Joan of Arcadia - a new show w/similarities

[CrimsonGlow]

Moved to the Other TV Shows forum

This is about Joan of Arcadia, I don't know if anyone's talked about this here or not, since there are other forum section, so I don't know. The premiere is tomorrow (26th) and for a month I've been thinking about that show and how it'll be like and how it'll do. That's because I've seen the ads for it and let me tell you this. When I saw the promo ad, my eyes widened because the character appeared Angela Chase-like as in curious, observant and deep. No red hair though, but you could see she's her own person. Like how Angela was. And the Joan character looks like the Angela character was studied! Then you have the school, which is the same one used in MSCL, the one with all those steps and thin rails. When I saw it, it was weird because I still only picture Angela and the gang there still fresh in my mind. Btw, Even Stevens uses the same school too, but not much. The plot of Joan is deep and thoughtful, not like some fake teen show or a cheap Friends kind of show. Interesting to see if this show will do well because there are a lot of mindless tv watchers out there who like cheap shows and bad plots. Also, interesting because audiences weren't ready for a MSCL kind of show back in the mid-90s. So a page of MSCL could probably have been taken because of all the talk in TV land about the private legacy of MSCL(all that ahead of its time stuff). So they're probably giving it a shot with this one, and in the 2000s. But the thing is that tastes have gone down as well so this "page out of MSCL" may not matter now. May not matter that it's in the 2000s now. Poor MSCL had to pave the way and suffer for other shows! I always find myself attatching naturally to stuff (bands, shows, etc) that are cult status and overlooked! :p But the differences are that this is on CBS, not ABC who cancelled MSCL because they didn't get it. I'll be watching.

If anyone wants to talk about this, post back here! or contact:
CrimsonGlow

[Sammi]

I am also intrigued about Joan of Arcadia. Unfortunately since I only have one atenna in this house, sattelite without local channels in the other rooms, and I am already going to be recording another show, I am going to miss out on week 1's episode of Joan of Arcadia. I am planning on buying another atenna for the other room so that next week I won't be faced with the same dilemma next week. Crimson, I am interested in your thoughts on episode 1 so that I can know if episode 2 is worth recording, so after you watch episode 1 I would appreciate your insights on the show.

Sammi

[Sascha]

Yeah, we mentioned the show in a thread in the "Other shows" section: http://www.mscl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2733

I've seen the pilot episode of "Joan of Arcadia" a few months ago and I agree with you, it has some similarities with MSCL. It's like "Dead Like Me" meets MSCL and "Highway to Heaven" (anybody remember that show starring Victor French and Michael Landon from the mid-80's?). Amber Tamblyn ("Joan") is a very good actress - the rest of the cast seems a bit pale in contrast to her performance. Some characters are stereotypical (Joan's little brother is the typical "little brother geek", her older brother had a serious accident and of course, the marriage of both parents suffers from unspoken conflicts due to this handicap of their son and the father's timeconsuming job). Lots of predictable storylines ahead - we've seen them all numerous times in other tv shows.

But anyway, there's no doubt about it, "Joan of Arcadia" is one of the most promising new shows of this year IMHO, and I'll try to watch it. It's unusual, it's funny, it's sarcastic, it's trying to be real (like MSCL) and it has a mystical touch. It could be a very good show if they can avoid to become all too sentimental-"7th Heaven"-ish with happy ends all along and don't focus too much on the criminal stories (Joan's father is a police officer and it looks like the little assignments God gives to Joan sometimes help Joan's father to solve his cases).

Let's see and wait how it develops.

[CrimsonGlow]

Hi Sammi, I'll try to post my thoughts on the pilot which I will be aiming to watch.

[JPP13]

Damn, you guys beat me to it.

I was watching the show, and thought, this is Oh God! + My So-Called Life. Just, though, not as good.

The scenery is straight from MSCL and some of the lines right from Oh God.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

Hee hee, I was thinking Oh God! Book II - I was waiting for him to tell her that he doesn't like it when people say "Bananas!" because "it's a perfectly good fruit."

[Sammi]

I really liked Joan of Arcadia. I watched the second episode and I am definitely going to tune in every week. I really liked how in end the end she found out why she really had to take AP Chemistry.

[Sascha]

I've just seen the second episode and I liked it. Not so good as the pilot episode though. The whole mother-son storyline was very predictable and the crime story too short. But it had a great soundtrack - from The White Stripes to Joan Osbourne. And I admit it, I'll probably continue watching this show because of Amber Tamblyn ("Joan") ...

BTW: I had the feeling like they didn't shoot this episode at the "MSCL highschool" anymore. The building looked different from the outside.

[north_Star98]

tonight's episode was the only FULL episode that I got to watch. i've been trying to watch it for the past two weeks but i always only caught half of it. it seems really good so far...not as good as mscl...but pretty good. actually, the actress...joan...she was one of the actresses in a soap opera (General Hospital) that I used to watch. It's always interesting to see which soap operas make it to the prime time tv or to the movies!

[Nothingman]

I finally got to watch an episode. I recorded it before I left the house. It was last week's show where Joan's mom tells her she was raped. I'm not really sure if I like this show or not. Joan's dad seems a bit too NYPD blue, and the scenes at the police station seem out of place. I like Joan’s brother though, he’s a very interesting character. I’d watch it again just to further my curiosity and to give the show a chance. Perhaps it will grow on me.

[Sascha]

"Joan" has been given a full season order:

While its "Brotherhood" may have failed, CBS is quite high on the rest of its freshman class as the network has gone ahead and given full season 22-episode orders to newcomers "Two and a Half Men," "Navy N.C.I.S.," "Joan of Arcadia," "The Handler" and "Cold Case."

source: thefutoncritic.com

[andrewgd]

I'm liking this more and more. At first I thought it would be very hokey, but its pretty well done. I personally don't believe in god, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the show through purely a storytelling standpoint.

Some very interesting points of view that it brings up, and makes you think about.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

One of the questions at TWoP this week:

Should Joan of Arcadia's Joan and Adam get together? Drag it out a while longer? Kick it Angela-Chase-and-Brian-Krakow style?

[Natasha (candygirl)]

Amber Tamblyn was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series!



You can view the entire list of nominees here.

[Sascha]

Amber Tamblyn was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series!

Gooooood. She surely deserves the nomination, maybe she will even win (though Frances Conroy and Allison Janney also are good choices).