Joan of Arcadia

Joan of Arcadia is a drama series created by Barbara Hall that premiered on September 26, 2003 on CBS. The show follows Joan Girardi (Amber Tamblyn), an average teenage girl who communicates with God. Set in the fictional town of Arcadia, Maryland, Joan lives with her parents, Will and Helen (Joe Mantegna and Mary Steenburgen), younger brother and science nerd, Luke (Michael Welch) and older brother Kevin (Jason Ritter) who was injured in a car accident and is now a paraplegic. God initially confronts Joan in the series premiere, reminding her that she promised to do “anything” if he would let Kevin survive the terrible car accident. God appears as a normal kid on the bus, and continues to take on many roles as a “normal” looking person throughout the series. Generally, God assigns Joan tasks that often seem completely random or trivial, but inevitably end up helping an individual or the community in a significant way. The series also stars Chris Marquette as Adam Rove, an introverted artist who is Joan’s eventual boyfriend, and Becky Wahlstrom as Grace Polk, Joan’s angst-ridden anarchist best friend. The show adopted the appropriately-themed song by Joan Osborne, “One of Us,” to play over the opening credits. Joan of Arcadia aired for two seasons, ending on April 22nd, 2005. MORE