Joan of Arcadia

cosgrove80 · 04-10-2004 4:22pm #1

Joan of Arcadia started on network 2 ( sorry RTE 2 ) on Sunday. At least I think it was the first two episodes.

It's on again at 15:30 next Sunday 10th of October.

I've heard fairly decent reports about it so I thought I'd let people know

eggshapedfred · 05-10-2004 10:01am

nah, it was on a few weeks ago (Net2 sunday) then (as usual) they didnt show it the following week, hence the two eps last sunday. seems alright. would be better in a prime time slot (like instead of the pretentious Seventh Heaven, but thats on t'other channel)

doh.ie · 05-10-2004 11:02am

Agreed - should really be on in the 7th Heaven slot. Joan & Co are much more bearable than the Camdens, and contrary to what some people might say, the God element is actually much cleverer than it sounds.

You can also see it on LivingTV at the moment; season 2 has just kicked off in the US.

jill_valentine · 29-11-2004 1:03am

Bumped, because I'm really starting to love this. Not only because it's rather snugly filling the massive Buffy-shaped hole in my life (I actually only watched an episode because Eliza Dushku's brother was in it), but because it's genuinely and unexpectedly moving. It's treatment of Christianity is both respectful and thoroughly modern, and the cast are tremendous. Not only has it got Joe "Fat Tony" Mantegna, Amber Tamblyn is really great, even if I can't get her memorable turn in The Ring out of my brain. It's clever, funny, and every time you think you have it figured out, it surprises you. Especially if the twist I've heard about the end of S1 is true... I'm an athiest, and thanks to this show, I've never wanted to believe more.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 29-11-2004 1:04am

I'm an athiest, and thanks to this show, I've never wanted to believe more.

excuse me while I shudder involuntarily

*shudder*

carry on

jill_valentine · 29-11-2004 1:11am

I said wanted to believe, I didn't say I did. I think most athiests must feel something similar, if they ever believed before. I'm not gonna go into my whole life story, but I believed very strongly until a few years ago, and to lose such a big part of your life is hard, especially when you get to see other people lean on their religion. They have something I can't have - they get to blame, or thank somebody for everything. They get to believe that they matter in the grand scheme of things, that there's a plan, that at the end of the day, somebody's in control and looking out for us. I don't.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 29-11-2004 1:13am

hey, it was just an involuntary shudder..

jill_valentine · 29-11-2004 1:18am

Well, you did say I could carry on...

Agent Orange · 29-11-2004 2:19pm

The pilot was absolutely terrible. I never watched another episode after that hour of horror.

sanncoo · 29-11-2004 2:47pm

Not one for the whole God thing but.......

I like this programme! As said above it isn't as in your face as 7th Heaven. It's very subtle, the choices are their own. No God solution is forced on them. Love the twists, just when you think it's going one way, the emphasis changes.

It's a pity RTE don't get their act together on this one.

PS Hope my post made sense!!!

TCamen · 29-11-2004 3:08pm

I really enjoy this show. Not because of the God element, but because the characters & actors are so interesting, Amber Tamblyn is really fantastic as Joan. The rest are perfectly cast, and everyone gets some screentime-- even Joan's parents get some great storylines

Last week's episode on Living really surprised me (spoiler tags cos it's not been on RTE2 yet)

The priest who was beaten up because he was gay. I just thought, "oh here we go", religious show trying the gay-issue episode. I was pleasantly surprised because, not only was the plot dealt with very effectively, and without major preaching, but it was such a small part of the overall episode. It was just the right way to do it-- not make it this big 'event' episode, but treat it as just another police case. Oh, and Luke & Glynis are just too cute!

The soundtrack is really excellent too, I'm hearing lots of my favourite artists like Fiona Apple & Chantal Kreviazuk so another plus point

doh.ie · 29-11-2004 3:32pm

Ah, this one is definitely a love-it-or-hate-it show...

Admittedly, it can be cheesy at times - there's a scene coming up in the final few episodes which is severely puke-worthy. But on the whole, I quite enjoy this. The characters are so strong, and the threaded plots worthwhile.

One thing that will become tedious is God's ongoing inexplicable instructions ("Join the chess club", "Join the cheerleaders" etc. etc. This gives the show a ridiculous 'Joan tries out Activity X' quality which, despite some unexpected pay-offs, can get very tiring. (Some of the pay-offs can actually be seen a mile away after a while as well.)

But there is a very clever twist by season's end that really does breathe some life into the format and has made season 2 much more enjoyable so far. Seems the writers realised the show was too formulaic and started making God's instructions more vague - "Keep your eyes open..." (In fact, some really powerful episodes have just passed in the US, which really shows the potential for the show.) Similarly strong episodes are about to air on RTE TWO - check out those this and next Sunday.

That's assuming RTE keep the show in a regular timeslot. Am really surprised they didn't alternate this with 7th Heaven (instead of Gilmore Girls) - would have helped get
a much larger family audience than a Saturday afternoon. But then RTE's scheduling decisions have never made sense.

