Off Beat Cinema
Off Beat Cinema is a two-hour hosted movie show that airs on television stations throughout the United States in late-night time slots. It originated from WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York from its launch on Sunday October 31, 1993 until July 2012. It shifted to local competitor WBBZ-TV on August 4, 2012.
Off Beat Cinema features a broad range of films described by the show's staff as "the Good, the Bad, the Foreign..." but mostly cult movies such as Night of the Living Dead, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and even more art house fare such as The Third Man in a format not unlike the Creature Double Feature of the 1970s and 1980s. On occasion, a clip show will air featuring themed collections of short films and episodes of film serials and television shows . As with most hosted movie programs of its kind, a large portion of Off Beat Cinema's film catalog consists of films that lapsed into the public domain.
History
Creation
Off Beat Cinema was created by advertising executive James Gillan and is co-written by Gillan and creative consultant Jeffrey Roberts. It originally started airing in 1993 in the Buffalo/Toronto area on WKBW-TV. The first movie featured was the original "Night of the Living Dead," which has aired every Halloween weekend ever since. On the show's official site, Gillan states, "Off Beat Cinema was created to provide a forum for films that are not regularly shown on television – and in many cases – are not readily available, even on DVD. There is an enormous cache of films out there that an entire generation grew up watching that are otherwise unavailable. We wanted to create a program reminiscent of the hosted late night film shows of the 1960s and 1970s – the kind of show that made you beg your parents to let you stay up late to watch. Where else can you watch Teenagers from Outer Space and a week later watch Bergman’s The Seventh Seal in its original language version?"The show's producer John Di Sciullo says on the official site that "Off Beat Cinema was originally a reaction to the insidious spread of infomercials and the void of late night television. The program really struck a chord with viewers." Off Beat Cinema has its own slate of advertisers, usually targeting alternative crowds. Poster Art, Terrapin Station, and Mighty Taco, among many other area restaurants, are among the show's numerous sponsors.
The series began originating on WBBZ-TV starting August 4, 2012 airing Saturday night at Midnight. John Di Sciullo moved to that station as executive director of production and promotion. The series is produced in WBBZ's studio at the Eastern Hills Mall in Clarence, which includes several live studio audience recordings. The series also began adding more well-received "classic" films into its rotation after the move to WBBZ, a move that helps contrast the series from the strictly B-movie and Z-movie films that Svengoolie and other midnight-movie series regularly feature.
On January 26, 2013, the show transitioned to high-definition television. The first film to be featured in HD was Hangar 18. Beginning in 2015, the show began filming select interstitials on location.
Hosts and special guests
- "Airborne" Eddy Dobosiewicz as Maxwell Truth
- Matthew Bauer as Oscar Wild
- Liz Honig as Zeena
- Loraine O'Donnell as Luna
- Anthony Billoni as Bird
- Constance McEwen Caldwell as Zelda
- Jeffrey Roberts as Theodore
- Nia Marcolin as Spectra
- Allie Brady as Lana
The show's original trio of hosts were led by the witty and irreverent "Maxwell Truth", high-energy bearded "Oscar Wild", and spacey-but-friendly chick "Zeena". Others were also seen in the coffeehouse, usually as extras. Occasionally, an odd aspiring poet named "Bird" was featured as a recurring player.
Zeena was seen less frequently after the first year or so, often being replaced by a few rotating female characters, most frequently Loraine O'Donnell as "Luna". Bauer left the show in 1995, and the character of Oscar was replaced by the pseudo-profound beatnik artist and would-be philosopher "Bird". Shortly thereafter, the third host slot was permanently filled by "Zelda", who was quite friendly with the boys, but also enjoyed deflating their pretensions with a well-timed barb.
The trio of Maxwell, Zelda and Bird remained as hosts for the next 20 years. Each week they were often joined by guest stars like Emo Philips, Lauren Bacall, Pete Best of "The Beatles," and Keanu Reeves, and music acts like the Barenaked Ladies, the Tragically Hip, and Charming Disaster.
In April 2015, Off Beat Cinema and Dobosciewicz parted ways when the station suspended him for a controversial tweet. For about the next year or so, Bird and Zelda hosted the program as a duo. Beginning in March 2016, the third host position was intermittently filled by "Theodore," played by Jeffrey Roberts and described as a "cinematic theologian."
Beginning in 2023, the character of Zelda was seen only very occasionally, though actress Caldwell did not leave the show entirely. In 2024, the group introduced "The Mysterious Spectra," a mystic who fills in for Zelda when Caldwell is unavailable and is portrayed by Nia Marcolin. A fourth character, Lana, began making occasional appearances in 2025, portayed by Allie Brady.
Interstitial segments are shot in black and white. Interstitial music on Off Beat Cinema is provided by David Kane's Them Jazzbeards and is typically fusion in style.