Off Beat Cinema

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 (a Grateful Dead inspired head shop in Buffalo, named after the album of the same name), 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.^[2] The series is produced in WBBZ's studio at the Eastern Hills Mall in Clarence, which includes (for the first time in the series' history) several live studio audience recordings.^[3] (The live audiences ended by 2024, when the Eastern Hills Mall closed its concourse and forced WBBZ to use a back entrance to continue accessing its own studios.)^[4] 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

• "Airborne" Eddy Dobosiewicz as Maxwell Truth (1993–2015)
• Matthew Bauer as Oscar Wild (1993–1995)
• Liz Honig as Zeena (1993–1994 as a regular, with very occasional later appearances though mid-1995)
• Loraine O'Donnell as Luna (1994–1995)
• Anthony Billoni as Bird (1995–present; occasional appearances previously)
• Constance McEwen Caldwell as Zelda (1995–present; Older segments in rotation as of 2024 - limited filmed appearances since late 2023.)
• Jeffrey Roberts as Theodore (2016–present)
• Nia Marcolin as Spectra (2024–present, appearing in newly filmed segments, filling in for "Zelda".)
• Allie Brady as Lana (2025–present, appearing in newly filmed segments)

La serie suele estar presentada por un trío de personajes bohemios que comentan con humor las películas del programa mientras toman grandes cantidades de café en la cafetería Hungry Ear. Los miembros del trío han cambiado con el tiempo, y muchos episodios (sobre todo de 2015/16) cuentan únicamente con dos presentadores. Además, hace relativamente poco, el trío se ha ampliado a un cuarteto.

El trío original de presentadores del programa estaba liderado por el ingenioso e irreverente "Maxwell Truth" ("Airborne" Eddy Dobosiewicz), el enérgico y barbudo "Oscar Wild" (Matthew Bauer) y la despistada pero simpática "Zeena" (Liz Honig). Otros también aparecían en la cafetería, generalmente como extras. Ocasionalmente, un peculiar aspirante a poeta llamado "Bird" participaba como personaje recurrente.

Zeena apareció con menos frecuencia después del primer año, siendo reemplazada a menudo por varios personajes femeninos rotativos, la más frecuente Loraine O'Donnell como "Luna". Bauer dejó el programa en 1995, y el personaje de Oscar fue reemplazado por el artista beatnik pseudoprofundo y aspirante a filósofo "Bird" (Anthony Billoni, quien de día trabaja como lobista antitabaco ^{[ 5 ]} ). Poco después, el tercer puesto de presentadora fue ocupado permanentemente por "Zelda" (la actriz de teatro y cine Constance Caldwell), quien era bastante amigable con los chicos, pero también disfrutaba desinflando sus pretensiones con una pulla oportuna.

El trío formado por Maxwell, Zelda y Bird siguió presentando el programa durante los siguientes 20 años. Cada semana, solían contar con la presencia de estrellas invitadas como Emo Philips , Lauren Bacall , Pete Best de "The Beatles" y Keanu Reeves , así como de grupos musicales como Barenaked Ladies , The Tragically Hip y Charming Disaster .

En abril de 2015, Off Beat Cinema y Dobosciewicz separaron sus caminos cuando la emisora ​​lo suspendió por un tuit controvertido. ^{[ 6 ]} Durante aproximadamente el año siguiente, Bird y Zelda presentaron el programa como dúo. A partir de marzo de 2016, el puesto de tercer presentador fue ocupado intermitentemente por "Theodore", interpretado por Jeffrey Roberts y descrito como un "teólogo cinematográfico". (Se convirtió en el tercer presentador permanente en junio).

A partir de 2023, el personaje de Zelda apareció solo muy ocasionalmente, aunque la actriz Caldwell no abandonó la serie por completo. En 2024, el grupo presentó a "The Mysterious Spectra", una mística que sustituye a Zelda cuando Caldwell no está disponible y que es interpretada por Nia Marcolin. ^{[ 7 ]} Un cuarto personaje, Lana, comenzó a hacer apariciones ocasionales en 2025, interpretado por 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.

Off Beat Cinema can also be seen nationwide Saturday nights at 10pm Eastern/Pacific on many Retro TV affiliates while also streamed at that time on the Retro website, www.getafteritmedia.com. The show also airs on the Vision Communications stations (WYDCCorning, WJKP-MyTV Corning, and WBGT-CDRochester), Deerfield Media's flagship station TV8 in Vail, Colorado, SGTN in Atlanta, Georgia and Beaumont, Texas, and many other stations.^[8] Due to the shift of the originating station to WBBZ-TV, it is no longer seen on cable television in Canada, as that station is not authorized for carriage in that country; the station can be seen in most parts of the Niagara Region via antenna, either through WBBZ or through Retro affiliate WBNF-LD.

A one-disc "The Best of Off Beat Cinema" DVD was released by a local distributor in 2003. Due to the time limits of the medium, only clips of the featured films were presented, along with a large selection of studio segments. Select episodes have also been released on YouTube.

In 2024, WBBZ announced that the show would produce a limited-run seriesspin-off, Jazz Scene Buffalo, featuring jazz musicians performing at the Hungry Ear Coffeehouse. The three episodes were edited together as a special episode of Off Beat Cinema on the syndication network.^[9] A fourth episode was produced in mid-2024.