TedTV

By Thomas Willett

This Friday marks the release of Ted, the directorial debut from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. With everyone waiting to see if it is as schizophrenic and unorganized as the latter day version of his shows, I have decided to look at it another way. With recent examples like Lena Dunham and the Coen Brothers, a majority of performers are hopping onto the TV set after making their mark on the silver screen. This got me thinking about the inverse situation. Who started their careers by creating shows that eventually lead to a career in film?

For actors, it is easy to transcend between TV and movies. Even a handful of writers (Brad Bird, Damon Lindelof) have managed to make some distinguished leap. While I have grown weary of MacFarlane’s drunk with juvenile humor power, I have to commend him for managing to make a movie that can be sold on name recognition. The list that follows features many names that have changed the way we look at TV and movies throughout their career. Many have introduced the current Hollywood powerhouses, or pushed TV narration into new, bizarre places. And yet, it all started with an idea for a show.

There is little criteria other than these people first creating a TV show and then directing at least one major movie. I know that I flubbed a little bit (Edgar Wright did a student film and Mel Brooks did TV movies before their first show), but I tried to not overlook the beginning where ambition and personal control reigned supreme.

James L. Brooks

TV: Room 222, the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers, Rhoda, Lou Grant, Taxi

Movies: Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, I’ll Do Anything, As Good As It Gets, Spanglish, How Do You Know

I cannot give enough praise to Brooks, who has won three deserved Oscars for Terms of Endearment and proved that movies can tackle deep emotional subject matter (usually with Jack Nicholson) without being schmaltzy. He’s also made some of the most memorable TV shows, including one of my Top 10 favorites: Taxi. Most of all, he deserves credit for negotiating with Fox to give the Simpsons writers creative control since the beginning. While his most recent movie is a dud, Brooks has earned enough respect in my book to have a few blemishes on his record.

Judd Apatow

TV: The Ben Stiller Show, Undeclared

Movies: The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People

As readers will know, I think that Apatow is a genius when it comes to the modern comedies. Even though his personal output is small, it is mighty. What makes him more impressive is all of the stuff he has produced with other people, including Freaks and Geeks, Girls and some of my favorite recent comedies: Walk Hard, Pineapple Express, and Bridesmaids. If anything, I applaud him for continuing to slowly push the boundaries of what can be expected as funny, whether it is based on race, sex, or length of a film. He has succeeded at all of them, and I feel that this will be his legacy.

Mel Brooks

TV: Get Smart, the Nutt House

Movies: The Producers, the Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, History of the World Part I, Spaceballs, Life Stinks, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Dracula: Dead and Loving It

The reason that Brooks holds significance in my life is that he was the gateway to old school comedy. His brand of broad slapstick just impressed me so much that even the lesser of his pre-1985 output is still very entertaining (he even did a silent movie that I feel is more of a genuine modern silent movie than the Artist). He also co-created Get Smart, which started my interest in Don Adams and gave us one of the best theme songs ever. He also has one of my favorite stage musicals (“the Producers) to his name, which also gave him the prestigious EGOT (winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) honor. Even though his directorial career took a nosedive with Spaceballs onward, he still manages to be one of the most captivating speakers I’ve ever seen.

Edgar Wright

TV: Asylum

Movies: A Fistful of Fingers, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Wright is one of my favorite directors currently working the scene. His movies bring an aggressively youthful, satirical bent on genre films while also paying tribute. It has also almost become cliché to praise his work on Spaced, which also has become one of the go-to examples of great modern British sitcoms. However, this doesn’t excuse that his work on Asylum (which is really just bits thrown together) is a brilliant beginning to the style that we now credit Wright with (A Fistful of Fingers actually came before, but lacks most of his flair). With credits that also include producing Attack the Block and co-writing the Adventures of Tintin (both in my Top 10 from last year), this guy seems unstoppable. Let’s just hope he can close the Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy on a high note.

Ben Stiller

TV: The Ben Stiller Show

Movies: Reality Bites, the Cable Guy, Zoolander, Tropic Thunder

It has become too easy to write off Stiller for his shtick as an actor. He has worn thin, but the further I look into his catalog, the more I kind of respect him. Even in the early days of the Ben Stiller Show, he managed to breed the predecessor to Mr. Show and simultaneously make one of the greatest example of 90’s satire: sardonic wit and all. Even his directorial efforts proved to be interesting choices that include two of my favorites: Reality Bites and Tropic Thunder. The latter is also hilarious because it earned Robert Downey Jr. a nomination for essentially playing blackface. While Stiller’s other output may not work that well, his personal projects definitely have drive and personality that makes me excited to see what he’ll direct next.

Joss Whedon 

TV: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse

Movies: Serenity, the Avengers

This is a name that has become hard to leave off any list. After the recent discovery that movies beginning with ‘av’ (see also: Avatar) make big bucks, his ability to turn the Avengers into a billion dollar, Imdb Top 250 film, I think that he deserves a pat on the back. However, I am more into his TV output, where his characters get to breathe and have interesting stories that don’t feel rushed. As I currently work through watching Angel, I am very impressed with Whedon’s world building, which ranks him even higher. If he can make anything as whimsical as Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog for his follow-up, then I think I’ll accept him as a director (because directing episodes of the Office and Glee is pretty baffling).

