t has been quite amazing to see how quickly Judd Apatow became the dominant comedic voice in Hollywood. At the start of the decade he was a struggling writer who had done brilliant work on the tragically brief Ben Stiller Show and the unjustly forgotten Larry Sanders Show. His film work was limited to decent but forgotten comedies like The Cable Guy and Celtic Pride. After securing a mammoth TV development deal with Dreamworks, Apatow co-created what is arguably his finest achievment, the amazing high school comedy Freaks And Geeks. The TV show was so honest, real, hilarious, and flawlessly performed that it was inevitably cancelled. It was simply too good for a television landscape ruled by boring, repetitive, episodic trash like CSI, Two And A Half Men, House, and Dexter.

Freaks And Geeks may not have made it past one season, but it was through that show that Apatow would make connections with young actors who would redefine his career. The Freaks And Geeks casting process uncovered many future stars like James Franco, Martin Starr, Jason Segal, and of course, the gravel-voiced wise-cracker Seth Rogen. Apatow was so impressed with many of these actors that he decided to create a new show to suit their talents. Undeclared moved from lonely high school hallways to a bumping first-year college dorm, bringing much of the Freaks And Geeks cast along for the ride. It also died after a single season, but not before Apatow hired a young SNL star named Will Ferrell for a guest spot. It was on the Undeclared set that Ferrell first showed Apatow a screenplay he was working on called Anchorman. After his television show was cancelled, Apatow began using his pull with Dreamworks to get Anchorman on the big screen. It would be the first hit of his career.