Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series about the lives of a close-knit group of friends in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, beginning in high school and continuing into college. It ran for six seasons, from January 20, 1998, to May 14, 2003. The series starred James Van Der Beek as Dawson Leery; Katie Holmes as his best friend and love interest, Joey Potter; Joshua Jackson as their friend Pacey Witter; and Michelle Williams as Jen Lindley, a New York City transplant to Capeside. The show was created by Kevin Williamson and premiered on The WB as a mid-season replacement. It was produced by Columbia TriStar Television (renamed Sony Pictures Television before the sixth and final season) and was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina. The series ended on May 14, 2003. A total of 128 episodes were produced, spanning six seasons.

Along with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and 7th Heaven, Dawson's Creek became one of the flagship shows for The WB and launched its main cast to international stardom. The show placed at No. 90 on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" list in 2007. It has also been credited with kicking off a boom of teen-centered shows in the late 1990s that continued into the 2000s.