Jaws was the hit of the year at the box office. It signaled a change from the gritty realism—and sometimes nihilism—of late ‘60s/early ‘70s cinema, into a new era of blockbusters spearheaded by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. On the small screen, All in the Family, Sanford & Son, Happy Days, and its spinoff, Laverne & Shirley, ruled the sitcom roost. At the same time, we all went nuts over the bionic abilities of The Six Million Dollar Man and his counterpart, The Bionic Woman (I don’t recall...