Joan of Arcadia

[BytrSuite]

I have such a good time watching this show, and, a true test for me, it holds up to repeated viewings. If I happen to watch an ep again, I always see something I missed the first time. I love that.



Cracked me up when Joan was first building her boat and Luke was standing there telling her it wouldn't fit. Then he was completely flabbergasted when it did.



The vice principal is bad bad news.



Amber Tamblyn is excellent, really. The rest of the cast is very good too.



Jason Ritter really looks and sounds a lot like his dad, it's like, wow.

________
"Oh, good! I was hoping to add theft, endangerment and insanity to my list of things I did today."
"Ah! You, too?"
(Stitch laughs delightedly)

[xita]

I am really too lazy to keep typing Amber Tamblyn, but i can't call her just Amber, so she'll be Amber T. But yes Amber T is excellent.



Bob said,

Quote:

---

Ah, but to me that's one of the most realistic parts of the whole show.

---

Oh, I agree completely. I wasn't complaining!

- - - - - - - - - - -
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose."

-Me & Bobby
McGee

[The Rose24]

Yes, I am enjoying this show too.



The principal is an A**hole.

Tara: My heart doesn't stutter.


Tara: Willow, I got so lost.

Willow: I found you. I will always find you.

[Puff]

Actually I noticed that Joan looked sad about loosing her boat as well.



God continues to crack me up as he does a radio talk show.



I hear that JoA has been picked up for a few more episodes. I think it is 19 now.

---

So, the day started and I knew my name and had my pants on. So far, so good. Yay.
Amber Benson

[Gatito Grande]

Wow. I think this is going to be a regular thing: play "Six Degrees of Separation" between JoA and "that show that went horribly wrong." In tonight's ep 1) I didn't know Eliza had a brother who acts, but boy do the Dushku looks look better on her than on him. 2) I guess the obnoxious swimteam guy who harrassed Buffy in Go Fish got type-cast, because he was playing *exactly* the same role tonight!



My other thoughts: still having trouble seeing the connection between the police segment and the rest of the show. Yeah, they're all connected through the Girardi family, but it still seems like a police show has been grafted-on. [For that matter, why isn't Amber Tamblyn top-billed? I think the cast---and priorities---would work better if Joe Mantegna and Mary Steenburgen came last, ala "with Joe Mantegna and Mary Steenburgen" (or vice-versa)]. Great to see someone break up Kevin's Pity Party! (And since Sydney Tamiia Poitier is a cutie-patootie, if Kevin gets a clue . . . ) Finally though, what's with Helen's saving Her Past Tragedy for Joan alone (as it were)? Shouldn't her sons learn that mom was raped too?



I know that The Mystery of God has to build slowly throughout this show, but I have to say that I'm getting a little frustrated: when will Joan tell others? When will one of 'em try to get Joan committed? Will God "bring others in" on the mission? Is the police saga gonna get integrated into the God-story? And most important, when are we gonna learn more about Grace?



GG And still see the resemblence to show-that-went-horribly-wrong S1: Adam as non-verbal Xander in the crush department. But will he be more successful? Out

[Cicca]

Oh.

Well I just have to say ditto!

i was thinking along the same lines. Even about Eliza being better looking than her brother.

Is there a hyphen in anal-retentive?

[xita]

Ugh, I just read EW's second review of this show. The first one was in the fall preview. They didn't like it then and they gave it a C+ now. Their biggest complaint is that it's killing their darling Miss Match. I don't know what critics love about that show. It's boring. Anyway they think that the appeal of Joan of Arcadia is the spirituality.



That's what people who haven't seen the show think, they raise their eyebrow at me when I say I watch it. I am the least spiritual person I know. I am not into that part at all. I like the show, to me "god" here is almost a wise alien, really. There is something supernatural about god, as opposed to spiritual. Anyway, I like the show because I like the characters, because I care about them and they care about each other. And yes I like the adults. I am glad they are in the mix, and this show is about them too and not just the teens.



I am not tired of it at all yet. I guess it's because I don't want anything from the show. I just want it to continue to provide me an amusing hour of tv. I am always happy after I watch it, that counts. And next week's cheerleading episode looks really good.

