. Penny was asked for the reasons behind their breakup, and she told people. I just had a conversation with him, and we asked, are we still happy in this? And they both said, basically, no. So they decided to end it.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

They had probably the happiest divorce in Hollywood history. No, no. Stress divorce. And a sense as to what kind of guy Rob Reiner would become is that, you know, he had a pleasant divorce. When does that happen?

[Friend/Family Member]

Hi, how are you?

[Reporter/Journalist]

An unknown Reiner catapults to fame as part of the bantering and bickering bunkers of TVs all in the Family.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

What a way to blow out a can. Oh, there he goes again.

[Reporter/Journalist]

And makes Meathead a household name.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Boy, the way Glenn Miller played songs.

[Reporter/Journalist]

That made the hit parade.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Guys like us, we had it made.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Those were the days that's Archie Bunker and Edith Bunker sitting at a little piano playing a song that's an ode to nostalgia. Because their world was changing and the person who was changing their world was sitting in their living room. It was Mike Stivic. And that character was played by Rob Reiner.

[Reporter/Journalist]

He is the son of Carl Reiner, so he does get TV work. And he's in a lot of guest shots from a lot of shows back in the day. Gomer Pyle, Batman, the Andy Griffith Show. But it's not until 1970 or so that he gets cast in what becomes arguably the most kind of lightning rod show of the early 70s. And that's all in the family.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Ain't no dice there. No money, no boardwalk, no nothing there. Some little card with writing on it. Oh, yeah, that's right. I forgot to tell you, Arts. That's the hard part. You have to know how to read.

[Reporter/Journalist]

A family that lives in Queens, a working class family headed by Archie Bunker.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Archie Bunker was basically a blue collar worker. He loved Richard Nixon, loved his wife, loved his daughter, and couldn't stand his son in law. You are a meathead. A meathead. Dead from the neck up, meat head.

[Reporter/Journalist]

One of the greatest great engines of the show is the combativeness between Archie, very conservative, very stuck in his ways, and Mike Meathead, who is lefty, liberal and always challenging all of Archie's preconceived notions.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Are you meathead? Turn off the garbage on that radio, okay? And thought you'd be interested in hearing what King Richard was up to today. Richard E. Nation ain't.

[Friend/Family Member]

I grew up watching all in the Family. We all did. So to me, he was that funny guy, Meathead.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

This was based on what Norman Lear's father used to call him. He decided, why shouldn't somebody else benefit from having been called that and being stuck with that for the rest of your life? Thank you very much, Norman. For that you take cream and sugar in your eye.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

The comedy was brilliant, but the truths were hard to resist too. And it was constantly talked about as a cultural landmark of the 1970s.

[Reporter/Journalist]

The Communists, Occupy Saigon.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

The complicated ruling on abortion. The Vietnam War. The women's movement, the civil rights movement, sexuality. There was no subject that we wouldn't touch in many countries. England, for instance, there is a law that says whatever two consenting adults do in private is their own business. Listen, this ain't England. We threw England out of here a long time ago. We thought there would be no way people would accept this show. CBS basically was very nervous about the show being on and put a disclaimer on, which essentially said, don't pay any attention to what you see here. If you like it, fine, but we don't. We don't know these people. We don't want to have anything to do with them. We wash our hands of the whole thing. But if you want to watch it, go ahead and watch it. Sammy Davis Jr. Is maybe the greatest credit to his race. Well, thank you very much. I'm sure you've done good for yours, too. I tried. We were always able to get laughs along with touching on very serious subjects. And I think that's what made the show so good.

[Reporter/Journalist]

It's hard to overstate how popular that show was and how dominating it was, not just as something that people watched every Monday night, but how it dominated the debate.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

There were no DVRs, no TiVo, so if you wanted to watch it, you had to watch it when it was on the air. That MEANT There was 40, 45 million people having a shared experience. The power of that is unimaginable. The winner is Rob Reiner, all the Family.

[Reporter/Journalist]

He wins two Emmys playing Mike Stibek. One of them, beautifully is given to him by his father.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Talk about parental approval. He was so proud and he was, like, almost crying, and he gave me a hug and he told me he loved me and I loved him. This is for your mother.

[Reporter/Journalist]

It's one of those great moments, you know, in Hollywood, where one generation gives to the other generation a recognition of what they've done. So all in the Family ends in, like, 1978. He wanted to become a filmmaker, so he transitioned from being an actor.

[Narrator/Host]

We all remember Rob Reiner as Meathead on television's all in the Family. Well, now he has completed his first feature film. It's called this is Spinal Tap.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

We have Spinal Tap from the uk. You must see the usa. I've been working very hard, I mean, to make the transition from, you know, a TV actor to a director. Took some doing. I mean, I had never directed a feature film before. What do you say? Let's boogie.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

You want the first mock rock doc? You've got to look at this as Spinal Tap.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Look at the flame on that one. I mean, it's just.

