Tim Heidecker / Newman / Amato
Actors: Tim Heidecker
Tim is the host and creator of On Cinema at the Cinema. His show aims at providing film criticism and expertise of upcoming releases though he rarely gives negative reviews on films (in later seasons, it’s rare for him to not give them all a perfect score) unless he has something personal against it. Despite the initial direction of show of being exclusively about films, he has been using the show at platform for both his other projects (such as the web series Decker, his rock band Dekkar and electronic act DKR) and to vent his conservative political views. This tends to be at the expense of time that could be used discussing films. He is shown to at times have a very bad temper.
- Abusive Parents: Tim himself appears to be one as Ayaka has testified that Tim verbally abused their son, Tom.
- He somehow manages to act this way towards his grown-adult colleagues as well. He refers to Gregg defying against him as “disobeying” him, he’s prone to angry fits of verbal abuse when his temper flairs to those around him, and he overall treats everyone around him as though they were children who are supposed to follow his instructions, rather than grown adults with reservation, and beyond perhaps a professional working relationship with him as a superior, don’t owe Tim anything.
- Accidental Misnaming: Tim regularly misreads the names of actors on his cue cards, leading to him crediting people such as Idris Elbow, John Semen, and Tom Diddleston
- As Himself: Tim is billed as playing himself though his on cinema persona is different from how he is in real life
- The Alcoholic: He tends to drink too much during the Oscar Specials and has admitted to having a problem.
- Body Horror: Tim is repeatedly prone to various illnesses and painful injury, and usually makes his suffering much, much worse by refusing any scientifically proven medicine until it's too late or returning to the show against his doctors' wishes
. Over the course of the series, he's suffered from: a cluster of blood clots in his brain; neurological complications after overdue emergency brain surgery; perpetually untreated Type 2 diabetes; acute facial bacteria infection as a result of Dr. San's unsanitary acupuncture needles; road rash, a broken hand and a corneal injury after falling off an idling motorcycle; respiratory issues and drug addiction from getting hooked on Dr. San's "medicinal" vapes; horrific second- and third-degree burns all over his body from the VFA fire (including charring that same hand down "to the bone" and being unable to take off the shirt he was wearing because "the fabric and materials made in China" have fused to his skin); side effects, including mood swings and nausea, from his antibiotics; facial skin necrosis due to failure to properly take that medicationnote ; another respiratory infection from taking Germ Shield X instead of washing his hands; a gunshot wound to the neck, narrowly missing his head, after ignoring proper gun safety. It's a miracle he's still alive and semi-functional. - Driven to Suicide: Almost. He nearly jumped off a bridge but was convinced not to do so.
- Hypocrite: While he considers himself pro-life, he always tries to convince every women he gets pregnant to get an abortion.
- Everyone Has Standards: Despite having Nationalist and Racist views most of the time, he decided to move back from Jackson Hole, Wyoming when he found out that his friends there were White Supremacists.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: It becomes increasingly clear as the show goes on that Tim is a rageholic frequently unable to contain himself from violently lashing out. The Oscar Specials play up this aspect of his character to particular extremes
- Jerkass: Tim is often mean, if not downright abusive, to many of the people around him, particularly Gregg and Mark.
- Never My Fault: Tim claims no responsibility for the Electra Sun Desert Music festival disaster, placing all of the blame on Dr. San. This is despite that fact that Tim promoted the vapors that killed people. He choose not to have any medics or doctors on site and the parking arrangement made it difficult for them to provide aid. Yet he claims it was their fault for not reaching people in time.
- Offscreen Breakup: Tim is mentioned to having a wife in the first 2 seasons but they apparently broke up after Tim had surgery to remove a brain tumor.
- The Rock Star: He teams up with Axiom in season 7 to form a rock band called Dekkar whom he claims to be successful though Gregg denies this.
- Shameless Self-Promoter: He often uses the show to promote his other projects such as his music acts (Dekkar and DKR) and his medicine collaborations with Dr. San, often at the expense of discussing films.