- - - - - - - - - - -
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose."

-Me & Bobby
McGee

[UnrealisticExpectations]

From tvguide.com



Friday, Oct. 31

Bringeth it on



Joan gets a lesson in popularity when God tells her to try out for the cheerleading squad, and her efforts to impress two pom-pom girls pay off with an invite to hang out together outside of school. Meanwhile, Will's first case working with Det. Toni Williams (April Grace) involves an abandoned newborn left in a trash bin, presumably by a student from Arcadia High. Another story line has a classmate sensing a gay vibe in Luke. Michael Welch. Adam: Christopher Marquette. Brianna: Keri Lynn Pratt.

Edited by: UnrealisticExpectations at: 10/25/03 12:12 pm

[tyche]

Yay!

From Variety, via Cinescape:

Quote:

---

www.cinescape.com/0/edito...j_id=40017



JOAN OF ARCADIA gets the full order

CBS orders 12 more episodes



Dateline: Tuesday, October 28, 2003

By: PATRICK SAURIOL

Source: Variety

CBS has ordered a full season of their Friday night genre drama JOAN OF ARCADIA. The show has pulled in good ratings since its debut last month, rejuvinating the network's Friday night doldrums. The new order of shows will bring JOAN up to a full year's worth of 22 episodes.

Created by Barbara Hall, JOAN OF ARCADIA stars Amber Tamblyn as Joan Girardi, a teenager who can see and hear someone who claims to be God. The Big Guy gives Joan tasks to perform each week, which she tries to fulfill while navigating the sometimes troubled waters of her family life.

---

[The Rose24]

Great News!!!



This is one of the few new shows I am watching.

Tara: My heart doesn't stutter.


Tara: Willow, I got so lost.

Willow: I found you. I will always find you.

[BBOvenGuy]

Quote:

---

JOAN OF ARCADIA stars Amber Tamblyn as Joan Girardi, a teenager who can see and hear someone who claims to be God.

---

Huh? "Someone who claims to be God?" Um, check out the show's writer's guidelines - it's God, not someone who claims to be God. Even if you don't believe in God in real-life, you can still imagine what God would be like and write him into a story. Is Variety trying to suck up to its atheist readership?

"The first task of anyone, lest you get canceled, is to entertain people, because they ain't there for message." - Dick Wolf

[Cicca]

Yep, that's a weird turn of phrase. Makes it sound like Joan's talking to people in a psych ward. Sheesh!



And hooray! A full season!

Is there a hyphen in anal-retentive?

[SySnootles]

Now, for those of you who watched this evening's episode, you may think I'm talking about the second "tell the popular-yet-morally-reprehensible-kids off" cheer. Although that was very well written, and very well preformed (I was very impressed my AT's vocal performance), I'm really talking about the first cheer. The audition cheer. I don't think I've laughed that hard with (notice I didn't say 'at') a television show in years. I wish I had that part on tape so I could watch it over and over and over again, and perhaps even incorporate it into my daily verbage.



By the way... did anyone else have flashbacks to a certian couple of episodes of The Show That Will Forever Remain Nameless?



And God as a giant hotdog... if the writers aren't at least nominated for an Emmy, I'll do more than my usual sulking. I may even scoff!!



The exchange between the two brothers was touching. And very well handled. I really like the way they're dealing with the sexuality issues on the show. Not too heavy-handed, yet strong enough to make the point heard. To those who are willing to listen, that is.



Quality quality show.

Catie



"The purpose of life is not to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make a difference that you lived at all." -- Leo Roston

[Gatito Grande]

. . . and since when did "liking a lesbian" constitute being a gay male? If anything, it's au contraire . . .



The thing about Grace is . . . no matter what they do w/ her sexuality, they've already established her as one of the great misanthrope characters on TV today (and I mean that in a good way!). But what, if anything, did it mean that God called her "young man"? Just God being Smart-Alecky again?