[Friend/Family Member]

It's quite unbelievable.

[Reporter/Journalist]

He'd made something that became a classic that was incredibly unexpected, which was this mockumentary, a term that did not exist at the time, about this kind of bloated, self absorbed hard rock band called Spinal Tap.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

No one had really ever done anything quite like this before. It was really, really Clever.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

My goal in life was not to go back on television as Meathead becomes an investigative reporter and to make the transition because I wanted to direct.

[Reporter/Journalist]

We went to movie studios, every major.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

One, with a 20 minute demo of.

[Reporter/Journalist]

The film Spinal Tap.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

This company here is telling us that we can't release the album yet.

[Reporter/Journalist]

What? Wait. Smell the Glove. Smell the Glove, which Rob had directed. And you've never seen Blanker stairs in your life. The movie is absolutely hysterical. Everything from one of the band members trying to go through, through the metal detector at an airport with a tinfoil stuffed cucumber in his pants to show that he's better endowed than he might really be, to the, you know, classic scene about the amp that goes to 11.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

If you can see, yeah, the numbers all go to 11. Why don't you just make 10 louder and make 10 be the top number and make that a little louder.

[Friend/Family Member]

These go to 11.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

The film is a very unusual film and we shot the film without a script. Everything you saw there was completely improvised.

[Friend/Family Member]

You know, just simple lines intertwining, you.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Know, very much like.

[Friend/Family Member]

I'm really influenced by Mozart and Bach.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

And it's sort of in between though. It's really. It's like a mark piece, really. What do you call this?

[Friend/Family Member]

Well, this piece is called Lick My Love Pump.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Sometimes funny people don't like to not.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Be the only funny person in the room.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Rob wasn't like that at all.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

It's like being in a band, you know, you're passing the baton around and.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Everybody gets a chance.

[Reporter/Journalist]

And it was a sharing experience and I think he reveled in that. It's a genius, genius piece of filmmaking. And if you watch the Office or you watch Modern Family or Abbott elementary, the kind of documentary motif that is absolutely straight out of the Spinal Tap, Rob Reiner knew how to get the best out of particular actors.

[Film Critic/Industry Expert]

Jack Nicholson delivering that iconic line in A Few Good Men.

[Reporter/Journalist]

You can't handle the truth.

[Film Critic/Industry Expert]

Or you have Kathy Bates in Misery or Robin Wright in the Princess Bride.

[Friend/Family Member]

As a director, he built that trust. And the way that he did that was like no other director.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service. Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price. So that means a half day. Yeah, give it a try.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

At Mintmobile.

[Narrator/Host]

Upfront payment of $45 for three month plan, equivalent to $15 per month required. New customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow. 135 gigabytes of networks. Busy taxes and fees, extra seam and mobile dot com. I am so excited for this spa day. Candles lit, music on, hot tub warm and ready. And then my chronic hives come back again in the middle of my spa day. What a wet blanket. Looks like another spell of itchy red skin. If you have chronic spontaneous urticaria or cs. A different treatment option. Hives during my next spa day. Not if I can help it. Learn [e-mail].

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

My theory about directing is put the audience in the best seat in the house. Give them the best vantage point to see what it is you want them to see at a given moment.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Rob Reiner began as a writer and as a comic actor, but maybe his greatest contribution was being a film director.

[Narrator/Host]

Is this what you're looking for?

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

You worried about losing your job?

[Reporter/Journalist]

Because this poll isn't talking about my presidency. This poll is talking about my life.

[Friend/Family Member]

As you wish.

[Reporter/Journalist]

A lot of filmmakers do a certain kind of movie, whether it's comedy or dark family drama. He was incredibly eclectic with the kind of movies that he made. So he makes Spinal Taps, so you figure he's gonna be a guy who makes comedies the rest of his life. Then he makes Stand By Me, which is a very moving kind of melancholy story about young men growing up.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

I'm never gonna get out of this town now, my Gorey.

[Narrator/Host]

You can do anything you want, man.

[Friend/Family Member]

I was working on Goonies at the time when I got the call from my agent who said, you know, there's this movie, and it's very serious. It's going to be a very serious role. It's a very serious movie. It's a Stephen King novella, and Rob Reiner is directing it. And I was like, you mean the guy from all in the Family? They were like, yeah, he's a director now.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

You little tin weasel. Peckawood looney son.

[Narrator/Host]

What did you call me?

[Friend/Family Member]

There was two things that he really wanted to prove. One was that he was not meathead. And two was that he could stand up to his father's great work.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

This was something that my father never would have tried, never would have done. And this one really reflected me. So I said, if people like this, then they're gonna like what I have to offer. And they did. I suppose this is fun for you. No, but this is.

