Joan of Arcadia

[misguided freak]

Does anybody watch this show?

This is my favourite fluffy show, with Cold Case being my favourite serious, no-BS show --- my two favourite new shows this year.

[TVFan]

Ooh, I watch Joan. I love the writing, and the fact that the show is so different from everything else. Definitely my second fav new show. ;D

[trublucoldcasefan]

This show is awesome! hehe amber tamblyn is really good, she makes joan convincing its sooo funny how sometimes she confuses regular people for God, i love the look on her face when she realizes she messed up... ;D

[eurache]

I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! It was a good episode last nite

[eurache]

did ya see the Season Finale?? GEEZ.. all this time she had lyme disease and dreamt all this up?? Dayum.....

[misguided freak]

I don't think she dreamt it up, especially with the last scene, with God coming in and watching over her ...

Amber Tamblyn is the EVIL. Every single time she cries, I end up crying with her. EVIL.

[TVFan]

Maybe it's just me, but I was disappointed in the finale. I thought that it didn't fit well with the rest of the show. I don't know, it seemed like a shameless attempt at building a cliffhanger for the season finale. I like the typical weekly episodes better. I hope they go back to those next season. JMO.

[misguided freak]

Me too, I thought it was really disjointed. I prefer the earlier episodes, but I did enjoy the Luke/Grace kiss at the end.

[TVFan]

misguided freak - I agree on the Grace/Luke kiss. They are great, and they really add a nice sense of humor to the show (along with Joan's quips to God). I think you really hit the nail on the head when you said that the episode was "disjointed."

[jeyon]

Add me the the JOAN OF ARCADIA fan listing. In fact, I've decided it's my favorite show--not just of the new shows but of the shows available for me to watch.

I think Amber Tamblyn has proven herself to be a great actress and she's not the only outstanding actor on the show. The writing is witty--not just "good" or "really good" but "witty".

[TVFan]

Did you guys see the premiere?

I thought that Grace and Luke were really funny. All those rules?! So Grace, though. The lawsuit was a twist. I can't believe the family of the boy who wasn't injured is going to make the Girardis live through the terrible event again. How heartless can they be?

Joan tried so hard to convince herself that she had imagined the entire thing, but to no avail. I thought the writing was so wonderful. Because Joan wasn't willing to let God give her assignments, the people around her weren't able to deal with the bad things happening to them. Maybe this will help her realize in the eps to come how important her tasks are for helping people deal with bad situations.

[TVFan]

I'm going to bump this up again b/c I refuse to believe I'm the only one watching foujylos.notlong.com [/IMG] .

Anyway, I thought the show had a good premiere, then it kind of sputtered a bit. The show seemed to find its groove again with "Friday Night," although I absolutely loved "The Cat" with Cloris Leachman. I thought Luke and Grace had a beautifully poignant moment together when she finally told him that her mother is an alcoholic. I wasn't a big fan of Judith's b/c I felt that she messed up the brillaint dynamic that these kids have on this show, but her death in "Friday Night" was very sad. Amber Tamblyn had me balling when she realized Judith had died. So well acted and written.

I thought that "No Future" was this season's highlight so far. What an amazing and powerful episode. It renewed my faith in this show, and it demonstrated the beautiful writing and acting. I loved Helen's rant at Price, and the ending brought tears to my eyes. It was so hard to watch Kevin get into the car knowing what the future was going to bring. I LOVED the fact that Joan remembered Luke's birthday, and she gave him the kite (with a little help from God) he had wanted the night of Kevin's accident. Grace's gift was great as well. Patty Griffin's "The Kite Song" really highlighted the ending well.

Last week's "Dive" had a really nice ending with Joan finally admitting that Judith was dead and visiting her grave. Despite these high points, I'm not so thrilled with the lawsuit storyline (I wish it would just end somehow) or Will's boss storyline. Last season, I thought that Helen and Will had one of the best and most realistic relationships on TV. I'm not happy that they seem to be toying with the idea of messing with it this season. I'm actually starting to despise Annie Potts's character (Lucy) because she is constantly hitting on Will in her not-so-subtle way. If these two storylines would go away, the show would be even better this season (for me).

