More than a year before the release of the film "Easy Rider", "The Mod Squad" was one of the earliest attempts to deal with the counterculture. Groundbreaking in the realm of socially relevant drama, it dealt with issues such as abortion, domestic violence, child abuse, illiteracy, slumlords, the anti-war movement, illegal immigration, police brutality, student protest, sex education, soldiers returning from Vietnam and PTSD, racism, euthanasia, and the illegal drug trade. Spelling intended the show to be about the characters' relationships and promised that the Squad "would never arrest kids...or carry a gun or use one."