James Van Der Beek is still trying to break the hold Dawson’s Creek has on his career and admitted in a recent interview that he has been taking cues from another once-typecast actor, Neil Patrick Harris.

Though he has appeared in anti-Dawson roles for some time (2002′s Rules of Attraction comes to mind), he still hasn’t really entered the “next stage” of his career yet, a la Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie to Barney).

His last series Don’t Trust The B—- In Apt. 23 was pulled by ABC in January with the final eight episodes only just now showing up on Hulu.

He has a new CBS show called Friends with Better Lives coming up on CBS, but it’s benched for midseason.

Still, he said that his experience on B—- was a positive one. He played a fictionalized version of himself and said that he took cues from Harris in how to pull it off effectively.

Harris played a fictionalized version of himself in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, which helped revive his career.

“It’s funny, I remember the first time I did an episode of How I Met Your Mother,” Van Der Beek tells Vulture.

“I was talking with Neil Patrick Harris. And Neil said something about, ‘Have you learned how to have fun with the whole image, really lampoon it?’ At the time I said, ‘Oh, yeah, I was doing that even while I was on the show.’ And he kind of said, ‘Okay,’ and nodded.

“And cut to [laughs] me on the FOX lot really lampooning the image. It’s just fun to stay in the game. And I think that’s probably the most important thing for an actor, especially one with some success in the past. Just stay in the game. And that’s what Apartment 23 allowed me to do.”

Are you a fan of James Van Der Beek? Did you like Don’t Trust The B—- In Apt. 23? Are you looking forward to Friends with Better Lives? Sound off!

[Image via: Featureflash / Shutterstock]

Van Der Beek Taking Cues From NPH To Break ‘Dawson’ Spell is a post from: The Inquisitr

Whitney co-star Zoe Lister Jones has been cast as the last lead in the CBS comedy pilot Friends with Better Lives.

The multi-camera project centers on six 30-something friends who all think the others have it better. Jones’ character, Kate, is competitive, narcissistic, and successful — at least at work. In her love life? Not so much.

One of her friends, Andi Lutz (Majandra Delfino), is an attractive mother of an infant and 3-year-old twins. Andi is married to Bobby (Kevin Connolly), a gynecologist who is best friends with Will Stokes (James van der Beek), who is also a gynecologist. Will becomes cynical and untrusting of everyone around him after he learns that his wife has been cheating and the two end up getting divorced.

Brooklyn Decker plays Jules, a former model who was discovered in a shopping mall when she was 13. Finally, Rick Donald will play Lowell, a barefoot spiritualist.

Zoe Lister Jones appeared as Lily on Whitney Cummings’ eponymous NBC comedy for two seasons, from 2011 to 2013. The second season premiered on November 14, 2012, and the season finale will air March 27, 2013. While the series is the second of Cummings’ shows to be on the air — her talk show, Love You, Mean It, was canceled last month after one season, but 2 Broke Girls is still going strong — it may not last much longer. Whitney has been struggling in the ratings and has not broken the 4 million viewer mark since the January 9 episode, which drew 4.11 million viewers. Even that was down from the season high of 4.96 million viewers for the previous week’s episode.

The most recent episode on March 20 only drew 2.52 million viewers, adjusted down from 2.56 million viewers. The episode also only drew a 0.8 in the 18-49 demographics, adjusted down from 0.9. TV by the Numbers currently has the series listed as a toss-up for renewal or cancellation between now and May.

Will you be tuning in for Friends with Better Lives?

[Photo credit: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com]

Zoe Lister Jones To Star In ‘Friends With Better Lives’ Pilot is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you want to live on a successful comedy, it seems like CBS is the place to go, with hits like How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, and Two and A Half Men. James Van Der Beek will be joining the roster of comedic talents for the fall 2013 season.

According to Deadline, it didn’t take long after Apartment 23′s cancellation for Van Der Beek to find another television gig. ABC’s Apartment 23, was Van Der Beek’s first comedy gig, and now James will join five other actors to complete the cast for CBS’ Friends With Better Lives.

Friends With Better Lives is said to be a mult-camera project from 20th Century Fox TV, and will feature six 30-something-year-olds/friends who “each think the other has it better.”

James Van Der Beek is said to play one of the friends, more specifically, Will, a sarcastic gynecologist who expects the absolute worst from everyone after his ex-wife’s infidelity.

Looks like a promising project for Beek, who really scored solid critical praise for making fun of himself in Funny or Die viral videos, and for playing an idiotic version of himself on the now defunct Apartment 23.

About the new project, James Van Der Beek posted a few of his thoughts to his Facebook:

“Time to get back to work. Character description is a little off, BTW. In the process of re conceiving it for me… but it’ll be fun, I can promise that.”

Proving that Van Der Beek is still at least a bit upset about the cancellation of Apartment 23, he had this to say about the new Nielsen ratings system:

“In related news, Nielson ratings will now include streaming numbers (albeit from a laughingly small sample) exactly one year too late for Don’t Trust the B in Apt 23.”

Are you excited for James Van Der Beek’s return to television?

James Van Der Beek Finds Life After ‘Apartment 23′, Signs On To CBS Sitcom is a post from: The Inquisitr

Joshua Jackson, who played second fiddle Pacey to titular star James Van Der Beek’s Dawson on Dawson’s Creek, has said that a reunion for the nearly two decades old 90′s hit isn’t entirely off the table.

Joshua Jackson, if you are old enough to remember, first began grabbing fangirls as Pacey on the TV teen soap, a soap that launched the careers of Jackson, Katie Holmes and Michelle Williams. (Along with Van Der Beek, the three were the show’s stars and main characters.)

Now that Katie Holmes has been freed from the clutches of Tom Cruise, Joshua Jackson says, a reunion may be in the cards.