What do you guys think of the season so far?

[misguided freak]

I thought this season has been far weaker than the last. It started off with a strong premiere, but wavered in the episodes afterwards, especially the stealing-from-the-homeless one. Friday Night was a great turning point, and though it had me sobbing like a baby in the end, most of it was manipulative cheese to dig at viewers' emotions (very successful manipulative cheese). I agree with you that No Future is the highlight of the season. Everything fit together perfectly that episode, whereas usually there's a more uneven tone. I really wanted to like Book of Questions, but it felt off to me, I don't know why. I quite like most of Dive (especially the ending) but I thought Grace and Luke were out of character in there.

The problem with this season is that there are so many ridiculous plotlines. The lawsuit I can deal with, but what's with the whole Lucy storyline? And Helen is preparing for Confirmation, right? Why not have a little more focus on that instead of Lucy and Will's will-they-or-will-they-not-have-a-thing plot? I really enjoy how much Kevin has grown since last year, when he was a depressed and angry person, but I'd much rather learn more about him dealing with his disability than spend time with him and Beth.

Also, God's missions this season have been kind of whatever. Last year, Joan actually learned things from doing what God asked of her, and somehow her actions influenced others (the Pilot, the Boat, Jump). This year, it's mostly ALL ABOUT JOAN. There are several episodes where it's not the case, like Friday Night, No Future, and Dive --- in these episodes, God's missions are meaningful and actually work very well. But God's missions in Wealth of Nations, what the hell was that about? Does he want Joan to take responsibility for her actions? If he does, didn't he already cover this in at least 3 episodes last season?

Okay, I'm going to stop before this turns into a dissertation. I love Joan of Arcadia, because I love everybody in the cast and they are all awesome actors. But I'm finding that the show is steering away from its original premise, and turning into an angsty teen soap. I've been ridiculously spoiled for episodes to come, and what I've read so far is NOT impressing me at all. I'll keep watching (and yelling on the side) and I'll keep hoping that the writers will get more sense in their heads, or Barbara Hall could pen more episodes (she is really good, despite the weird seaon finale last year).

[TVFan]

I thought that Wealth of Nations was definitely the low point this season (maybe of the series so far, but the finale last season might take the cake for me). It just didn't work. My all time favorite episode is Jump, so I guess I expect the episodes to come close to measuring up to it. So far, there have only been a few this season that have - The Cat, Friday Night, and No Future.

I have to agree with you Misguided Freak on the manipulative nature of Friday Night. I'm not even sure why they introduced Judith, unless it was what the critics have been saying - to kill her off and create drama. The trouble is that the show had the right balance of funny and drama last season. They went and added more drama and less funny this season, and it's just not geling like it did last year. I know a lot of shows stumble during their sophomore seasons (there seems to be a general concensus on this board that CC isn't as good as last year, but it's definitely not as much of a drop-off as JOA), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the show gets back on track this season or next. I'll be watching. . . . . . . and waiting!

[TVFan]

I had been hearing that CBS was going to intervene in this show and change the direction. Judging by the two most reason eps ("Game Theory" and "Queen of the Zombies"), this has been done. Can't explain my total elation at the end of the lawsuit and the return of a happy, functioning Girardi family. I was really starting to dislike Will.

Regarding "Queen of the Zombies," I don't think I've laughed so hard in a very long time. What a well executed episode. It had humor, joy, sadness, and teenage discovery. I wasn't in Joan's position when I left high school (I wasn't dating anyone), but I was when I graduated college. I can relate. It's an agonizing decision, but you have to have faith. The play was a riot, and I loved how Grace got to be part of it as well. Who knew Glynis had such spunk? Great scene between her and Grace.

I loved Johnny Broadway God. He was so enthusiastic and loving and full of life. I would love to see him return in future episodes. Amber did a nice job with the solo, and the song was beautiful. Overall, just an incredible episode. It ranks up there with "Jump" and "No Future" for me.

The show had been slipping this season, and I felt that it had lost a lot of what made it so good. These past two episodes have me hopeful that it's getting back on track.