Shows To Watch: Happy Endings Included

It seems the only reliable things lately are bad.

Athlete suspected of steroid abuse?

Guilty.

Engagement on “The Bachelorette”?

Faked.

Tearful moment on your favorite reality show?

Staged.

But there is one good thing you can rely on, and that thing is ABC’s Tuesday night lineup. Start off with “Happy Endings”, a smarter version of “Friends”. This ½ hour comedy also focuses on a group of wacky friends, but the comedy’s more about witty word play and absurd situations. Not a slapstick-y, trained monkey in sight. (It’s on Tuesdays, 8 p.m. central time.)

 

Then, at 8:30 p.m. central time, continue your viewing extravaganza by catching “Don't Trust The B—In Apartment 23”. This is a witty update of Felix and Oscar from “The Odd Couple”, only it’s 2 female opposites as roommates. June is a wholesome Midwesterner floundering on the mean streets of New York. Chloe is the cracked-out roommate whose “help” is meaner than anything your average New Yorker dishes out.

The show’s funny because Chloe is so dark and twisted. It’s also funny because Chloe’s best friend is James Van Der Beek, the star of 90s staple “Dawson’s Creek”. Van Der Beek plays a washed up, diva actor named James Van der Beek. I am a sucker for self-referential humor like this!

I am also a sucker for “Dawson’s Creek”, a show that I watched every episode of in 2003 when I was up all night with a cranky newborn and the show played on continuous loop on TBS. I missed much of the dialogue due to newborn shrieking but caught all of Pacey and Joey’s soulful looks. “Dawson’s Creek” was my glimmer of hope during a dark time.

 May “Happy Endings” and “Don't Trust The B—In Apartment 23” be yours.