Off Beat Cinema
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Off Beat Cinema is a two-hour hosted movie show that airs on television stations throughout North America late at night and features "the Good, the Bad, the Foreign..." but mostly cult movies like Night of the Living Dead, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and even more art house fare like The Third Man in a format not unlike the Creature Double Feature of the 1970s and 1980s. It originates from WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York.
Each episode is hosted by Maxwell Truth (comedian "Airborne Eddy" Dobosiewicz), his beatnik buddy Bird (Tony Billoni), the painter, and Zelda (actress Constance McEwen) as they discuss the movies they show in an irreverent style with significant amounts of coffee at the Hungry Ear Coffeehouse. Each week they're often joined by guest stars like Emo Phillips, Lauren Bacall and Keanu Reeves, and music acts like the Barenaked Ladies, and the Tragically Hip.
On occasion, a clip show will air featuring episodes of public domain shorts and sitcom episodes (an example of this was a Christmas episode aired in 2007 that featured a Metro Goldwyn Mayer short, a 1963 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, and an episode of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet).
Off Beat Cinema was created and is written by Paragon Advertising executive James Gillan. It originally started airing in 1993 in the Buffalo/Toronto area on WKBW-TV in Buffalo. On the show's official site, he 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 DiScuillo 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 stores, the Terrapin Station (a Grateful Dead inspired store in Buffalo), and Mighty Taco (among many other area restaurants) are among the show's numerous sponsors.
Off Beat Cinema can now be seen in Erie, Pennsylvania's WICU-TV, Tampa, Florida's WTSP-TV and the Buffalo flagship, WKBW. In addition, it has begun syndication via the Retro Television Network, of which WKBW "sister" station WNGS-TV is a member.