[Film Critic/Industry Expert]

When I look back at Rob career, specifically as a filmmaker, I'm really amazed at how he could hop across genres. Princess Bride to this day is you Know so many people's favorite film of all time.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

I read this book 14 years ago when I was 26. I read it and I just flipped out. I mean, it was one of those experiences where somebody is writing just for you, where they're like, in your mind and you flip reading every page and it's like, boy, this person knows exactly how. I think 13 years later, now I've become a filmmaker. And I said, hey, don't they make movies out of books? Isn't that something they do? I can't compete with you physically, and you're no match for my brains.

[Reporter/Journalist]

You're that smart.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?

[Reporter/Journalist]

Yes.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Morons. Really?

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

In that case, I challenge you to.

[Friend/Family Member]

A battle of wits.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Princess Bride. Like, imagine trying to pitch that. Well, it's a comic fantasy. It's got Andre the Giant in it. It's got Wallace Shawn in it. You know, Robin Wright's in it too, right? And Cary Elwes, you know, at the height of his Cary Elwesness.

[Friend/Family Member]

Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

How can it possibly work? How can it possibly work? Inconceivable.

[Film Critic/Industry Expert]

Rob had recently split from his wife, Penny Marshall, and he expressed that he was going through kind of a low point in his love life, in his social life, and he wanted to write something about love in, you know, the current world, as it were. And so he reached out to Nora Ephron.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

After I got divorced and I was thrown back into the dating world and making a complete and utter mess of my social life and being utterly confused about how to relate to the opposite opposite sex. That's what became the. That's what became the father for this film.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Perhaps his most popular movie is When Harry Met Sally, which is the ultimate romantic comedy of the 1980s. I mean, it makes Meg Ryan bigger than the world.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

What I'm saying is, and this is not a come on in any way, shape or form, is that men and women can't be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.

[Narrator/Host]

That's not true. I have a number of men friends and there is no sex involved.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

No, you don't.

[Narrator/Host]

Yes, I do.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

No, you don't.

[Narrator/Host]

Yes, I do.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

You only think you do.

[Reporter/Journalist]

You see clearly the echoes of what his father taught him, right? The comic timing, the perfect line.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

You know, the first time we met, I really didn't like you that much.

[Narrator/Host]

I didn't like you.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Yeah, you did. You were just so uptight then. You're much softer now.

[Narrator/Host]

You know, I hate that kind of remark. It sounds like a compliment, but really it's an insult.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Okay, you're still as hot as nails.

[Reporter/Journalist]

And of course, like a lot of his movies, there's always one line and one thing that people have come to repeat.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Narrator/Host]

Oh, oh, yes.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

The last line of the. Of the scene after Meg goes through this incredible orgasmic experience, she finishes and they cut to an elderly woman sitting at a table.

[Friend/Family Member]

I'll have what she's having.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

That is my mother saying that line.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Robert met his wife Michelle on the set of When Harry Met Sally. She was a set photographer, and he saw it and he said, ooh, you know, she looks like someone I would want to meet.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

They fell in love. They fell in love so spectacularly that Rob Reiner had Nora Ephron change the ending of When Harry Met Sally because he was a newly born optimist about romance.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Rob Reiner knew how to get the best out of particular actors. In A Few Good Men, you've got Demi Moore. Now, damn it, let's put Jessup on.

[Narrator/Host]

The stand and end this thing.

[Reporter/Journalist]

You've got Tom Cruise, you've got Jack Nicholson. Now, in the hands of other directors, that might be a little too much to handle. This is a man who knew how to get performances out of people.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Colonel Jessup, did you order the code Red? You don't have to answer that question.

[Reporter/Journalist]

I'll answer the question.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

You want answers?

[Reporter/Journalist]

I think I'm entitled.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

You want answers? I want the truth.

[Reporter/Journalist]

You can't handle the truth.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Somebody tried to ask Nora Ephron to describe Rob Reiner as a director because he never won an Oscar. He was never talked about the way Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg. And she said, you know, it's like when a diver is in the Olympics and a diver goes off the high board and he doesn't do a jackknife and he doesn't do a somersault, just goes into the water and there's a tiny splash and it's perfect. That's a Rob Reiner move.

[Narrator/Host]

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[Reporter/Journalist]

In real life, he was a tireless activist on behalf of the Democratic Party.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Let this president I really feel Lewis, however much coffee you drink.

[Reporter/Journalist]

A passion he gave voice to in the film the American President.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Mr. President, I really feel Lewis, however.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Much coffee you drink in the morning, I want you to reduce it by half.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

I don't drink coffee, sir.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Hit yourself over the head with a baseball bat, would you please?

[Interviewer/Commentator]

The American President. It's so much fun to watch. It's Michael Douglas. It's Annette Bening. It's Michael J. Fox.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

People want leadership, Mr. President. In the absence of genuine leadership, they'll.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Listen to anyone who steps up to the micro.

