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

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Bitch is the new... roommate.

Don't Trust The B---- In Apartment 23 is a short-lived Sitcom which aired on ABC for two seasons from 2012 to 2013. The show premiered on April 11, 2012, taking over Happy Endings‍'‍ timeslot after its second season wrapped.

Desperate for a place to stay after finding herself rendered homeless, June (Dreama Walker) agrees to live with Chloe (Krysten Ritter), or The Bitch in Apartment 23, which has a habit of taking roommates, making them pay upfront and then make them flee with her outrageous behavior. Hilarity Ensues when June proves to be so resistant to Chloe's antics, they become friends instead.

Tropes used in Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 include:
  • A Date with Rosie Palms: Eli has these a lot, much to June's (horrified) discovery.
  • Adam Westing: James Van Der Beek, who plays... himself.
  • As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Shitagi Nashi supposedly means "Tall slut with no panties" in Japanese. It actually just means "without underwear".
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Don't make June angry.
  • Big Applesauce
  • Big "What?": June, after finding out that her fiancee is easily swayed in the pilot.
  • Braces of Orthodontic Overkill: In a flashback to her high-school days during "Shitagi Nashi...", June is shown wearing headgear during the daytime.
  • The Casanova: James readily uses his Dawson's Creek fame to seduce women
  • Caught with Your Pants Down: Chloe catches June "playing her lady harp" in "It's Just Sex...", although June denies it.
  • Censored Title: The show was originally titled Don't Trust The Bitch in Apartment 23, but it was amended to its current state (or sometimes, simply, Apartment 23) after the Media Watchdogs had a field day over it.
  • Corrupt the Cutie: Chloe's loose morals have stated to rub off on June.
    • In "The Wedding" Chloe instills confidence in June which turns her into a version of Chloe.
    • Also in the following episode "Making Rent..." June points out that Chloe's loose morals are rubbing off on her when June decides to sell acces to Chloe to Robin.
    • In "It's Just Sex" Chloe encourages June to have a one night stand. Afterwards she wants to leave a note, but Chloe's voice in her head tells her not to.
    • Inverted with Chloe as June seems to be making her less of a bitch and more of a caring person, much to her irritation
  • Department of Child Disservices: Chloe becomes a foster mother so she can have an assistant for free
  • Fetish: Voyeurstic neighbor Eli. In the stinger of "Making Rent..." he takes all June's jam (itself made while Chloe was secretly letting Eli film June making the jam for a fetish-video website), puts it in his bathtub, and gets in.
  • Freaky Friday Flip: In-universe in "Parent Trap...", the third episode, where James costars with Kiernan Shipka in a film about a father and pubescent daughter who get body-swapped.
  • Friends Rent Control: Invoked early in the pilot when June likens the amazing, company-provided apartment that she has for all of one night to those on Friends.
  • Funny Background Event: Played with. Chloe steals a baguette from a passing shopper and tries to bite into it. The shopper protests before James hands him some money. All this is done without either Chloe or James slowing down or breaking their conversation rhythm.
  • Gender Bender: James sometimes dreams he's a 12-year-old girl.
  • Going Commando: Chloe does this, we learn in "Shitagi Nashi..." The episode title is the supposed Japanese translation of "Tall Slut No Panties", a comic book series based on her exploits.
  • Gone Horribly Right: Chloe teaches June to be more confident, which results in her becoming a bigger bitch than Chloe.
  • Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Chloe is an excellent example, down to being almost a professional Trickster. In "Shitagi Nashi...", Robin tells June that Chloe's liver is superhuman.
  • Homage: In "Shitagi Nashi...", June shows Chloe a comic strip she supposedly drew (complete with Mary Sue versions of herself and a friend) in high school that seems like an homage to Teen Girl Squad.
  • Hot Dad: Turns out that Chloe has one, and he becomes a Stacy's Dad to June.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Except for the pilot, every episode's title ends in an ellipsis.
  • In Medias Res: The pilot begins with the event described in Interrupted Intimacy below, and then flashes back to a week earlier as June arrives in New York.
  • Interrupted Intimacy: June walking in on her fiancé having sex with Chloe in the pilot.
  • Japandering: James did an energy drink commercial in Vietnam. It is shown at the end of the pilot and it is hilariously bad (even more so that your usual Japandering commercial, as it includes Van Der Beek wondering what the hell he just did and asking if they've managed to get his agent on the phone).
  • Jerkass/Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Chloe jumps back and forth across the line between these two like no one's business
  • Just Friends: Neither girl is really romantically interested in James
  • Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: June and Chloe.
  • Lovable Alpha Bitch: Chloe.
  • Malaproper: In "Making Rent..." we learn that June goes to a Korean Baptist church because it reminds her of her church at home. Chloe confuses "Korean" and "Christian" for the rest of the episode; later June starts doing it, too.
  • Name's the Same: Mark Reynolds is also a baseball player for Baltimore that is known for hitting homers and striking out.
  • Naive Newcomer: June. She starts catching on real quick, though.
  • Older Than They Look: Chloe's dad, which is part of why June is so shocked that she was about to have sex with him.
  • Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Chloe
  • Relationship Reveal: When June discovers that the guy she spent all night talking to (and was about to have sex with) is actually Chloe's father.
  • Rich Bitch: Subverted. Chloe definitely has a nice place filled with equally as nice furniture, but she only attains all of it after taking more money than needed from her roommates, keeping their security deposits for herself, then purposely driving them out with her behavior, and finally, repeating the process.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Connections: Chloe is able to become a foster mother without the usual interviews, inspections and background checks because she knows someone who works at Child Services.
  • Shout-Out: Plenty in the first few episodes alone, mostly relating to James. His tenure as Dawson is naturally brought up on numerous occasions, but he also references his appearance in Ke$ha's "Blow" music video as well.
  • Spoiled Brat: Molly, Chloe and June's foster child comes off as this and is completely ungrateful for June caring for her.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Heavily implied that Robin is this to Chloe.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: "...that has nothing to do with my relationship with French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who is not the man that I'm dating who has a plane."
  • Take That: In "Making Rent...", June's coworker at the coffee shop is going through the tip jar and asks her if she wants a euro coin or a button. "Give me the button; it might actually be worth something in a couple of years."[1]
    • In "Shitagi Nashi...", June's coworker at the coffee shop says he knew she was sick when she didn't laugh at the Dilbert he'd posted on the bulletin board. "No one laughs at them", June replies.
  • Title Drop: Said uncensored by Robin (to June) in the pilot.
  • Took a Level In Badass: June, in a very quick example of this trope, during the pilot. Right after finding out that Chloe has been overcharging her rent, June goes and sells all of Chloe's furniture. Even Chloe is surprised by this move, and Chloe is never surprised.
  • Twofer Token Minority: James' gay black stylist.
  • Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Chloe, even if the focus is on June.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: June and Chloe are certainly being set up this way.
  • With Friends Like These...: Chloe can be a great friend but she is also capable of stealing all your credit cards and leaving you stuck in a Vietnamese prison.
  • Your Cheating Heart:
    • Subverted. After catching wind of his affair with his assistant, Chloe makes a move on June's fiancee, but in a strategically planned effort to prove that he has a pair of loose lips... and she's right.
    • Double subverted, when his mistress is appalled at him cheating on her.
  1. A reference to anxieties over the future of the euro