TV to DVD

Over the past two days I got to speak with both Joss Whedon (creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," plus co-writer of "Toy Story," among many projects) and Judd Apatow (creator of "Undeclared," producer of "Anchorman," "Freaks and Geeks," "The Ben Stiller Show" and more). Whedon talked about keeping his promise to the cast of "Firefly" - namely, employment - by re-casting them in his feature debut "Serenity," a pretty savvy big-screen sequel the the cruely aborted series "Firefly." Apatow talked about his nearly unique skill at humanizing humiliation, allowing his cast to improvise and making "The 40 Year Old Virgin," a teen sex comedy starring grown-ups.

Both writer/directors have had pretty remarkable careers, though Apatow is clearly more of an underdog sort. Whedon, on the other hand, a third-generation TV writer, has had his share of success, but is so adored by his fan base that he's set for life. Let's see what he does with "Wonder Woman," which he's set to write and direct. He said he's barely started the script, which means to me that he's barely started making the script strong. He said he's taken a lot of heart in the success of "Batman Begins," so hopefully he's also taken the best ideas from that re-imagining and jettisoned the dumb stuff.