Garry Marshall

TV: Hank, Hey Landlord, Me and the Chimp, Evil Roy Slade, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Blansky’s Beauties, Angie, Mork & Mindy, Makin’ It, Joanie Loves Chachi,

Movies: Young Doctors in Love, the Flamingo Kid, Nothing in Common, Overboard, Beaches, Pretty Woman, Frankie and Johnny, Exit to Eden, Dear God, the Other Sister, Runaway Bride, the Princess Diaries, Raising Helen, the Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, Georgia Rule, Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve

Let me just make this clear that years of bad choices have kept me from really backing Marshall. His recent movie received quite a bit of Razzies nominations. However, he has done quite a bit of work in TV that makes me at least appreciate his contributions. Both Mork & Mindy and early Laverne & Shirley remain my go to feel good shows and the latter also features the best theme song ever. However, what makes Marshall also stand out is that he introduced the world to Robin Williams, Anne Hathaway, and his daughter Penny Marshall, whose own directorial efforts feature some of my favorites (notably Big). He isn’t that great now, but it is hard to imagine a world without these people, and we have Marshall to thank for that.

Carl Reiner

TV: the Dick Van Dyke Show, Lotsa Luck

Movies: Enter Laughing, the Comic, Where’s Poppa?, Oh God!, the One and Only, the Jerk, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, the Man with Two Brains, All of Me, Summer Rental, Summer School, Bert Rigby You’re a Fool, Sibling Rivalry, Fatal Instinct, That Old Feeling

What puts Reiner on this list is his contribution mostly to cinema. While I have heard that the Dick Van Dyke Show is a classic, I haven’t actually seen it. However, his work with Steve Martin remains some of the best of both of their careers. The notable highlights are the Jerk and All of Me, which both work in spite of flawed premises. I also respect him for creating one of the most enduring comedy bits with Mel Brooks titled “the 2000 Year Old Man.” He may not be as remembered as his son Rob Reiner, but his contribution to comedy in the 70’s and 80’s makes him an icon in my book.

Ricky Gervais

TV: The Office, Extras, the Ricky Gervais Show, An Idiot Abroad, Life’s Too Short, Derek

Movies: The Invention of Lying, Cemetery Junction

I read an interview with Gervais in Rolling Stone magazine awhile back that gave off the impression that he liked to have creative control over every aspect of his work. This explains so much, notably that he wrote his own episode of the Simpsons. However, I am getting worried that he is getting too thick headed towards his work, as Life’s Too Short feels more like a chance to steal the spotlight from Warwick Davis. However, his past TV work is rather brilliant, and An Idiot Abroad remains one of my favorite shows. The prospect that we’re also going to be treated to Derek, a show where we’ll see Karl Pilkington the actor, is very promising. I haven’t quite turned on Gervais, but when your personal control produces work like the Invention of Lying, then you have trouble.

Joe Cornish

TV: The Adam and Joe Show

Movies: Attack the Block

There is not much that I can really contribute to praising Cornish besides that in 2012 alone, he was involved in two of my favorite movies, and his directorial effort makes me excited for whatever he does next. I haven’t seen too much of his TV show, but if this clip that Edgar Wright steered me towards is any notion, I will be checking out more of it.

Chris Morris

TV: The Day Today, Brass Eye, Nathan Barley

Movies Four Lions

Very few dark political satires ever appeal to me. However, when I got word that Four Lions was a great piece of fiction, I decided to check it out. Without any doubt, it made me excited to see one of the more ambitious debut features that I’ve seen in a while. The notable standout is the use of King Harvest’s “Dancing in the Moonlight,” which is how I now always associate it. There are also plenty of great one-liners in here and I am excited to see more of his work, even if it is just directing episodes of Veep and a small role on the IT Crowd.

Those are a few of my favorite TV creators-turned-movie directors. I hope that you enjoy this list. Before I leave, I want to acknowledge a possible addition to the list come next year.

Diablo Cody

TV: United States of Tara

Movies: Untitled Diablo Cody Project (2013)

Cody definitely has had one of the weirdest careers. Having gone from stripper to Oscar winner to writing the Evil Dead reboot, she is an acquired taste. However, on the tail of her solid work on United States of Tara and excellently mature script for Young Adult, I am thinking that Cody will come into her own voice with her directorial debut. Here is a list of attached actors: Russell Brand, Nick Offerman, and Octavia Spencer. Sounds appetizing. I won’t go into further detail, but I am keeping this on my anticipation list, if just so that I can see her join these ranks in due time.

There you have it. I hope that you enjoyed the list, and I look forward to some feedback. Is Seth MacFarlane worthy of even being among the lower end with Joe Cornish or Chris Morris? Will he prove to have some feet, or is his shtick finally meeting its match? Feel free to share your thoughts and we’ll get a dialogue going about it. Do know that this is not a big clue that we are reviewing Ted for next week’s show. We actually agreed on something far more interesting.

You can read Thom’s blog every Wednesday and hear him on Nerd’s Eye View every Tuesday and Thursday at nevpodcast.com. Send your thoughts to nevpodcast@gmail.com. You can also read Thom’s movie reviews for Cinema Beach at cinemabeach.com.