Before Adult Swim: The Curious Case of Space Ghost Coast to Coast

I grew up in a nascent golden era of television. A little while ago I published an article about one of my favorite shows on PBS: Wishbone. Well around that same time adult animation was just heating up.Growing up super religious — not to mention in a household that (thankfully) lacked a cable subscription — I didn't have access to networks like Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network. But when I'd sleep over with my friends or cousins who had Cartoon Network, there was a show that stood out to me. A show that I found as puzzling as it was funny. A show that reeked of Scooby-Doo-style animation and David Letterman's Late Show. It was called Space Ghost Coast to Coast. It became a bit of an obsession.I just knew that my parents wouldn't approve of the show. Not that there was anything particularly shocking or objectionable about the show... just that they wouldn't understand it and, as I had come to learn; if they didn't understand something, it was verboten.Today, Space Ghost Coast to Coast…