Joan of Arcadia at 20: Still Rapturous in its Teenage Machinations from God

At the heart of the Great Cultural Debate of what constitutes quality programming (i.e. respectable; prestigious; meant to be thoroughly watched and analyzed) versus popcorn TV (frivolous; mainstream; meant to be watched ironically or with detachment) is where we stand on teen dramas—or, more specifically, whether there can be dramas about teens and dramas that happen to focus on teens, and whether they both can coexist as equals in popular culture.

A good litmus test may be how audiences received the CBS drama Joan of Arcadia, which starred Amber Tamblyn as a small-town teen who suddenly receives visits from God (or at least the Judeo-Christian take on the deity). Well, maybe not God in His/Her/Their true form. In this case, God would, without warning, take the form of a random human and send her on seemingly trivial missions that turn out to have greater purposes.

The series premiered in September 2003 during what was an unusually high peak for this very specific kind of trope (see also: 2004’s Wonderfalls, two versions of ABC’s Cupid—one in 1998 and one in 2009—2007’s Reaper, and 2008’s Eli Stone). But while those shows might have concentrated on actions that had life-changing results for strangers, Joan focused on everyday mundane changes in a place where every small thing already feels cataclysmic: high school. 

Her tasks might seem mundane at first (why would God care so much if she took AP chemistry?) but would eventually show how important it is to leave your comfort zone. (Taking that class allowed her to re-examine other students she had misjudged and, again, because this is high school, romantic storylines ensue). God’s messages are always vague and open to interpretation, both a blessing and a curse for someone who is 16 and therefore predestined to question authority. She will go on to learn to dismiss preconceptions about cheerleaders and  outsiders, and question God’s views (or what she thinks are God’s views) about premarital sex and organized religion. So, really, Joan goes through so many things teens go through irregardless of whether God sometimes appears to them in the form of a lunch lady or mime. 

But God’s mysterious ways also affect Joan’s home life.

As the series starts, Tamblyn’s lead and her family have moved to a new town, as her dad Will (Joe Mantegna) becomes the chief of police and her older brother Kevin (Jason Ritter) slowly accepts life as a paraplegic after he was injured in his friend’s drunk driving accident. Joan’s mom Helen (Mary Steenburgen, who would go on to star as another mom of a young woman who hears things in NBC’s Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist) and brainiac younger brother Luke (Michael Welch) will also experience their own crises of faiths at some points during the course of the show. 

The show’s first season was lauded by critics, with Los Angeles Times’ Robert Lloyd writing upon the premiere that “the real miracle here is how deftly the show avoids the soggy cliches of redemption so many of its forerunners have embraced” and Time magazine’s James Poniewozik noting that “this marriage of the sacred and the mundane has made Arcadia the rare TV show about spirituality to win over both audiences and critics.” The first season was Emmy-nominated for best drama series and Tamblyn for lead actress in a drama. And it’s extremely annoying that neither season is currently streaming (although there are, ahem, other ways to watch episodes online).

There were certainly things I do not like about the series. I, like most critics, do not understand why creator Barbara Hall and the other writers felt the need to spend so much time fixated on Will’s work, dropping Law & Order-style procedural stories of arson, police brutality, corruption, and potential serial killings into a family drama. It’s also not great, looking back at it through our more progressive prism in 2023, that the part of Kevin went to an actor who is actually able-bodied. And I certainly do not like that Tamblyn experienced sexual harassment behind the scenes and that her concerns were mitigated by those in charge, as the actress, writer, and activist recounted in a 2017 piece for New York Times.

But what’s great about the show is that Joan, despite her, um, abilities, still has a lot of the same foibles as so many other teens. She wants her crush Adam (Chris Marquette) to pay more attention to her and is jealous of him dating other girls. She thinks a makeover will solve her problems. She blames herself for the show’s entire predicament because she had previously prayed Kevin would survive the car crash and promised to do anything if God would spare him. She had the potential to be for Millennials what My So-Called Life’s Angela Chase was for late-Gen-Xers (except less flannel and Manic Panic).

And, much like Angela Chase, Joan’s power may only be felt after her series’ death. The second season, which does boast a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, became its final one after a severe ratings dip (much like the short-lived Freaks and Geeks, which had premiered a couple years earlier, it suffered from the scheduling faux pas of airing when actual teens were less likely to see it; Joan airing Fridays and Freaks airing Sundays).

This might have been for the best. The final episode features God telling Joan that these past two years were an initiation process, of sorts. Her next task would be to take on a Big Bad character in the form of Wentworth Miller’s Ryan, an Internet billionaire who seems to ingratiate himself into her family for his own devious reasons. This superhero-like storyline didn’t seem to jive with the show’s message that small trips down roads less traveled can have life-changing consequences. Or maybe I, like so many other believers in Joan, am just prone to question the higher powers at CBS.

Whitney Friedlander is an entertainment journalist with, what some may argue, an unhealthy love affair with her TV. A former staff writer at both Los Angeles Times and Variety, her writing has also appeared in Cosmopolitan, Vulture, The Washington Post and others. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, son, and daughter.

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