Judd Apatow movies are often renowned as one of the benchmarks for modern comedy, but are they actually good films?

With five titles to his name as director (but many more as producer), Apatow makes movies with an average run-time of 130 minutes. They’re not historical epics; they’re just comedies about neurotic people, usually approaching a mid-life crisis. The longest is Funny People, which clocks in at 146 minutes. Let no liquid enter your body before attempting to watch these films.

But, for every arse-numbing and familiar Apatow film, there’s an arguably much better television show waiting for you.

The Rise And Bloat Of Judd Apatow

Apatow reinvigorated studio comedies in 2005 with his directorial debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin. It gained critical success and became a US box office hit when it made $178 million off a budget of $26 million. This was a rare win for a film without star power (most of the cast were bit part actors at the time), a first-time director and no gigantic explosions or CGI monsters. Comedies weren’t languishing in the ‘00s, but they were dominated by the frat pack: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Jack Black, Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell. Apatow had connections to these guys going back to the beginning of his career (The Ben Stiller Show, The Wedding Singer, Happy Gilmore, The Cable Guy and Heavyweights), but his arrival would introduce a new wave of talent and significantly expand the group.

Apatow became a conduit for the upcoming comedy scene in Hollywood and proved his first film wasn’t a fluke with Knocked Up. Again, it was a modest offering but this time the studio could slap “from the guy who brought you The 40-Year-Old Virgin” on the poster. He now had name recognition — one of the easiest ways to sell a film — and it worked. The film made over $200 million worldwide.

After Knocked Up, studios didn’t want to say no to Apatow which led to a successful producing boom: Superbad, Walk Hard, Drillbit Taylor, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Step Brothers, Pineapple Express and Bridesmaids. It allowed him to indulge in passion projects, which resulted in the endurance tests of Funny People and This is 40. All of Apatow’s films are character-driven and reflect aspects of adult life, but they often feel laboured to as the execution becomes a burden to his blend of drama and comedy. The films are sincere because they feel true to life, but the more they’re drawn out or injected with overbearing emotion, you start wondering why you trekked to a cinema to hear grumpy ageing Gen Xers whine.

Even Apatow’s last film, the Amy Schumer Hollywood launch-pad, Trainwreck, drowned out the sharp comedian in a bloated inversion of the romantic comedy. It had Schumer’s wit and heart, but the director drew it out. Something’s got to give with these engorged comedies. The alternative is to consider that film is not where Apatow excels. To see how great his work can be you must go to television.

TV Roots

Judd Apatow got his start in television with The Ben Stiller Show — a sketch comedy series that was cancelled after 13 episodes, but won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing shortly after its death.

The Larry Sanders Show is where Apatow rebounded and he worked on the show as a writer director and producer. The Larry Sanders Show helped to establish the reputation of HBO as a home of quality television, which paved the way for the arrival of Sex and the City and The Sopranos. It’s a landmark series for its satirical approach to show business by peeking behind the curtains of fictional late-night talk show. There’d be no 30 Rock without The Larry Sanders Show. It’s also one of the places where the ‘walk and talk’ first appeared, later mastered by The West Wing and ER, and it featured a roster of celebrities playing themselves.

When The Larry Sanders Show finished in 1998, Apatow began working on a pilot for NBC with Paul Feig (director of Bridesmaids, The Heat and 2016’s Ghostbusters). The show shook up the high-school drama landscape then dominated by ridiculously good-looking rich teenagers due to the popularity of shows like 90210. Freaks and Geeks focused a group of outsiders navigating school and home life during the 1980s. The different point of view of the teenage experience from characters usually relegated to low status roles in glossier shows made an impact.

It had cross-generational appeal too because it presented universal problems common to every teenager while providing a nostalgia trip for people who grew up in the ‘80s. Freaks and Geeks launched the careers of James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini, Busy Phillips, Martin Star and Ben Foster. From the beginning, Apatow had an eye for talent that would pay off once he ruled Hollywood. Sadly, Freaks and Geeks got cancelled after one season but developed a cult following from passionate fans who championed the series after its demise.