TCamen · 29-11-2004 3:54pm

One thing that will become tedious is God's ongoing inexplicable instructions

Yeah, mid-way through the 1st season, the instructions have become quite boring, and yes, the results are quite obvious sometimes

When God told Joan to have a party, which made so much noise that the cops didn't go into the meth lab that blew up....highly transparent

Ultimately, if the characters sucked, I wouldn't be bothered, but I really like the cast and their chemistry is great.

I'd like some revelations or info about Joan's mystic destiny, of which there has been little so far, but I'm hopeful

jill_valentine · 29-11-2004 4:04pm

I kinda like how vague Joan's mystic destiny is - I mean, she knows God on a first name basis, and that's just a pain in the ass compared to her social life. If they delved into it any more, they'd have to detract from the character interaction, or the cop side of things, which I quite like. Favourite line of dialogue so far was Joan's mum shrieking that it'd be great if everybody could just keep it down to one tragedy a week...

doh.ie · 29-11-2004 4:17pm

"One tragedy a week" - funny. This show excels at this kind of thing. Even when it's bad, it's good.

As for the God/Joan relationship, there's an episode coming up on RTE TWO (at least I think it hasn't passed already), where Joan asks God about the 'bigger picture' (or something like that) and he says, "If you want to see it, then here is it..." Look out for it - spooky moment, definitely suggesting something more.

I agree that keeping it vague suggests that Joan may really be just ordinary, but I can't help thinking all of this 'lesson learning' (as pedantic as it may be at times) is building to a very important role for Joan's future.

jill_valentine · 29-11-2004 4:39pm

Among the Ten Commandments set down to the writers by Barbara Hall is that God's ultimate purpose can't be revealed, and that Joan's job is simply "to fulfill her true nature"

"Hall provided the writers and staff of Joan of Arcadia with this list of "commandments" for the God of teir show.

1. God cannot directly intervene.

2. Good and evil exist.

3. God can never identify one religion as being right.

4. The job of every human being is to fulfill his or her true nature.

5. Everyone is allowed to say no to God, including Joan.

6. God is not bound by time — this is a human concept.

7. God IS NOT A PERSON and does not possess a human personality.

8. God talks to everyone all the time in different ways.
9. God's plan is what is good for us, not what is good for Him.

10. God's purpose for talking to Joan, and to everyone, is to get her (us) to recognize the interconnectedness of all things, i.e. you cannot hurt a person without hurting yourself; all of your actions have consequences; God can be found in the smallest actions; God expects us to learn and grow from all our experiences. However, the exact nature of God is a mystery, and the mystery can never be solved."

doh.ie · 29-11-2004 4:50pm

Seems to me most of the writers took point 10 and decided to do episodes based on each of those concepts. Very occassionally, someone will come along and do something cool (points 2 & 5), but the show needs to do less of those in 10 and let a little more imagination in.

I can see the attraction of athiests to the show, definitely. The idea of the interconnectness of everything is a very interesting one.

I would like the show to explore the nature of God more, though. The mystery might never be solved, but if if they continue to throw in a few more concepts like the freaky 'bigger picture' one that's upcoming, it'll at least prevent the show being too sickly syrupy at times and give it an edge.

TCamen · 29-11-2004 10:51pm

As for the God/Joan relationship, there's an episode coming up on RTE TWO (at least I think it hasn't passed already), where Joan asks God about the 'bigger picture' (or something like that) and he says, "If you want to see it, then here is it..." Look out for it - spooky moment, definitely suggesting something more.

Yeah, this is what intruiges me, because there *are* hints from time to time, like with the 'bigger picture' bit, that lead me to believe that something important is ahead of Joan.

Seems to me most of the writers took point 10 and decided to do episodes based on each of those concepts. Very occassionally, someone will come along and do something cool (points 2 & 5), but the show needs to do less of those in 10 and let a little more imagination in.

Totally agree on this point. A lot of the episodes so far (I've watched 14) have Joan doing something that affects someone else in an ultimately positive way because of interconnectedness. Not that this is a bad thing, but it has settled into a pattern in this respect, and thankfully the characters never make it too pedestrian to watch. Hopefully things will get shaken up sooner rather than later.

Cork · 30-11-2004 11:41am

If I am passing a TV and 7th Heaven is on - it makes me think of GW Bush.

Joan Of Arcadia is watchable at least.

sanncoo · 30-11-2004 10:39pm

doh.ie wrote:

As for the God/Joan relationship, there's an episode coming up on RTE TWO (at least I think it hasn't passed already), where Joan asks God about the 'bigger picture' (or something like that) and he says, "If you want to see it, then here is it..." Look out for it - spooky moment, definitely suggesting something more.QUOTE]

This part of this episode spooked me...thought it was handled really well....

Just watched an episode tonight on Living....enjoyed it!

S

doh.ie · 03-12-2004 1:13pm

sanncoo wrote:

This part of this episode spooked me...thought it was handled really well....Just watched an episode tonight on Living....enjoyed it!
S

Pity, then, that they don't do anything like it again for ages. Until the last episode of season one, IIRC. The show should be wary of overdosing on its own sugary happiness. A darker side every now and again would definitely give it an edge.

Joan of Arcadia

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