GG Felt the police plot worked a lot better tonight---wonder why? Out



Didn't notice anybody w/ connections to "show that went horribly wrong" tonight (but the girl who had the baby, I recalled as the Christian girl--- who was hit and run---on "Nip/Tuck")



Does anybody else really like the chemistry teacher? Speaking of cheerleading!

[tober]

Joan's audition cheer:



Well, I can't do any stunts. No no.

And how about the jumps? So so.

So, why am I here? Well, it's really odd,

but I'm here to cheer on a mission from God.

So put me in the game or leave me on the bench,

so you can go to heaven and I'll get out of french.



one word: kickass.

[Puff]

I loved last nights episiode. Joan was so funny and I loved her cheers they cracked me up, almost as much as her facial expressions. God is just too damn funny and I wondered why she said "Thank you young man" as well. But I loved God being snippy again and the "Be not afraid" because he liked to sound old worldy sometimes



I'm just enjoying the great acting and writing.

---

So, the day started and I knew my name and had my pants on. So far, so good. Yay.
Amber Benson

[theatremouse]

i am totally less than thrilled with both parents. they roles they end up playing in the story, i cant tell if its the way the characters are being written, or the way theyre being played or the combination of both, but, considering how fleshed out and just interesting Joan, Luke, Kevin, Grace, Adam, and everyone ELSE i seem to see on this show is, the parentals just dont have the same Itness. know what i mean?

the police storybits are still rather incohesive, if only because, they way theyre incorporated in is via these UberLawandOrderNYPDBlue obvious stylized edits. it screams "look! a cop show! for the next two minutes we're going to be a cop show!" and then goes back to not. they could segue better.



Every week I'm more impressed by Tamblyn's acting, and escalating star quality.



Oh yeah, kickass cheers. both of 'em.

Tara: Five what by five what?

Willow: See? That's the thing: no one knows..

Edited by: theatremouse at: 11/1/03 10:11 am

[gspiggott]

I really like this show and Amber T does a great job.Imagine it's a got a Friday night death slot and it's considered one of the bona fide hits of the season. Just shows what decent writing and a mature worldview can do.

[SySnootles]

Thank you so much tober!!!

Catie



"The purpose of life is not to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make a difference that you lived at all." -- Leo Roston

[xita]

Loved the show as well. I was kind of upset at Dad though, first for not listening to his wife. She wanted to inquire about the daddy of the baby and no one thought it was important. It turned out to be very important. Then he was yelling at Joan for something that I just didn't understand. Bleh.



Joan rocked though, all her cheers were very amusing. And our Gracey certainly has interest in the boys it seems, good for her.

- - - - - - - - - - -
"Hard work often pays off after time but laziness always pays off now!"

[tyche]

Oh gosh, last night's ep rocked in so many ways. They finally gave Kevin something decent to do, and Grace was great, as ever. I like Adam, he is such a sweetheart and I have a feeling that he has some interesting back story. I was yelling 'GO JOAN!' during her final cheer. Funniest thing I've seen on screen in a while, and the reaction of the bitchy head cheerleader was just fantastic. I really I'd taped the ep so I could watch that scene again (usually I do watch it on tape as I'm out on Fridays, but I stayed in last night.) Oh, and straight afterwards I saw 'The Ring' on DVD - it was weird seeing Amber Tamblyn in that film after having just seen her in JoA. I kept thinking that God would turn up to protect her from harm.

Joan's mother was right that nobody gave a toss about the father, and the investigation just turned into a witch-hunt for the girl. I bet Brianna wasn't on 'the list' either.

The conversation between Joan's brothers was great, too. And I thought the new woman cop was good - it's probably more interesting to have her around than Erik Palladino's character, especially since the Arcadia Police Dept. is mostly white and male. The writing on this show is so good - it's less a matter of having zingy one-liners like certain other shows I could mention, and more the subtle way the characters are developed and the storylines usually manage to subvert our expectations.

btw, there's a feature on Amber Tamblyn in the new 'Entertainment Weekly'. It's accompanied by two really nice photos, one with the feature, one on the index page. I'll try and get a transcript of the article when I can access the EW website, which is being screwy for me right now.

