Historians often point to 1968 as a pivotal year. There were political assassinations, massive protests and riots, France was almost shut down and the Vietnam War was leading to huge waves of anti-American protests around the world. But amnesiacs are prone to forget a cultural and political landmark that should dwarf all of those aforementioned things combined.

This was the year that The Mod Squad would premiere on American TV. Finally, as this show would have it, the fuzz had figured out how to tap into the growing youth counterculture (or network executives had figured out how to reach this consumer demographic, depending on how you look at it). Take three troubled youths and make them a special police unit of their own, foiling crime as only they would know how.

This show would run for five seasons, earning a loyal cult following. And you can see why—it’s often hilarious to see the mainstream attempt to gobble up what was cool and hip at the time. And TV vultures will immediately note that this Aaron Spelling production set the template for that ’70s landmark, Charlie’s Angels. If the Squad was TV’s version of youth rebellion, Angels was its rendition of feminism.

The Squad was extremely noteworthy for its cast: Peggy Lipton is a très sexy flower child, Michael Cole is the privileged brat who rejects his parents’ highfalutin ways, and Clarence Williams III was a potent symbol of blaxploitation, a cool brother armed with a wicked ’fro. Though the casting may seem like a cynical attempt to tap into new markets, the show’s racial mix did make it something of a breakthrough. Dated in the best kind of way, the first season of The Mod Squad, now out on DVD, is cool fun to watch.

Totally worth the purchase is the McSweeney’s-produced DVD magazine of short, rare films, Wholphin. Volume 2 includes short films by Errol Morris and Steven Soderbergh, as well as part one of the chilling political doc The Power of Nightmares.