COMMENTARY
'Joan of Arcadia' gives television an almighty twist

By Frazier Moore
Associated Press

Joan (Amber Tamblyn) finds God popping up in odd guises and giving her often, enigmatic instructions. CBS

Think back to a decade ago, when "The X-Files" drew on the occult, the metaphysical and the just plain weird as it proclaimed the truth to be "out there." Before long, a wave of me-too dramas were also tapping into viewers' unease with their world, to join "The X-Files" in dangling the prospect of answers "out there."

The brashly offbeat premise of "Joan of Arcadia," and its sizeable audience in its first few weeks, suggest a swing back to the sacred for TV's truth-seekers.

Three seasons ago, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" spurred a backlash against extraterrestrial truth. On "CSI," down-to-earth answers can be gleaned from material evidence close at hand. Truth reveals itself in rational terms. All Gil Grissom and his investigative team — or we — have to do is look.

But this, like every TV trend, could fast fall victim to oversaturation and viewer burnout.

Embraced by viewers for its clinical detachment from death and doubt (particularly welcome after the 9-11 attacks), "CSI" has spawned a wave of "forensics procedurals" — crime dramas such as "Without a Trace," "CSI: Miami" and this fall's new "Cold Case" and "Navy NCIS."

So what will be the next big thing?

Airing at 7 p.m. Fridays, "Joan of Arcadia" introduces us to an ordinary 16-year-old girl with a penchant for running into folks who reveal themselves to her as God, then give her chores to do.

The tasks — such as getting a part-time job at a bookstore or joining the chess club — may seem like odd things for God to be concerned with. Odder still: He doesn't really order Joan to do them.

"I give suggestions, not assignments," says God, at that moment a sanitation worker facing Joan. "Free will is one of my better innovations."

The reassuring message of the show: Divine intervention, and the answers it might lead to, can conceivably occur with any personal encounter.

But such deliverance can be exasperating. When God pops up as a little girl at the playground, a cafeteria lady or a TV anchorman, Joan can't help wondering, "Why me?"

Joan's father Will (Joe Montegna) is a staunch realist, pursuing evil-doers as police chief in Arcadia. But Joan's mother Helen (Mary Steenburgen) is looking to regain her spiritual faith in the aftermath of a car wreck that put Joan's brother Kevin in a wheelchair.

A former high school athlete, Kevin (Jason Ritter) must deal with this physical loss, while Joan's younger brother Luke (Michael Welch) takes grateful refuge in his intellect: Luke is a science geek or, in his preferred term, a man of science.

On "Joan," there are no grisly displays as in the corpse-populated "CSI" genre. Another big difference: While those series try to solve each mystery surrounding a death, "Joan of Arcadia" also confronts the mysteries of life.

"Those are questions people wish they could ask God in person," says series star Amber Tamblyn, explaining why she identifies with her character.

"Joan is starting to focus on things she's never focused on before. But she's also an adolescent, and I know how that feels," says Tamblyn, 20. "You don't listen to people. You want to stay in your own little world."

Accordingly, Joan is often moody and self-centered.

"I'm NOT religious, you know," Joan informs God (who is now a cute guy at her school).

"It's not about religion, Joan," God tells her. "It's about fulfilling your nature."

"Uhhh," she stammers, "I definitely haven't done that."

Hallelujah! A moment of truth!

CBS' "Touched by an Angel," whose nine-year run ended last season, dispatched its angels each week to help people in spiritual distress. It was tremendously successful. Yet it spawned no imitators, triggered no craze.

Maybe "Joan of Arcadia" will have a broader impact. It presents the sacred less in spiritual terms than as a Learning Annex seminar in character growth, with God himself the instructor. It feels good and it's thought-provoking. And since God in his omniscience can handle any load, it invites countless spinoffs.

More shows about people in more towns meeting God: This could be bigger than "Law & Order."