‘On Cinema’ Season 9 returns while ‘Our Cinema Oscar Special’ on shaky ground

On February 24, 2017 By
On Cinema at the Cinema Season 9

Photo courtesy of timanderic Instagram

On Feb. 21, host Tim Heidecker announced On Cinema at the Cinema will be making its return for Season 9 this coming March. But the same cannot be said for the yearly On Cinema “Oscar Special,” which will be replaced by a similar (but potentially very different) Academy Awards-centric event under the sister name of Our Cinema, hosted by ongoing On Cinema guest Gregg Turkington.

There’s certainly an internet buzz building around the return of On Cinema but, with the Academy Awards fast approaching, it’s Turkington’s controversial Our Cinema “Oscar Special” that’s getting all the attention on social media.

 

It all began after Heidecker tweeted earlier this month that Dekkar aka DKR was booked to play a private party in Dubai on Feb. 26 and thus would “not be able to make Oscar Special tho.” After a heated exchange with his unofficial co-host, Turkington created a poll to measure internet interest in an “#OurCinema Oscar Special,” from which he received overwhelming support. The duo apparently reached a deal (as noted in Heidecker’s official statement from Feb. 22) and Turkington was ultimately granted rights to the Our Cinema name for the sole purposes of this year’s “Oscar Special.”

Though nothing is yet etched in stone as far as Heidecker’s involvement in the special, he has hinted at a possible “call into the show” provided he’s not too “tired from rocking the house (in Dubai) with my signature beats along with Axiom and Manuel.”

As far as On Cinema at the Cinema goes, Season 8 wrapped on a somewhat somber note late last year after a fire, caused by the negligence of Heidecker and his rabid vape habit, broke out at the historic Victorville Archives. The blaze destroyed almost the entire film catalog — most tragically, some of the prized Decker Vs. Dracula master tapes — save about 1,100 films, all of which were sadly rendered unplayable.

Heidecker ultimately returned (albeit severely burned) to finish out Season 8 but, despite a touching intervention involving close family and friends — Turkington, Joe Estevez (Decker), Axiom (Dekkar), Mark Proksch (On Cinema concessions rep. & Decker) Ayaka (wife and mother of Tom Cruise Jr.) and more — he refused to take his self-destructive vaping addiction seriously.

On Cinema at the Cinema intervention

It appeared as though Heidecker and Turkington were finally starting to see eye to eye regarding the forthcoming Our Cinema “Oscar Special” but the tale of their Twitter accounts in recent days suggests the former’s confidence in the one-off live event is waning.

While Heidecker did arrange for Turkington to use “a very limited set of technology” for the special, time will tell if he can pull something together or if he will indeed, as Heidecker puts it, damage oscarheads with a “slipshod production.” At this point, it appears three things are certain; there will certainly be popcorn, Proksch will likely make an appearance (as W.C. Fields?) and Turkington has plenty of potential logos available for use.

Mark your calendars for the Season 9 premiere of On Cinema at the Cinema, debuting on Adult Swim on March 6, and be sure to tune in to the first (and possibly the last) Our Cinema “Oscar Special” airing live from the Our Cinema / Gregg Turkington accounts on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 5:30pm PST.

UPDATE 2/26 – 6:03pm: Gregg (Decker’s “master of codes”) struggles with the live stream. Tweets to Tim: “having problem with the live feed tests, won’t load properly, can you give me the code”

UPDATE 2/26 – 6:14pm: After initially refusing to help, Tim (still partying hard in “dubia”) reluctantly lends Gregg his personal YouTube channel for “Oscar Special” stream.

UPDATE 2/26 – 6:15pm: Tim’s YouTube updated with new Our Cinema “Oscar Special” banner.

UPDATE 2/26 – 6:45pm: Tim and Eric Twitter confirms 5:30pm PST start time.

UPDATE 2/26 – 7:30pm: Link to the 2017 Our Cinema “Oscar Special.”