Shortly after this new show was announced last spring during May upfronts, we were able to see the pilot in advance and it cracked us up. It was one of our favorite sitcoms of the 2011-12 lineup and we've been impatiently waiting for it to air ever since. And now, almost a whole year later, it's finally on ABC and, thankfully, it's still as funny to us as when we first saw it -- mostly because of the power of the Beek. Playing an over-the-top version of himself, James Van Der Beek elevates this show from being the next New Girl or a 2 Broke Girls clone to give it a place in the comedy ranks that's uniquely its own.

Tags: don't trust the b---- in apartment 23, dont trust the b in apartment 23, james van der beek, krysten ritter

"Parent Trap..." was not my favorite episode so far, as June was tremendously annoying, but there were some great moments involving small children. It's too bad that June went bananas and shook "her baby" because the two roomies with a foster child could have had comic potential for a few more episodes. Still, this installment did teach us a few things:

Tags: dont trust the b, dont trust the b in apartment 23, james van der beek

Instead of leading off with Jimmy Kimmel to get us warmed up and excited about these new shows, ABC's upfront presentation jumped right in, so Jimmy didn't come out to make the obligatory gay/British jokes about his new boss Paul Lee until halfway through the event. Actually, thirty minutes in was perfect timing for him because that was about when I become fairly horrified with the new crop of shows. But even Kimmel seemed off his game, making easy jokes about CBS ("More people die watching CBS than any other network") and NBC ("they'll be selling their ads on Groupon this year") and Fox's X-Factor ("It's like American Idol meets a mirror"). He did get in some decent cracks about the upfronts in general: "Remember those shows that we were so excited about last fall? We cancelled all of them... and yet here you are again. We think you might have a gambling problem." Not unfunny, but he was better in previous years. As for the network's gobs and gobs of new shows? They've been better in years past, too. There wasn't a single one that blew me away or cracked me up the way that Lost or Modern Family had done at first glance.

Tags: abc upfront, apartment 23, charlies angels, fall preview, fall tv, Good Christian Belles, james van der beek, last man standing, man up, missing, once upon a time, revenge, scandal, Suburgatory, work it

When the news broke yesterday that Sharon Stone will be playing a former cop (!) turned prosecutor (!!) on SVU for four episodes in April, I got pretty excited. First of all, that's hilarious. Secondly, it made me think of all the other washed-up actors who have yet to make an appearance on the guest-star haven that is the Law & Order franchise. Certainly there are other people who used to be in movies who have since self-sabotaged their way into needing an SVU guest star paycheck, or just might randomly show up for no other reason than to confuse people (like Robin Williams did). I've come up with a few who might work. Would they be good? Not necessarily. But are they available? Most definitely, and that's all that matters.

Tags: James Van Der Beek, Kristen Bell, Law & Order: SVU, Lindsay Lohan, Mike Myers, Nicolas Cage, Sharon Stone, Verne Troyer

After the recent lackluster Comedy Awards on Comedy Central, I thought I needed a break before the TV Land Awards air Sunday. But as I was watching RuPaul's Drag Race, I saw footage from the red carpet at the NewNowNext Awards and just couldn't help checking it out. And I'm glad I did, because while the actual awards part was entirely pointless (it wasn't like they were handing out Oscars, after all), the telecast was filled with over-the-top insanity and so many things I personally adore. Plus, 30 Rock and Lady Antebellum didn't win anything! Oh, and did I mention that this whole thing came in under an hour and a half? Or that James Van Der Beek was the host? Yeah, it had it all. Here are the highlights:

Tags: james van der beek, new now next awards, newnownext awards

This Sunday night, The Storm airs the first half of its four-hour miniseries on NBC, which is about some nerdy scientists (James Van Der Beek -- aka Dawson -- and Rich Sommer of Mad Men fame) who stumble on a way to control the weather, which of course rich guys and the military (in the form of Treat Williams and David James Elliot) find a way to exploit. Luke Perry plays another scientist who has been burned by the weather before, and Teri Polo stars as an ambitious reporter trying to figure out why there are snowstorms in the summer and whatnot. Your standard disaster fare. James Van Der Beek gamely joined a conference call the other day to talk to reporters about this film, and what happens when two former teen stars get together in one movie. A perfect storm, perhaps?

Tags: james van der beek, the storm

Speaking of how there hasn't really been a lot of news recently, suddenly there is. Back to work, TWoP News!

Tags: Dawson's Creek, Dexter, James Van Der Beek, Julie Benz