[Friend/Family Member]

They want leadership.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

They're so thirsty for it, they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage.

[Reporter/Journalist]

And when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand. All of Sorkin's work has that romance about American democracy and the power of American democracy and what it means. And Rob Reiner buys into that wholeheartedly. And his politics in his real life is reflective of that. He's never one about tearing the system down. He's about working within the system. Maybe it's about the need to make changes. And if you go all the way back to Mike Stibbick, you can see that line in there.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Hearts. Don't you see the party with the money can afford to buy TV and radio. Time to get their message across to the people. The other party doesn't stand a chance. Before you know it, you've lost the two party system. Gee, it's getting like politics in America is only for the rich. Who's been feeding you that commie crap all hey everybody.

[Reporter/Journalist]

He's someone who refuses to take no for an answer to some degree, but is moved by the righteousness of what he believes in. He was a joyful warrior in the world of politics. He becomes a huge Democratic activist, huge Democratic fundraiser.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Are you voting for Al Gore? When I say Howard, you say Dean. Howard. Howard. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Now they're talking about governor of California in 2006.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Is that something I think about? And, you know, everybody likes the idea of the Terminator versus the meathead. You know, probably if it was a physical fight, he'd probably win, but hopefully it'll be a fight of ideas and then maybe I have a shot.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Rob Reiner would not pursue a campaign for governor of California, but he did pursue the issues that mattered to him most.

[Narrator/Host]

He lent his voice to things that he very much felt passionately about, did not shy away from.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

We know that there's global warming and that it's man made. We're the worst childcare providers of any country in the industrialized world.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

I think he saw that as a kind of seamless fabric going back to his days on all in the Family. I think the things he was saying back then were the things he believed in.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

We were the first people to put a federal lawsuit together to, you know, challenge proposition 8, which led to marriage equality for the whole country. Do you know why I'm passionate about this? Because I know it's right.

[Reporter/Journalist]

He was absolutely the example of a wealthy Hollywood person using his wealth and influence to get change. He thought that was necessary.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

He put himself out there, you know, and he knew there would be consequences.

[Reporter/Journalist]

And he used his platform to become political to the point that he was actually parodied on South Park.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

These poor, innocent children have been seduced into smoking tobacco. So I say we fight flyer with flyer. We're gonna use these children to bring the tobacco company down.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Rob Reiner, as much as he was an advocate and as powerfully as he spoke, believed in the power of what happens when two people talk. It was the kind of thing that animated so much of his work, whether it's Lieutenant Caffey going up against Colonel Jessup.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Did you order the color?

[Reporter/Journalist]

I did the job.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Did you order the code Red? You're goddamn right I did.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Or whether it's Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal fighting because they found each other.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

On a plane, eventually things move on. And you don't take someone to the airport. And I never wanted anyone to say to me, how come you never take me to the airport anymore?

[Narrator/Host]

It's amazing. You look like a normal person, but actually you are the angel of death.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

What happens when two people have dialogue is a very powerful thing. And I think when you watched his movies, you sensed, if we can talk, if we can hear each other, if I can hear your perspective and you can hear Mine. Maybe the world could be a better place.

[Reporter/Journalist]

There is that sense of humanity. There is that sense of people rubbing against each other, learning things about each other, learning how to succeed. Age old stories about striving, about perseverance. That's what the human experience is like.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

When you get to be a certain age, you learn to really love your life. And I want to make movies about people who are embracing life.

[Friend/Family Member]

We've got to do our best to remember all the good times, all the joy, all the laughter, all the fun that Rob brought into our lives.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Find the joy in your life. Find the things that are important to you. Find joy between, you know, in your relationships with your loved ones, your, your family and friends. That's ultimately where you're gonna find joy and happiness.

[Film Critic/Industry Expert]

I think he's really gonna leave a lasting legacy of just being one of the Hollywood good guys. He is someone so loved in his community, so loved by fans. Kind of gives you Rob as he is and he's impossible to not love. That's why I think this loss is such a shocking and horrific one because we didn't really get a chance to say goodbye.

[Interviewer/Commentator]

Sometimes the happy endings are only in the movies.

[Friend/Family Member]

The world won't be as funny with Rob Reiner missing. He had a way of telling a story that was so rich that we all felt something about ourselves. And that is such a gift to be missed.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Now streaming. Go behind the scenes with Taylor Swift. Disney plus invites you to experience a.

[Nick Reiner/Podcast Host]

Streaming event for the eras.

[Narrator/Host]

I wanted to give something to the fans that they didn't expect and we're going to do everything in our power to blow your mind.

[Reporter/Journalist]

Don't miss the exclusive six episode docu series.

[Narrator/Host]

This is the biggest challenge we've ever done. Tonight we complete that challenge.

[Reporter/Journalist]

The end of an era. First two episodes now streaming only on Disney plus.