CHRISTIAN TOTO: Why Hollywood Is Weaponizing Nostalgia Against Trump—from ‘Laugh-In’ to “All in the Family’ to ‘The Jeffersons.’

Today’s stars leverage everything in their arsenal against President Donald Trump. They flex their social media accounts, incorporate anti-Trump rants into films and TV shows, and turn awards shows into Democratic pep rallies.

Robert De Niro alone spends more time cursing out President Trump than starring in movies worthy of his talent.

So it’s only natural to look to the past to hit Trump anew. The “Laugh-In” special allowed progressive stars to do just that. The sitcom recreations, though, offered a more subtle approach to the same model. The shows leaned on the original scripts with only minor modifications.

Laugh-In was so long ago it had what is now that rarest of Hollywood Unicorns: a Republican comedy writer/producer.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): We watched the first 15 minutes of this and had to turn it off. It was just terrible. Woody Harrelson was nonstop smarmy mugging as Archie, Marisa Tomei had the screechy Edith voice, but that was all, and the rest of the acting was pedestrian at best. The script was the original, but honestly, if you watch the original show it doesn’t hold up very well either. All those “timely” shows from the 1970s have aged much worse than the silly non-topical shows from the 1960s.