Win One for the Clicker? New 1980's-Themed TV Shows Prove Reagan Mockery Never Goes Out of Style

August 29th, 2015 9:02 PM

Well, he may have been a "cynical figurehead," a "sinister puppet master" and "saber-rattling menace," but he did have nice hair. President Ronald Reagan is still a reliable figure of mockery in the liberal entertainment world, and a compliment about his hair was the most flattering thing in Jeremy Egner's Sunday New York Times sidebar on the current crop of Reagan impersonations on 1980's-themed shows: "A New Term, on TV -- Children of the 1980s are making shows and they're turning to Ronald Reagan."

Egner casually portrayed the late president as enemy number one for the new crop of television creators, before letting cult actor Bruce Campbell offer a backhanded half-compliment:

So what’s behind TV’s Reaganaissance? Children of the 1980s are making television now, and clearly the former president’s era-defining effect makes him a convenient, indelible foil for any showrunner looking to re-examine that period.