One fact that sets this scene apart from your average Saved By 90210, though: Tamara is Pacey's 40ish high school teacher. " For lack of a better word, it's gonna shock the shit out ofpeople when I sleep with my English teacher," predicts 19 year old Josh Jackson, who plays Pacey, of the envelope pushing plotline.

Perhaps it's no surprise that the already publilicized Dawson's Creek comes from the twisted mind of Kevin Williamson, who's become Hollywood's scribe du jour by shocking the you know what of people with back to back smash hits: Scream, and I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Scream 2. Only this time, Williamson's adolescents are being split open figuraltivly, as the coming of age drama examines what the Clearasil set is thinking and talking about: sex and sex, respectively (in the pilot, topics of discission include the correlation between finger length, and genital size.)

Dawson's Creek stars James Van Der Beek as Dawson Leery, an aspiring Spielberg whose lifelong platonic relationship with Joey(Katie Holmes) turns complicated when they reach puberty: The first scene finds them debating whether it's still okay to sleep in the same bed. Their lives get more confusing when Dawson develops a crush on new kid in town Jen(Michelle Williams), and Joey grows jealous. "I know I'm going to get hate mail,: laments Williams, 17, of her other girl character. "But I'm trying my damnedest to make people like me".

Poisen pen letters may be sent for other reasons, since Dawson's Creek is the frankest of teenage sexuality ever seen on the small screen. ("Think she's a virgin,"Pacey asks Dawson after they meet Jen. "You want to nail her?") But argues Van Der Beek, 20, "we deal with issues responsibily."

Don't look for any moral lessons however.

"There's nothing preachy about it, " promises Williamson, 32. "The moment anyone says anything that sounds like a message, the characters discard it. They go, 'So what did we learn from this 90210 moment'"

Such amorality(atheist Jen assures her devout grandme, "I'll go to church when you say the word penis!")seems destined to rankle the right wig, but The WB isn't scared. "I invite boycotts," proclaims exec veep for programing Susanne Daniels. "I always think about what happened to Married..With Children. The boycott some women tried to start attracted more attention to the show then it would have gotten otherwise."

The only controversy so far erupted among bluenosed TV critics, after the network announced its plans to air the show during the "family hour" of 8-9 PM. Choosing to nip that scandel in the bud, The WB shuffled it to the more adult hour of 9-10 PM, slotting it after the equally hip hit, Buffy The Vampire Slayer on a new Tuesday night schedule begining Jan. 20. Williamson applauds the shift:"I don't want to be limited in what I can do, and 9 o clock gives me more freedom."

The startlingly mature dialogue will set Dawson's Creek apart, but many are already questioning the verismilitude of the vocab. "These kids talk like they've had 10 years of thearpy," admits Williamson. Still, the stars say their repartee won't go ove rteens heads. "It's a little heightened, but they'll understand it," says Holmes, 18. "Maybe they'll learn a few new words."

Like both Screams, the show also includes enough in-jokes and pop culture refs to make Quentin Taantino's head explode. Dawson, for example,

A passion for the quirky morning hostess isn't the drama's only autobiographical element. Williamson grew up in North Carolina near the real Dawson's Creek and based the series on his own adolescent memories. He originally pitched the pilot to Fox in 1994, but the network felt it was too similar to the then-strugglin Party Of Five. When he took his project to The WB the net snapped it up.

Of course, the downside to being on a fledgling network is that the initial audience is bound to be microscopic. "We're prepared for it," says Williamson. "The joke around here is, 'Oh my god, we're going to debut at number 90-that will be great.'"

But with a marketing campaign that includes a J. Crew tie in, and possibly a soundtrack, Dawson's Creek hopes to build beyound a pubescent cult. And, by airinf on The WB, "we can ovoid My So Called Life-itis," explains Jackson, citing the critically acclaimed teen drama that failed to win a big enough viewership to stave off cancelation by ABC.

The WB would rather follow the model of PArty Of Five, which was given time to grow by Fox, and now comands a fiercly loyal audience. In fact, observes the net's admittedly biased Daniels, "Dawson's Creek has the potential to have a greater draw then Party Of Five, because it's not as dark."

If that happens, the cast could easily be the next wave in the current flood of teen idols, a prospect that," scares us all to death," says Williams. "This might sound snobbish," snifs Van Der Beek, "but I don't aspire to be on the cover of Tenn Beat."

Too late. Dawson's Creek covers are already planned for YM, Seventeen, and Teen People, and Teen Beat can't be far behind. At least the cast can take comfort in their location-almost 3000 miles from the Hollywood hype machine, in Wilmington(which doesn't have an ABC affiliate, yet.). "You can't do auditions on the weekends here," says Holmes, who nontheless just managed to land the lead in the MGM thriller, Disturbing Behavior. "And it forces the cast to bond because we don't know anyone else." In fact, Jacksin and Van Der Beek share a pad, and their female costars live within a few blocks.

Their show's insanely busy creator is another story. Williamson is based, by necessity, in Los Angeles. He recently renegotiated his Miramax deal; the $20 million pact new TV projects as well as a third Scream, and hia big screen directorial debut, Killing Mrs. Tingle. That Dawson's Creek isn't included in the package worries that cast. "I'd like to chain Kevin to a bed post in Wilmington, so he never, ever leaves," says Williams.

Williamson is contractually obligated to the first 22 episodes(The WB ordered 13 for this season), but he's got news for anyone who expects him to abandon the show after that. "I ain't leaving Dawson's Creek," he declares, his gentle southern accent slipping through. "It's too personal. I may have to put it at arms length, but I'll never be too far from it." Adds Jackson:"He keeps trying to pull back, and then you read the revisions of the scripts, and he's all over it."

Or, as one of Williamson's cinematically savvy teens might put it, a la Al Pacino's Godfather: Every time he thinks he's out, they pull him back in.

COPYRIGHT 1998 ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY MAGAZINE.