Actually, Jackson didn’t say any of that. But he did say “never say never,” to die-hard Dawson’s Creek fans. Jackson now stars on the show Fringe and has a larger adult female fan base, which differs from his original swarms of screaming fangirls circa 1996.

Of Fringe vs. Dawson, Jackson explains:

“There’s a sort of rabid passion that goes with being a young, teenage, particularly ‘girl fan,’ which I have a little bit of experience with,” says Jackson, alluding to his role as Pacey Witter in the ’90s teen dramedy Dawson’s Creek. “That can be a little bit overwhelming. But the Fringe fans, by and large, are just passionate, which I really enjoy. I appreciate that.”

When asked by The Hollywood Reporter about the possibility of a reunion, Joshua Jackson wasn’t exactly hopeful, but he didn’t give it a definite kibosh:

“Well, we killed the show so I don’t think that’s ever going to happen,” he says, conceding: “Never say never. If I’m out of work for enough years, absolutely. We’ll be old and gray and nasty by the time (that happens).”

Would you tune it to watch Joshua Jackson, Michelle Williams, Katie Holmes and James Van Der Beek reprise their roles on Dawson’s Creek?

Joshua Jackson Says Dawson’s Creek Reunion Likely, ‘Never Say Never’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

Michelle Williams, the indie sweetheart who once shyed away from talking about her days on Dawson’s Creek, is apparently now “totally up” for a Dawson’s Creek Reunion.

At the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of her film Take This Waltz, the actress talked a bit about her glory days on the creek, and how if all engines are go she’s not opposed to having a Dawson’s Creek reunion with her old pals, despite the fact that her character Jen Lindley died in the series finale.

Williams’ comments came around when the actress was reminded that old costar James Van Der Beek, who played Dawson, was up for it. The actress told Vulture, “He has my email! He has my home phone and my cell phone, so we talk. [James] could totally ask! I’ve always said, I’m totally up for reunion tours, reunion shows, so we can do that.”

Joshua Jackson, who played Pacey on the show told GLAAD Media that it would never happen because of Williams’ character’s untimely death, saying, “You can’t do it because Michelle/Jen is dead.” However, he later on suggested that maybe they can skirt around the issue with a few old television tricks, particularly by stealing a page from Dallas, “I’m OK with that,” Jackson laughed. “We can start with Dawson in a shower. That would be funny.”

The missing link would be Katie Holmes, who rounds out the fab four, and hasn’t had much of a career like her fellow Capeside Creekers. However, Holmes said she was up for a Creek reunion as well, telling Good Morning Americain the fall, “I had so much fun working on that show and I loved everyone so much and I think about it with such fond memories.”

As for getting around Jen Lindley’s death? Michelle Williams told Ryan Seacrest that she has a few ideas up her sleeve, “I would have to come back as a ghost.”

Who thinks this Dawson’s Creek reunion needs to happen? Do you think a reunion show would be past its time? Sound off here!

Michelle Williams ‘Totally Up’ for Dawson’s Creek Reunion is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s a boy for actor James Van Der Beek, 35, and his wife Kimberly Van Der Beek! The actor took to Twitter today to announce the news tweeting, “Had my first son this morning… well, actually, my wife had him. I just caught him. Wow. Heart expanding way faster than my brain. If you could bottle up and distribute this feeling, I swear there’d be no more war. #fatherhood”

The new addition to the Van Der Beek family joins older sister Olivia, 17 months. The pair shared their news back in October that they were expecting their second child through James Van Der Beek’s Twitter, “Just when we thought we couldn’t feel any more blessed, it seems the universe has plans to give our daughter a sibling.”

James and Kimberly met  in July of 2009, and subsequently married in August of 2010. At the time James was happy to share their first milestone on Twitter writing, “The woman I love did me the honor of became my wife today. I look forward to earning her for the rest of my life.”

So far the actor hasn’t revealed the name of their newborn son, but we’ll keep you posted.

As for his future, Van Der Beek’s new series Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23 premieres April 11 on ABC.

James Van Der Beek and Wife Welcome Son is a post from: The Inquisitr

Actor James Van Der Beek and his wife, Kimberly Brook, have announced that they are pregnant for the second time.

The 34-year-old tweeted the following message to announce the good news:

“Just when we thought we couldn’t feel any more blessed, it seems the universe has plans to give our daughter a sibling … #humbled.” Van Der Beek added “Also a new father, busily prepping the next act.”

Brooke and Van Der Beek had a baby daughter, Olivia, in September 2010.

In other news the Dawson’s Creek alum is getting ready to play a fictional version of himself in the upcoming ABC comedy series Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23. 

I have a feeling this is how James Van Deer Beek acted when he heard the good news about a second child:

Will you be tuning in to catch a glimpse of the new Van Deer Beek comedy when it debuts?

James Van Der Beek and Kimberly Brook Are Pregnant is a post from: The Inquisitr

James Van Der Beek, the actor who pretty much looks exactly the same as he did sixteen years ago playing the titular Dawson on Dawson’s Creek, has married girlfriend and babymama model Kimberly Brook, Dawson tells us on Twitter.

Van Der Beek first tweeted:

Best day of my life so far…

He then followed up with:

The woman I love did me the honor of became my wife today… I look forward to earning her for the rest of my life.

Van Der Beek even added a mea culpa for grammatical sins:

LOL I just noticed that! Believe I was an English major? RT @wkw_ed You’d think a big announcement like this would warrant a grammar check

Van Der Beek and first wife Heather McComb finalized their divorce after six years of marriage back in March. In June, Brook announced that she and Van Der Beek were expecting their first child, a baby girl due in the fall.

James Van Der Beek marries model Kimberly Brook is a post from: The Inquisitr