- Stage Dad: He actively tries to make his son, Tom, a child acting star.
- True Companions: He is very close to his Dekkar bandmates and they mutual consider each other like brothers.
- Trumplica: From Season X onward (especially in Mister America), Tim tries to style himself after his hero Donald Trump, presenting himself as a brash, wealthy, proudly conservative entrepreneur with multiple successful business ventures. As a satirical commentary on Trump himself and guys who attempt to copy him, unwise investments, shady loans, and mounting lawsuits leave Tim deeply in debt because he doesn't have enough money to offset his failures.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: He is self-centered and his actions have harmed many people.
Gregg Turkington
Actor: Gregg Turkington
Gregg is a recurring guest of the show to the point he is in nearly every episode. Gregg is an avid movie buff and considers himself a film expert, manly through the fact he has a large collection of mostly forgotten films on vhs. Like tim, he has only occasionally given a film a less than perfect review. Gregg is often responsible for creating segments for the show such as Popcorn Classics (a look at an movie from his collection) and On Cinema On Location (a prerecorded clip of Gregg visiting a place where a film was shot) Gregg believes that the show should have an exclusive focus on movies and thus is annoyed whenever Tims uses the show for non-film purposes.
- As Himself: Like Tim, he is billed as having the same name as the person who plays him though his persona is different from his real life personality
- Can't Take Criticism: Gregg has an almost pathological need to be correct on all his film facts, and as such reacts poorly to being corrected. The prime example being his claim that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was set in San Francisco and not Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, which he continues to insist as true even with all the very obvious facts that Tim shows to him proves it to be false, culminating in him bringing Star Trek II's director Nicholas Meyer to a court case solely to confirm it.
- Conspiracy Theory: Gregg strongly and unwaveringly believes George Lucas stole the concept of "Agent Kington" from Decker for a character The Last Jedi, even though Lucas had nothing to do with making The Last Jedi and the only evidence Gregg has is that both Kington and the Star Wars character in question share the unofficial title of "master code-breaker."
- Everyone Has Standards: While not quite the saint himself, he is still often disgusted by a lot of Tim’s actions, and is very critical of his shadier business deals.
- Despite his usual insistence on keeping Tim’s personal life out of the show, he didn’t get upset in the episode after Tom Cruise Jr. died out of respect.
- Geek: He is a massive fan of movies (particularly The Lord of the Rings series) and is generally annoyed whenever the show is used to discuss anything not related to film.
- Jerkass: He can be extremely condescending and can make things awkward even if Tim is discussing films.
- The Movie Buff: He keeps a large collection of VHS Tapes and even completes a world record of watching 501 movies in 500 days.
- No Sympathy: It becomes clearer as the series progresses that Gregg is incapable of connecting with anything not related to film. It becomes more apparent in later seasons where Gregg frequently reacts with boredom or outright irritation at Tim's discussions on having depression and suicidal thoughts, and that's when he doesn't blithely try to redirect the conversation in to movie trivia.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Gregg considers On Cinema to be a highly respected institution, going so far as to call it "the premiere source in the United States and worldwide" for movie information though there isn’t much to back this claim up.
- The Smart Guy: He considers himself this. Specifically, he considers himself to be an expert on film, justifying this by collecting a huge number of films on VHS. When quizzed on his film knowledge though, it shows he isn’t as smart as he actually thinks he is.
- Trademark Favorite Food: He loves popcorn and even once had a one-off popcorn tasting segment.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: While not dangerous like Tim at first, he is self-centered as well and he has no patience for anything that doesn’t involve movies. If someone gets harmed, he will only care if he himself was affected negatively by it.
Joe Estevez
Actor: Joe Estevez
An actor who is friends with Tim and Gregg. He regularly attends the Oscar specials and occasionally makes appearances on the main show.- Intergenerational Friendship: Going by their real life ages, Joe is more than 20 years older than Tim and Gregg. However, they maintain a friendship that lasts throughout the whole series.
