‘Don’t Trust the B–––– in Apartment 23’ on ABC




Pretend that you don’t know what the B in the title of “Don’t Trust the B–––– in Apartment 23,” the comedy that begins on Wednesday on ABC, stands for. That the offending phrase wasn’t spoken twice in the first episode. That the theme song doesn’t rhyme the B-word with “I’m no snitch.” That “GCB,” also on ABC, hadn’t already pioneered the abbreviated-title-as-lazy-titillation ploy.


That would mean that this comedy is full of possibility, instead of merely a premise that works from the title backward, losing steam along the way.


Maybe the B should really stand for “banter,” because ultimately, what unfolds between the residents of Apartment 23 is far less reliable than Chloe, the B in question. Played by Krysten Ritter (“Breaking Bad”), Chloe is a grifter and manipulator who delivers her malice dryly, without any sense of fun. Making a victim of a seemingly naïve new roommate, June (Dreama Walker), isn’t sport for her; it’s work.


Thrown together by June’s misfortune and Chloe’s opportunism, they purport to be a modern “Odd Couple,” down to the whimsical music in some of the ads for the show. But rather than build humor from awkward but realistic situations, “Don’t Trust” aims for absurdism and preposterousness. In the opening scene Chloe seduces June’s fiancé, an act of kindness, it turns out. Later she prances around the apartment naked, blurred to the viewer but in full view of Eli (Michael Blaiklock), the perverted neighbor, who is shown only from the waist up, thankfully.


But gasping isn’t the same as laughing. And while there are moments of snappy dialogue, it’s sometimes snappier than the characters themselves. After learning that Chloe had appeared in a rap video, June replies, beaming: “I wrote a rap at Christian camp. It was called ‘Jesus Is My N-Word.’ ”


The most credible lines go to James Van Der Beek, who plays a hypertrophied version of himself — à la Neil Patrick Harris in the “Harold & Kumar” films — and who has no function other than to preen. He wants to be taken seriously — the ultimate vanity — doing pop-up Shakespeare in a coffee shop and claiming, “I was the original Gavroche in ‘Les Miz!’ ” It’s clever enough, sending up both the Van Der Beek he once was along with the Van Der Beek who would take a sitcom role sending his past self up, but it’s peripheral.


“Don’t Trust” arrives amid numerous comedies reliant on female friendship, but there’s less heart here than in the relationship that is at the core of “2 Broke Girls,” the show this one most closely resembles. This show depends on antagonism, but maybe it’s looking for cruelty in the wrong place.


Ms. Walker has wide saucer eyes and a guileless smile that have served her well in villainous roles on “Gossip Girl” and “The Good Wife”; she’s been able to deliver cutting lines with a beatific air, or to keep a shiny exterior while scheming viciously. In the moments when June, whom Chloe disparages as “just another small-town trusting doormat,” jousts with Chloe and proves that she’s anything but, the show sparkles. Maybe the title wasn’t a lie after all.


Don’t Trust the B–––– in Apartment 23


ABC, Wednesday nights at 9:30, Eastern and Pacific times; 8:30, Central time.


Produced by 20th Century Fox. Created and written by Nahnatchka Khan; Ms. Khan, David Hemingson, Jeff Morton, and Jason Winer (pilot only), executive producers.


WITH: Krysten Ritter (Chloe), Dreama Walker (June), Liza Lapira (Robin), Michael Blaiklock (Eli), Eric André (Mark) and James Van Der Beek (James Van Der Beek).