James Van Der Beek Really Doesn’t Want To Talk About “Dawson’s Creek”

Are you a TV person who might one day find themselves in a one-on-one interview with The Beek from the Creek? If so, please pay attention, because this is very important. Unless you want to dump several minutes of awkward onto your viewers, don’t ask James Van Der Beek about Dawson’s Creek. And don’t begin the interview by comparing his career to his more successful co-stars. That’s what happened when James Van Der Beek appeared on ITVs This Morning (via BBC News) on Wednesday.

James was there to promote his appearance on the British sitcom Carters Get Rich, but the hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby just wanted to know about Dawson’s Creek. Phillip and Holly started out their introduction by bragging about how Katie Holmes went on to marry Tom Cruise, Michelle Williams has four Oscar nominations, and Joshua Jackson is on The Affair. When they got to James Van Der Beek, it was crickets and shrugs.

James reminded them he’s been on lots of stuff since Dawson’s Creek premiered in 1997. It only got more uncomfortable from there. James really didn’t want to talk about Dawson. James kept it cool on the outside, but he was the crying Dawson meme on the inside.

That was like watching a scene from Magnolia II: More Depressing. I could almost hear Aimee Mann singing a slowed-down version of “I Don’t Wanna Wait” over a piano. And when James Van Der Beek finally snaps after being asked his 6,204,937th question about Dawson’s Creek, something tells me he’s going to mutter, “The beek from the creek the beek from the creek,” as the men in white coats haul him away.

Here’s James at BBC radio 2 in London on Wednesday.

Pics: Splash