- Nice Guy: He is one of the nicest people on the show and is supportive of his friends even in their darkest moments.
Mark Proksch
Actor: Mark Proksch
Proksch is an impressionist and actor, particularly notable for his W.C. Fields impression. He made his debut appearances on the Oscar specials, and briefly had a segment on the show called Golden Age Comedies, where he ‘reviewed’ old comedy films in character as Fields. He later was hired by Gregg as a concession stand worker at the Victorville Theater, and then by Tim as a waiter for 5 Bag Cinema. His employers often do not treat him well, usually in the form of low hours (thus low pay) or abuse.
- Ascended Extra: He initially had a small role in the Oscar specials and occasional guest appearances, doing usually an impressionist segment. He later begins to make regular appearances in season 8 and 9 after being employed by Gregg and Tim for the Victorville Theater and 5 Bags Cinema respectfully.
- As Himself: He seems to play a fictional version of himself.
- Butt-Monkey: He is always victim to both Tim and Gregg’s shenanigans.
- Giftedly Bad: Though he's often billed as an "impressionist", Mark's imitations are at best average, and at worst non-existent. Despite watching clips of Quint's speech all morning to prepare for the JAWS Oscar Special, he does his regular voice because he thought "he sounded like me". The routines themselves usually consist of rambling with the occasional famous quote thrown in, and when that runs out he'll begin quoting banal, often depressing facts about the person he's doing an impression of, like when and how they died.
Ayaka
Actor: Ayaka Ohwaki
Ayaka is a foreign exchange student from Japan. She stayed with Tim and they began a romantic relationship. She occasionally was brought in to "review" movies though she never claims to be an expert like Tim or Gregg. While she got deported due to visa issues, she turned out to be pregnant with his child and returned to America.
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The Danza: She shares the same name as the actress. - Happily Married: By the time of Tim’s trial, she has married someone else and has no further romantic interest in Tim, a fact he doesn’t take well.
- Nice Girl: She is generally a nice person and is never hostile to other people like how Tim and Gregg sometimes are.
- Offscreen Breakup: She and Tim breakup sometime after season 8. By the time she is present at Tim’s trial, she has married someone else.
- Put on a Bus: She gets deported at the end of season 3. She does give a skype appearance in season 5 after its revealed she’s pregnant in season 4. She returns and makes occasional appearances from season 6 to 8 before becoming absent in season 9. She does return in the trial though.
Dr. Luther San
Actor: Zac Holtzman
Dr San is an alternative medicine specialist. Tim goes to him for health treatments even though they usually just cause more problems for Tim. He is loathed by Gregg who considers San’s treatments to be quackery and also hates that San’s appearances on the show tend to take away time that could be used to discuss films.
- Driven to Suicide: He killed himself to avoid conviction for his part in the Electric 20 disaster.
- Killed Offscreen: His suicide is announced on the show rather than being shown.
- Snake Oil Salesman: This is Gregg’s perception of him. Granted, none of his treatments actually seem to do much to help his patients.
Axiom
Actor: Alessandro Serradimigni
Axiom is a member of Tim’s rock band Dekkar and begins to make appearances on the show, often to promote the project. He has a sister named Julianna, whom Decker has had a sexual relationship with.
- The Rock Star – he teams up with Tim to form a rock band Dekkar.
- True Companions: He is very close with Tim to the point of donating one of his hands to Tim to replace a hand Tim damaged in a fire
Tom Cruise Heidecker Jr.
The infant son of Tim and Ayaka. He is named after Tim’s favorite actor, Tom Cruise. Tim had been grooming Tom to be an actor.- Death of a Child – Tim puts Tom in the care of Dr. San who is unable to cure Tom’s illness, resulting in Tom’s death.
- Killed Offscreen – His death is not depicted but is mentioned
