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On Television |
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Premieres at 8 p.m. Friday Sept. 26 on CBS |
 From left, Michael Welch, Joe Mantegna, Amber Tamblyn, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Ritter |
What if God was a cute guy
hitting on your daughter?
of TheColumnists.com
God¹s on CBS this fall. Well, sort of.
The plot of the new one-hour drama series "Joan of Arcadia" involves the relationship between God and a teen-age
girl, Joan Girardi (Amber Tamblyn). Out of the blue one day God
shows up at Joan's high school and strikes up a conversation
with her. Of course, at first she doesn't know that he is God.
To her he's just a cute guy talking her up.
But then God's revelations about her innermost thoughts and family
information that only--well, God--might know, leaves her bewildered.
Then God tells her to get a job at a certain place. Her questioning
"Whys?" to his requests go unanswered.
Joan's a pretty typical teen. Her family is new to the town of
Arcadia--dad Will (Joe Mantegna) is the chief of police, mom
(Mary Steenburgen) works at the high school, older brother Kevin
(Jason Ritter) is in a wheelchair as a result of a car accident,
and younger brother Luke (Michael Welch) is a science whiz. The
family¹s main worry is Kevin, who seems uninterested in
doing anything with his life.
Will's also got worries on the job. The police force he now leads
seems inept--not up to the standards he's used to. And this shows
up when glaring errors are made at a crime scene where the body
of a young woman has been found. Then another young woman is
found murdered--and Will fears a serial killer is on the loose.
Meanwhile, Joan feels a little better about the God situation.
Two of her friends tell her they saw her talking to a cute guy.
And so, Joan reasons, he must be a real person if they saw him.
Not God. But then God again reminds Joan to go and get that job.
This time, however, God is a female cafeteria worker at the high
school. And Joan remembers God said he would always appear to
her in different human forms. More bewildered than ever, Joan
goes to the bookstore and talks her way into a job tryout--just
as God told her to do.
Because she knows God will always appear to her in a different
human form, Joan almost makes a fatal mistake, thinking a man
on the street who starts to talk to her is God. But he¹s
not. He¹s the murderer. And, a shaken Joan barely escapes
his clutches.
How this well-acted and intriguing drama does in the ratings
will depend a lot on how well it fares against the other shows
in the 8 to 9 p.m. slot on Fridays--all comedies, returning and
new. ABC is bringing back it¹s TGIF theme with a comedy
block running from 8-10 p.m., starting with the returning "George
Lopez," followed by the new series "Married to the
Kellys" and "Hope and Faith," starring Kelly Ripa
and Faith Ford, and ending with the returning "Life With
Bonnie."
NBC offers up Alicia Silverstone in the new one-hour comedy "Miss
Match"; Fox
brings back "Wanda at Large," followed by the new comedy
"Luis;" The WB kicks off
the night with "Reba," followed by the new series "Like
Family"; and UPN has its Friday Night Movie.
All the networks have made
an effort to beef up programming on Friday nights, which has
pretty much been a graveyard for TV shows in recent years. People
just don¹t seem to watch much TV on Friday nights--or maybe
they just haven¹t been offered enough choices.
That¹s not the case this fall. With "Joan" vying
against the comedies and a movie, viewers have a clear cut choice:
Drama, Comedy, Movie. Or VCRs or Tivo!
©2003 by Donna J. Plesh. The photo is courtesy CBS Entertainment.
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