"Don't Trust the B----- in Apartment 23" - Pilot

Reviewing a pilot episode of a comedy is hard. Sitcoms are usually so premise-based that they spend the better part of their first episodes on exposition, and the rest of the time they're drawing broad-strokes versions of their sure-to-be-wacky cast of characters in order to MAKE IT ABSOLUTELY CLEAR TO THE AUDIENCE THAT THIS IS FUNNY.

Forced comedy, though, almost never works, so I rarely find these pilots actually funny. So when a pilot actually makes you laugh, even a little, and especially consistently, it's cause for celebration. The miraculous show that is Community had an ok pilot. Modern Family had a virtuosically funny pilot that, in my opinion, it's never topped, funny though it may be. Arrested Development had a perfect pilot, but it also had 53 perfect episodes, and the standard laws of television simply don't apply to Arrested Development.

So, where does that leave Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, which I will heretofore abbreviate to The Bitch because, hey, why not? Well, it made me laugh enough, and made me see lots of potential.

Heavy premise-laying aside, The Bitch introduced a lot of stuff that I think will make for good comedy down the line. Moreso than gags, these pilots need to introduce characters that at the very least you want to hang out with, and The Bitch (ok, it's old, I'm switching to Apt 23) stacks the deck with a promising cast of characters.

Standing in the center is Chloe, our title character and anti-hero, played by Krysten Ritter, whom I adore. Ritter takes what could be a one-note "bitch", for lack of a better word, and gives her a lot of colors, including an impressive self-awareness and great chemistry with the supporting cast.

Her counterpart is June, played by Dreama Walker, who balances out the perky Type-A act with an eagerness to absorb and grow that ultimately forms the foundation of the roomies' relationship. She's perhaps more one-note than Ritter here in episode one, but I get the feeling that she's gonna be just fine and a good foil once we're done expositing.

However, the secret weapon in the barrel here is Mr. James Van Der Beek. Here's the thing: I think the whole "actor plays exaggerated version of himself" thing is pretty close to played out by now, and when I heard he was going to be doing that on this show, I rolled my eyes, shook my head, and said "dumb".

I eat my hat. And what makes it work is that Van Der Beek himself is naturally very funny and already has a self-effacing streak, for those who've seen him on Funny or Die or on How I Met Your Mother. So this Van Der Beek becomes in itself a natural, funny, even sympathetic, and effective character. You do actually buy him as Chloe's "straight gay best friend", as she puts it. Their relationship works, his dialogue is funny in that sharp, ridiculous "NPH in Harold and Kumar but for network TV" way, and it just works.

Also worth a quick mention is Liza Lapira, probably best known to my readership as geeky lab tech Ivy on Dollhouse, who plays a weary former roommate of Chloe's who lives down the hall. Hers is another character with decent comic potential, again thanks to good, rich playing and a high level of game-ness.

In the end, I have faith beyond the sorta-funny pilot that more laughs will indeed be coming, the tone will get ironed out, and maybe some of the misfired gags will fade for natural character comedy, because, well, the characters are well-realized and rife with comic potential.

I look forward to episode two. And that, my friends, is all you can really ask of a pilot.