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Trust 'The B—— in Apartment 23' to shock and amuse By John Crook © Zap2it one of the current TV season's breakout charac- ters in Jess, the wistfully "adorkable" sprite Zooey Deschanel plays in that network's hit sitcom "New Girl." Last fall, Fox gave us son starts winding down, ABC trots out a character who could be Jess' Bi- zarro World twin in Chloe (Krysten Ritter), the bohe- mian, totally amoral title character at the center of "Don't Trust the B—— in Apartment 23," a risky and utterly fearless new comedy series premiering Wednesday, April 11. Chloe is the ultimate This week, as the sea- free spirit in many ways, but unlike the nurturing Jess, she has the mor- als of a pirate, preying on the weak and trusting to survive. Blessed with the pale prettiness of a model who hangs out at cutting- edge late-night clubs, she also has dazzling surface charm and, most impor- tant, a delightfully quirky New York apartment. In the series opener, and her corporate dream apartment are seized by the feds in a toxic-mort- gages scandal. Homeless and with lim- ited funds, June endures a series of creepy room- mate interviews before "lucking into" Chloe, who welcomes her to Apart- ment 23 like an improb- ably thin earth mother. What June doesn't know is that Chloe plans to plunder her meager funds with rent and bloated de- posit fees, then make her life so utterly miserable that June flees the apart- ment as soon as possible. How this odd couple groundbreaking, I think, every episode I've seen," says Ritter, previously best known as Aaron Paul's doomed, drug-ad- dicted girlfriend on AMC's "Breaking Bad." "There's always something that you haven't seen before. We don't follow any rules, re- ally. It's not a conventional setup-and-joke kind of show. The rhythm of it is not your typical sitcom." Ritter may have the "This series is really meet, spar and ultimately come to a place of grudg- ing mutual respect unfolds in a fragmented narra- tive style that's heavy in fast-forwards and surreal flashbacks, while the hi- larious pandemonium at June's office looks like a live-action version of a Seth MacFarlane sitcom — not surprising, since series creator and execu- tive producer Nahnatchka Khan used to work on "American Dad." In fact, there's so much that's quite enough for this spider to lure her lat- est, wide-eyed fly: June (Dreama Walker), a sunny Midwesterner newly ar- rived in the Big Apple to start a job in the city's fi- nancial district, only to see her world fall apart almost instantly as both her firm surprising and audacious about "Don't Trust the B——" that it's almost gilding the lily to have James Van Der Beek in the cast doing a nicely self-aware parody of him- self as Chloe's ex-lover and confidant, James Van Der Beek. flashier role, but the show wouldn't work nearly as well without Walker, who played quite a memorable "b——" herself as the con- niving teenage back-stab- ber Becca in "The Good Wife." As it turns out, the actress is a lot more like June in real life, however. "I told the producers how I'm always apologiz- ing for everything, and I want to be friends with ev- erybody, and I don't want anyone to get mad at me, and they said, 'Wow, that's June in a nutshell,' " Walker recalls. "June is an extremely bright, assertive young lady, very much a go-getter, and she has great morals and wants to please everyone, but there comes a point where she is not a pushover." As a big "Breaking Bad" fan, Walker says she came to her new role a little intimidated by the chameleonlike Ritter, who can handle both comedy and drama with ease, but the two actresses quickly hit it off and fell into a natural character rhythm together. "Our chemistry works because Krysten has a side to her that is defi- nitely Chloe, and I have a side to me that is defi- nitely June," Walker says. "She has a great sense of humor and came up with a lot of things in the show on the fly, and we just work very well together because we're both very passionate about comedy. We're totally committed, and there were days when we both looked like ma- niacs because we were throwing ourselves into it 110 percent. Hopefully it's going to pay off." Ritter says that, so far, this has been a dream job for her as well. Catch the Craze & Save! Save on Rentals • Breakfast Get Free Glass Cleaner Save on a Quilt Find these great savings plus more on Coupon Craze! In The Goshen News every Monday, Online everyday! Nobody covers your hometown better 114 S. Main St., Goshen 574-533-2151 www.goshennews.com Employment Ad Today! Place Your Over 3,500 resumes are posted on monster.com in The Goshen News readership areas. 574-533-2151 ext. 398 goshennews.com / Oil Change Plus a FREE Express Prices vary by model. Plus tax & fees. Coupon must be presented at write up and cannot be combined with other offers. Expires 4/30/12. Inspection just $2995 . 2200 BYPASS RD. • ELKHART, IN 46514 574.522.4475www.GurleyLeepHonda.com Dreama Walker stars in "Don't Trust the B—— in Apartment 23," premiering Wednesday on ABC. 2 The Goshen News • Viewer's Choice • April 7, 2012 - April 13, 2012 Nobody Knows Our Hometown Better!

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