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I’m going to break with tradition this week and write a column about a show that actually airs on cable. Hey, Marist has a bunch of new cable channels now, so why not, right? Plus, this show is one of the most entertaining and downright hilarious shows on television. It’s Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, a fifteen-minute talk show which airs on the Cartoon Network.

Since its debut in 1994, a lot of people have labeled Space Ghost: Coast to Coast (hereafter referred to as SGC2C) a strange show. And yes, it is a strange show; a very strange show. And that’s all part of its appeal. The show’s very premise is strange. Space Ghost, an intergalactic superhero who battled villains in the 1966-68 Hanna-Barbera cartoon Space Ghost and Dino Boy (hereafter referred to as Space Ghost), was recruited to host his own talk show. Two villains from the original Space Ghost series, Zorak and Moltar, were used as Space Ghost’s sidekicks who still hated the ghost after all these years. Space Ghost then interviews live-action guests in a talk show format that is anything but conventional. What results is a subversive yet hilarious blend of live-action and animation.

One of the keys to SGC2C’s success is the reworking of the character of Space Ghost. In the original Space Ghost, the character was an average superhero who outwitted his villains. He had a bland personality (just as many other Hanna-Barbera creations from that era), but was by and large an affable chap.

For SGC2C, Space Ghost (whose real name was now revealed to be Tad Ghostal), was revamped to be a well-meaning but egotistical boob, who was often oblivious to when he was being laughed at. He thinks everybody (especially his guests) are laughing with them, when usually they’re not.