[Cicca]

This show rocked. Joan is so much fun, I love Grace, Adam is delightfully weird and sweet, use the force Luke!!!!!!!

I like the parents quite a bit. I think they're slowly fleshing everyone out and it's just nice to get to know them all.



And yes, what is with god calling Grace "young man"? Hmmmm.

Is there a hyphen in anal-retentive?

[tyche]

From the San Francisco Chronicle TV section:

Quote:

---

Joan (Amber Tamblyn) acts on a heavenly recommendation to help people in need in the new episode 'Death Be Not Whatever'. She becomes the baby sitter for a youngster (guest star David Dorfman, 'The Ring'), who is preoccupied with thoughts of death. Will (Joe Mantegna) tries to keep racial tensions under control after a black man is assaulted by two police officers. Sydney Tamilia Poitier ('Abby') also guest stars.

---

It was freaky enough watching Amber Tamblyn in 'The Ring' right after JoA last week and now the kid from that film turns up in JoA. Weird.

Edited to add: JoA article from Time magazine:

Quote:

---

www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101031103-526485,00.html

A R T S / T E L E V I S I O N

Losing God's Religion

Joan of Arcadia ducks some divisive issues of faith, but its miracle is finding the drama in ordinary life

By JAMES PONIEWOZIK



Throughout religious history, getting spoken to by God has not been a sign of fun times ahead. Abraham had to agree to kill his son. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. On CBS's Joan of Arcadia (Fridays, 8 p.m. E.T.), God appears to a teenage girl and commands her ... to take AP chemistry.



This marriage of the sacred and the mundane has made Arcadia the rare TV show about spirituality to win over both audiences and critics. Whereas its predecessors have been either panned but popular marshmallow halos (Highway to Heaven) or controversial, swiftly canceled critical darlings (Nothing Sacred), Arcadia has avoided, Goldilocks-style, going too soft or too hard. Joan (Amber Tamblyn) is an average, nonreligious teen with whom the Lord decides to strike up a friendship, manifesting himself (and herself) in persons from a TV anchorman to a cafeteria lunch lady. Joan has a heart-wrenching family situation — a brother who's been partially paralyzed in a car accident — but the show leavens the emotional moments with a light touch. Its God has a wry, chop-busting wit: "In me you trust," muses the Almighty, examining a dollar bill. "Not exactly true." And Joan's father (Joe Mantegna) is Arcadia's chief of police, for those viewers who wouldn't find the manifestation of the Almighty dramatic enough without the occasional kidnapping to spice things up.



But above all, Arcadia has managed to skate between preachiness and blasphemy by taking the religion out of God, literally. The show's creator, Barbara Hall, gave the writers a list of 10 "commandments" ("God cannot directly intervene"; "Everyone is allowed to say no to God, including Joan." The third dictum is "God can never identify one religion as being right." This is probably an impossible rule to follow — some people believe in a God who is quite particular about which religion is right, and by the fourth episode God alludes to having told Noah to build the Ark. But mostly Arcadia espouses the little-c catholicism captured in its credits, which juxtapose images of the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Bob Dylan: as long as you believe there's an answer blowin' in the wind, you're on the side of the angels.



Conveniently, Joan, like many a teen, has too many preoccupations to ask God whether Muhammad is his Prophet or if God so loved the world that he gave up his only son. God also avoids the big picture: no talk of worship or salvation or Thou Shalt Nots. "The way we approach what God says is, Less is more," says Hall. Instead, God asks Joan to stop underachieving, to learn chess, to get a part-time job — the Lord as almighty guidance counselor. God explains that by bettering herself, Joan sets off chain reactions that help others: in chem class, for instance, she befriends a school misfit who knows where her brother can get a car outfitted for paraplegics.



All this is less likely to offend any demographic than pinko talk about camels and needles. By separating God from religion, Arcadia takes away what makes faith divisive — a reasonable goal for a major-network series that needs to draw a broad audience to thrive. But reducing God to principles we can all agree on also means taking away much of what makes faith difficult. With this God, everything is a win-win, and all Joan's chain reactions are for the better. "Better is how it works with me," God says. "An infinite good in an infinite universe." A comforting thought for the home audience, and it beats holy war, but it avoids the hard choices that arise from believing there are principles you must follow because they are right, even if you — like the 15th century Joan — must suffer for it. Arcadia's God asks for hard work but not self-sacrifice. If you realize your potential, you enlarge the pie of world happiness. It's supply-side spirituality.



