Product Description

After patriarch Will gets a job as the chief of police, the Girardi family moves to the small town of Arcadia from the big city. Middle child Joan isn't happy, and her family, consisting of science nerd Luke, paralyzed former jock Kevin, and their perpetually flustered mother Helen, isn't helping. Joan finds herself talking to God, in the form of random people who give her assignments to help the people around her. Joan keeps following God's assignments, never sure if she's really speaking to him, or just going crazy!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5017 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2005-05-10
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 1028 minutes

Amazon.com
Once in awhile a show comes along that breaks the mold. Most such programs fail, but Joan of Arcadia set out to do something new, beat the odds, and found an audience. Created by Barbara Hall (Judging Amy), it’s a unique hybrid of My So-Called Life, The Commish, and--well, something different. Unlike CBS predecessor Touched by an Angel, faith creates more questions than answers (and God even has a sense of humor).

Joan (Amber Tamblyn) is an ordinary 16-year-old. Father Will (Joe Mantegna) is the local Arcadia police chief, mother Helen (Mary Steenburgen) is a teacher/administrator, younger brother Luke (Michael Welch) is a fellow student, and older brother Kevin (Jason Ritter, son of John Ritter) is a high school graduate who was paralyzed the year before. He used to be popular and athletic. Now he watches TV and builds models. In the pilot, God speaks to Joan for the first time, as a cute boy, and asks her to get a job. Once she's convinced He's really God, she does. Her action inspires Kevin to get one, too, and his process of rejoining the world begins.

As in Joan Osborne’s theme song, "One of Us" (featured on two episodes), God will continue to appear to Joan in a variety of guises--even as a dog walker who looks like Russ Tamblyn (Amber's father). He’ll often ask her to do things that make her uncomfortable, but she'll always learn from the experience and some good will always come from it. Unfortunately, she isn't able to talk to anyone about this or they'd think she was crazy, not even friends Grace (Becky Hahlstrom) or Adam (Christopher Marquette). By the season finale, faith will be replaced by doubt, setting the scene for the second season, in which Joan’s faith will be restored. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

The best written and acted tv series since Angel and Buffy
This was one of the finest television series on the air. The writing was superb, the characters were believable, and the storylines were to die for.

If you loved the Touched by an Angel series, you will enjoy this one.

The main character, a high school girl named Joan talks to God all day every day as she sorts through the pains of growing up. What I love about this show is that God appears as every single race, color, creed and religion - from a middle aged chess player to a Gothic punk rocker. Joan never knows what God will look like, but has blind faith God is always there.

I also love that she does not always appreciate the advice she is given and gets annoyed with God from time to time. I can relate to not liking the answer I get to my prayers. I don't always get what I ask for. But I always get what I need. Just like Joan.

Joan of Arcadia, sophisticated, witty,
An entirely believable 16 year old girl with an entirely believable family, warts and all. The program handles complexity with great sophistication, often letting complex issues stay unresolved, forcing the viewer to reach her/his own conclusions. Manages to be spiritual without being theological; avoids confusing religion with spirituality. A definite viewpoint about God is here, without any attempt to proselytize. The best program I have ever watched dealing with spirituality. All the main characters are fine actors and the interactions with Joan's family and friends are witty, occasionally sad, always asking profound questions.

PLEASE release Season Two!!!!!!
Joan of Arcadia, as many others have noted, engages issues of faith, ethics, and life with intelligence and passion. A few viewers have panned it in comparison with "Touched by an Angel" and "The Waltons," or even on the basis of Ms Tamblyn's looks. The raves, which I am joining, always point out the humor, the excellent writing, the superb acting, the deep engagement that went into each show. I've seen the first season repeatedly, and each time I look, I find new levels of meaning to grip my mind and spirit.

I am also blessed in having many of the Second Seaason's shows on tape. Contrary to the statements of one reviewer, the Second Season actually builds on and widens the spiritual questing charted by the first. The show grows organically, right along with Joan and her family and friends, as they deal with with deeper and often more life-or-death choices. Never has spirituality been made so real on television.

Ever.

I was truly angry when this show was cancelled. But the refusal to release Season Two is even worse. If it were released, I'd be buying copies not just for myself, but for friends and family. The show is that good, and the network is doubly foolish if it continues to ignore the easy money to be made here.