RECAP: James Van Der Beek Steals Show In 'Don't Trust The B- In Apt 23'

Even if Wednesday night's premiere of ABC's new much-hyped Don't Trust the B- In Apartment 23, starring Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad, She's Out of My League) as the "B" and the peppy Dreama Walker (The Good Wife) as her hapless roommate, can be criticized for distinct similarities to other young-professional-female-centric television programming (ahem … 2 Broke Girls), it has one thing that all those other shows are sorely lacking, and that is (drumroll, please) … former Dawson's Creek star James Van Der Beek, who plays an egotistical, image obsessed version of, well, James Van Der Beek.

The show, in which Ritter plays Chloe, a New York con artist who bilks her unsuspecting roomies for all they're worth before sending them packing with her heinous and intrusive personality, features Van Der Beek as her only friend and occasional partner in crime. Van Der Beek's character puts a refreshingly clever twist on the otherwise tired role of the "quirky friend" in Don't Trust the B- In Apartment 23, and the role almost writes itself, as Van Der Beek's alter ego uses his former Dawson fame to engage in some womanizing and conning of his own. This allows Don't Trust the B- to justifiably jampack the show with references from Van Der Beek's early career, and that means Dawson's Creek and even Varsity Blues. (What else?)

"I love doing it," Van Der Beek told Entertainment Weekly. "I love the ego assassination that come with it. It's just so healthy and so good for me," he said. Van Der Beek has only one rule when he's poking fun of his own '90s heartthrob status: anything goes. "I tell them to go for whatever is funniest and don't worry about offending me," Van Der Beek told E! Online. So watch out for a little envelope pushing that goes at least far enough to include a Dancing with the Stars storyline.

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