Off Beat Cinema is a two-hour hosted movie show that airs on television stations throughout the United States in late-night time slots.
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.
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.
[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.
The series is hosted by a trio of beatnik characters who humorously discuss the movies on the show, whilst ingesting significant amounts of coffee at the Hungry Ear Coffeehouse.
The show's original trio of hosts were led by the witty and irreverent "Maxwell Truth" ("Airborne" Eddy Dobosiewicz), high-energy bearded "Oscar Wild" (Matthew Bauer), and spacey-but-friendly chick "Zeena" (Liz Honig).
Bauer left the show in 1995, and the character of Oscar was replaced by the pseudo-profound beatnik artist and would-be philosopher "Bird" (Anthony Billoni, who by day serves as an anti-tobacco lobbyist[5]).
Shortly thereafter, the third host slot was permanently filled by "Zelda" (Stage and Film Actress Constance Caldwell), who was quite friendly with the boys, but also enjoyed deflating their pretensions with a well-timed barb.
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.