If God, however, is simply asking Joan to do what all teens have to do — develop an identity — Arcadia works because Tamblyn reminds us so well how tough that job is. Joan may talk to God, but she has to do the work her own, mortal self, from accepting life's unfairness to finding her niche at school. Hall calls Joan a "metaphysical warrior," and the battles that go on behind Tamblyn's wrinkled brow are as compelling as any supernatural fireworks. Unlike most prime-time teens, Joan is neither a babe nor a brain, neither a Goody Two-Shoes nor a sarcastic rebel. She's the most extraordinarily average teen to crop up on a TV show in years — yet after a few episodes, you realize you would watch her story even if God stopped showing up. Perhaps that's the true message of Joan of Arcadia: that God is a divine MacGuffin, dramatic bait to make us realize how interesting and powerful an ordinary person can be. In a TV world glutted with cops and superheroes, achieving that realization is a blessing indeed.



From the Nov. 03, 2003 issue of TIME magazine

---

Edited by: tyche at: 11/3/03 5:53 pm

[yana]

Cicca said:

Quote:

---

And yes, what is with god calling Grace "young man"? Hmmmm.

---

I'm not positive about this, but I got the impression that the "young man" comment was directed at the third person (don't remember if it was Adam or Joan's younger brother), who is the one that actually answered her question about the location of the classroom. In fact, I got the impression that Grace was rather... unhelpful. :o)

"We are one, the gurus say. Aye -- I might agree -- but one what?" -- Edward Abbey

[Cicca]

Ohhhhhhhhhhh.

I wish I hadn't taped over it so I could watch that scene again.

Hmm.

Is there a hyphen in anal-retentive?

[BytrSuite]

This show is just too damn good. It's starting to make me paranoid, wondering what they'll mess up. It's TV, there has to be something they mess up!



Sigh. Anyway. I think I'd have to watch the episode again to be able to comment on details.



This show keeps blowing me away. I think damn near all TV is predictable because, really, it's all been done before. What makes this show different, for me, is that they have the cast and talent to pull it off and make it powerful and moving even though it's been done thousands of times before.



It's been a long time since a TV show made me cry.



Yay, Joan of Arcadia.

________
"Oh, good! I was hoping to add theft, endangerment and insanity to my list of things I did today."
"Ah! You, too?"
(Stitch laughs delightedly)

[Gatito Grande]

. . . do I love this show!



First off, the "show that went horribly wrong" association game: anyone else start to channel What's My Line? at the start w/ Career Day (right down to the Vice-Principal doing his snarky "Snyder" imitation)? Then there was the unfortunate police brutality victim, who of course was the more talkative of the two paramedics in The Body.



Hoo boy, if Kevin plays his cards right!



Didn't we already know that Adam was motherless, or did I just guess that? Or was the point to just connect that reality to his November melancholy? And do you think we'll ever see Rocky again?



I'm glad that Helen is dealing w/ her grief, and not hiding it. And that's some kewl priest! (I've liked that actor since he played the gay flight attendant in that 90s flight attendant sitcom whose name escapes me).



Grace probably would make a great journalist---or better yet, commentator (I can see her writing a witheringly astute column). I'm also still lovin' the Rah-Rah chemistry teacher.



I still don't have a real handle on where this show is going (besides the weekly themes, like grief and death this week) . . . I'm just glad to be along for the ride!



GG This show better be nominated for a pile o' Emmys Out

[emma peel]

I watched it for the first time tonight, at it was pretty freaking amazing.

Janice

[The Rose24]

I am still loving this show. I am officially addicted.



I remember when another show used to make me feel this way.

Tara: My heart doesn't stutter.


Tara: Willow, I got so lost.

Willow: I found you. I will always find you.

[Alia16]

tonight's ep was really good. next week looks very interesting as well....