Before Star Wars and Indiana Jones, George Lucas made his name in Hollywood by directing this coming-of-age story about local California teens. The 1973 film featured early performances from young actors Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, and Harrison Ford -- all of whom showed how 1960s suburbia wasn’t really all peaches and cream.

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In fact, in the end credits, we learn that one of the characters was killed by a drunk driver; one is missing in action in Vietnam; one has a soul-killing job in Modesto, California; and only one escaped the dreaded pall of suburban life. Not exactly a feel-good ending.

2. An American Family

In what would become the template for today's reality-TV juggernaut, this 1973 PBS documentary series followed the Loud family of Santa Barbara, California and captured their daily routine. But -- like a proto-Jon and Kate Plus 8 -- the Louds turned out to be anything but a typical nuclear family. There was certainly a good deal of trouble in paradise -- and they got it all on camera.

Over the course of filming, parents Pat and Bill divorced, and Lance, the eldest son, came out -- becoming the first openly gay series regular on television.