Joan of Arcadia

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Joan of Arcadia

Joan of Arcadia intertitle
Format Drama
Created by Barbara Hall
Starring see below
Opening theme "One of Us"
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 45
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 Barbara Hall
Running time approx. 45 min.
Broadcast
Original channel CBS
Original run September 26, 2003 – April 22, 2005
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Joan of Arcadia is an American television fantasy/family drama, which aired on Fridays, 8-9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS from September 26, 2003 until April 22, 2005. It is shown in syndication with episodes airing in high definition on HDNet.

On initial release, the show was a favorite with critics and won the prestigious Humanitas Prize, the People's Choice Award, as well as being one of the few television shows to be nominated for an Emmy Award in the first season, for Best Dramatic Series. The title alludes to Joan of Arc while Arcadia is a fictional city in Maryland.

Contents

[edit] Premise

Joan of Arcadia is about a teenage girl, Joan Girardi (played by Amber Tamblyn), who sees and speaks with God after promising him that she will do anything he asks if he will spare her brother's life after a car accident. God appears in the form of various people such as small children, teenage boys, elderly ladies, transients, passers by, etc. Joan is asked by God to perform tasks that often appear to be trivial or contrary, but always end up positively improving a larger situation.

One of the more obvious effects of Joan's actions occurs when she is asked to take a reclusive bully to the school dance. While both her mother and the assistant principal object, Joan follows through with God's task. At the dance, it is revealed that the bully has a bottle of alcohol with him, but Joan convinces him not to open it. Despite this, the assistant principal later reaches into his jacket, finds the alcohol and expels him. Joan later finds out from God that, while this turn of events seems rather bleak, it was the lesser of two evils: in an alternate timeline, he shot over a dozen students and teachers with a handgun, before turning the gun on himself.

The series starred actors Joe Mantegna and Mary Steenburgen as Joan's parents Will and Helen, Jason Ritter as her paraplegic older brother Kevin, and Michael Welch as her younger brother Luke. The family relationships and plot situations were written more realistically than other shows with spiritual themes.[citation needed] Various story-lines that spanned multiple episodes dealt with the consequences of Kevin's accident, Will's job as a police officer, Helen's career as an art teacher, and Luke's aspirations to be a scientist. No specific mention of any "true" religion is ever made, and God quotes Bob Dylan, Emily Dickinson and the Beatles rather than any scripture or verses.

While Joan of Arcadia was one of the highest rated new shows of the 2003-2004 TV season, its ratings declined in the second season, in spite of continued critical acclaim. The show was cancelled by CBS on May 18, 2005. Only two episodes from the second season were repeated by CBS; "No Future" and "The Rise and Fall of Joan Girardi." The network pulled any remaining reruns from its schedule. Near the end of the second season, a menacing character was introduced to the series, an amoral "tempter", seemingly destined to cause a significant amount of conflict in the show's characters. The show's cancellation left that premise unexplored.

Several online fan sites were created in response, in an effort to have the show reinstated. While in its first season, it had a wide variety of fans demographically.[citation needed] Its controversial cancellation, along with other similar moves in the media, such as cancellations of Third Watch, American Dreams, and Judging Amy, produced an outcry from many Americans who felt that their entertainment tastes and demands were being completely ignored.[citation needed] Many fans believe that the network meddled with the show in the second season in an attempt to attract younger viewers, but only succeeded in alienating some of its audience. Fans also questioned the decision to air it on Friday evenings when the desired demographic segment is smaller than on other nights.[citation needed] Despite their efforts, Ghost Whisperer took over the show's Friday time slot in September 2005. After the show's cancellation, props such as pieces of Adam's artwork and Joan's signature messenger bag and costume pieces belonging to cast members were sold on eBay. Grace's trademark leather jacket was not included as the jacket was brought in by actress Becky Wahlstrom from her own teenage years. [1]

[edit] Theme Song

The opening credits roll with the song "One of Us" by Joan Osborne, a hit single in the United States from her 1995 album Relish:

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home (repeated)

This was not the original version of the song, but was re-recorded by Osborne (with a noticeably less rough quality) specifically for the show. To fit the lyrics of the song, Joan first meets God as a teenage boy riding to school on the bus with her (although they don't actually speak to each other at the time).

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Season 1: 2003-2004

# Title
1 Pilot
2 The Fire and the Wood
3 Touch Move
4 The Boat
5 Just Say No
6 Bringeth It On
7 Death Be Not Whatever
8 The Devil Made Me Do It
9 St. Joan
10 Drive, He Said
11 The Uncertainty Principle
12 Jump
13 Recreation
14 State of Grace
15 Night Without Stars
16 Double Dutch
17 No Bad Guy
18 Requiem for a Third Grade Ashtray
19 Do The Math
20 Anonymous
21 Vanity, Thy Name Is Human
22 The Gift
23 Silence

[edit] Season 2: 2004-2005

# Title
1 Only Connect
2 Out of Sight
3 Back to the Garden
4 The Cat
5 The Election
6 Wealth of Nations
7 P.O.V.
8 Friday Night
9 No Future
10 The Book of Questions
11 Dive
12 Game Theory
13 Queen of the Zombies
14 The Rise and Fall of Joan Girardi
15 Romancing the Joan
16 Independence Day
17 Shadows and Light
18 Secret Service
19 Trial and Error
20 Spring Cleaning
21 Common Thread
22 Something Wicked This Way Comes

[edit] DVD Releases

Season Discs Release Date Episode # Additional Information
1 6 May 10, 2005 23 Deleted Scenes, Audio commentaries by the Filmmakers and Cast
Behind-The-Scenes Featurettes: The Creation of Joan of Arcadia and Joan of Arcadia - A Look at Season One
God Gallery
2 6 November 28, 2006 22 Audio Commentaries on selected episodes
A Look at Season 2 featurette
The Making of Queen of the Zombies
A Tour of Joan's High School
Common Thread Table Read

[edit] International

[edit] References

  1. ^ Buying TV Show Clothing Props

[edit] External links

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