Undeclared was next, which centred on a group of college freshmen featuring most of the cast from Freaks and Geeks who were joined by Charlie Hunnam, Jay Baruchel, Amy Poehler and Kevin Hart. Undeclared had the essence of Freaks and Geeks but focused on the culture shock of college and the awkwardness of trying to fit in. Apatow got unlucky, again, and Undeclared went to the TV graveyard after one season in 2002.

While Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared weren’t as influential as The Larry Sanders Show, they showed Apatow’s strength at writing authentic characters with depth. The pacing of each show allows you to get to know each character, but each encounter is never too long for them to outstay their welcome. TV allows for steadier character development over the course of a season. Apatow uses the same approach in his films but the stakes are amplified because everything is exaggerated on the big screen. His films deal with the little things in life but it feels like everyone’s wallowing because they’re stretched thin across the scope of a film.

This is 40 is basically two hours of a couple fighting with aimless detours to crack jokes about getting older. Did it need to be a film? There’s room for relationship driven dramas, always. But the best ones use the bigger canvas of a film to immerse you in a relationship and have you clinging to every word of dialogue, like Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy: Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight. Linklater made three films about the same relationship as it begins, begins again, deepens, and strains over the course of almost two decades. Film allows Linklater to place you as a third wheel in each Before film and get up close and personal with the characters.

Though the film’s a comedy, This Is 40 is the result of Apatow not leveraging this strength of the medium to tell the story in the most compelling way. It could be that he’s just pursued films as they have the biggest lure for an audience based on past success.

The Shows That Survived

Exactly 10 years after the cancellation of Undeclared, Apatow made a TV comeback by collaborating with Lena Dunham on Girls after being impressed by her debut film Tiny Furniture. It’s the first Apatow TV production since The Larry Sanders Show to survive beyond its first season; it’s now about to end after six seasons on HBO.

Girls is driven by Dunham as head writer but it has a lot in common with Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared because of the slow bond you develop with each character over the course of a season. The wisdom of Apatow’s failures ensured Girls could have the best shot at success. Apatow knows how to cultivate talent and his faith in Dunham, combined with his influence, allows her to retain a majority of creative control over the series. Could you establish the same relationship with Hannah and co if Girls was a two-hour movie directed by Apatow? There’d be no time for the nuance of each volatile relationship. The intended aimlessness of the show would be lost in the structure of a film, which requires resolution — especially after two hours.

Apatow continues to shine on TV with the Netflix series Love that he co-writes and executive produces alongside Paul Rust and Lesley Arfin. Love’s characters are like an adult version of those from Freaks and Geeks and its humour is drawn from the same behind-the-scenes showbiz world of The Larry Sanders Show. It focuses on the relationship between Mickey (Gillian Jacobs) and Gus (Rust) as they try to figure out whether they’re right for each other with the backdrop of life in Los Angeles. It’s a humble and extremely funny look at modern dating while featuring male and female perspectives of a relationship. Netflix encourages you to binge Love but like any flourishing bond, sometimes you need a little space between dates.

It’s early days, but the new HBO/Apatow show Crashing is applying the Larry Sanders Show formula to the world of stand-up comedy. It shows the knockabout reality of a wannabe comedian trying to get a break after his marriage falls apart. Based on the life of the show’s creator, writer and star, Pete Holmes, the autobiographical style suits Apatow’s strengths perfectly.

These shows all highlight the intimacy of Apatow’s TV work. We develop deep connections to these great characters because we’re inviting them into our home each week or when it’s time to binge. Apatow’s characters need a sustained amount of time to wallow in their own neurosis and grow. In the confines of a cinema you get cabin fever with these people and their first world problems. In TV, the time investment is greater, but it’s less claustrophobic. Apatow is better in episodic chunks because it allows his characters to move at the same pace it would if you were encountering them in life.

You don’t get locked in a room with someone for two hours and try to get along, only to never see them again. You get to know them over time; at the pub, at work, events or if you run into them on the street. Apatow rolls with a style that’s true to life, so naturally, his work favours television, the medium that matches the habitual way we check in with people.

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Cameron Williams is a writer and film critic based in Melbourne who occasionally blabs about movies on ABC radio. He tweets from @MrCamW.