Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim is the most complete attempt at viable adult entertainment. Its plan is to make original entertainment, reclaim animated series ditched by others and program anime that plays to adults.

As we continue our history of animation as adult entertainment in America, we pick up the story in 1997. We noted that animation was preparing to consolidate the gains made in the early 1990s, when shows such as Liquid Television and The Ren & Stimpy Show (as well as several mainstream animated films) began challenging the long-held idea that “cartoons” were strictly a medium suited for children. Disney released yet another film in 1996, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which featured decidedly adult themes. The Simpsons and South Park gleefully stretched the boundaries of what animation had to offer. The “second wave” of mature animation continued in 1997 when Mike Judge, late of Beavis and Butt-Head, sold an animated series to FOX Network that turned out to be one of the surprise hits of the season.

FOX’s two animated hit series, The Simpsons and King of the Hill (above), nudged the major networks to take a chance on pushing animated shows to the forefront of their primetime lineups. ™ © 2001 FOX Broadcasting.

It was only natural that the most famous graduate of Liquid Television teamed with the network that gave The Simpsons a national audience. King of the Hill, a sitcom set in the loopy community of Arlen, Texas, unexpectedly grew legs and galloped across the national consciousness. Propane salesman, Hank Hill; his wife, Peggy; son, Bobby and struggling niece, Luann, formed the nucleus of this series along with Hank’s loco but loyal buddies. Part sharp-witted sitcom and part soap opera, King of the Hill was also the tipping point. Now that FOX had two animated hit series, the major networks felt compelled to take a chance on pushing animated shows to the forefront of their primetime lineups.

And they really believed it was just that simple.

I have written about the Primetime Slaughter of 2000 in the past. This event, lasting roughly one summer (and part of the fall) will merit only brief mention here. A slew of new animated series, designed to cash in on the success of the shows mentioned above, were sold to ravenous networks hoping for a hit. People who had no sense of animation history, structure or style, but who knew a hot trend when they saw it pitched and produced many of these shows. Several shows did not last three episodes, and virtually all of them found banishment from the networks by the year’s end.

Cultural references abounded in TV’s hippest talk show, Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast. Unless noted, all images © & ™ Cartoon Network.

Far from these events, on a cable network dedicated totally to cartoons, another show had been running quietly under the radar since 1994. Few outside of the show’s cult following really noticed it, and when the Primetime boom turned to bust, nary a ripple was felt over at Cartoon Network. No one knew it at the time, but the next wave of adult-themed animation would be spearheaded by a campy superhero from the 1960s. Once this hero cruised the cosmos; now, merely seated behind a desk, Space Ghost was to reach the height of his power and popularity.

Many adult viewers remembered Space Ghost from its initial run (1966-68). As Cartoon Network began to turn attention toward the surprising number of older viewers who were tuning in, owner Ted Turner tapped svp Mike Lazzo to create a series that would further hook this demographic. Lazzo teamed with co-producer Keith Crofford and came up with a twisted talk show in which past and present celebrities rapped with the now-goofy Ghost. Two former enemies from the “Council of Doom,” Zorak and Moltar, assisted Space Ghost in his Leno-esque efforts. The result was TV’s hippest talk show, Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast.