# Joan of Arcadia 9/24, or Joan is Screening Her Calls **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 24, 2004, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856 "2004-09-24T12:19:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/21 "2004-09-25T20:39:18Z")
I was hoping you’d tape Joey and Lost but wasn’t sure. Between those, Enterprise, Malcolm, and Joan, I’ll have plenty to keep me busy. And Desperate Housewives? What the hell is that? Some late night cinemax series? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/22 "2004-09-25T20:47:07Z")
Desperate Housewives is (said to be) a guilty-pleasure-soapish-series that will be on Sunday nights on regular old ABC. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/23 "2004-09-26T02:35:50Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Uh… **viva**? Are you taping this? I still don’t have a TV, let alone a VCR. What happened to your TV? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/24 "2004-09-26T04:14:52Z")
I sold it to my sister when I moved out of my mom’s and haven’t had the chance to replace it since. ---
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/25 "2004-09-27T11:57:58Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > . . . I also caught the West Wing reference. . . I didn’t catch the whole episode - what was the West Wing reference? Loved the “it’s not you, it’s me, I’m not the girl for you” scene - classic breaking-up-is-hard-to-do stuff. Just exactly what you would expect to hear from a girl Joan’s age trying to break it off with God! ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/26 "2004-09-27T12:08:24Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Will had to tell Helen that the drunken guy who drove the car and paralyzed their son is suing the Girardis for “emotional damages.” I missed a few bits here and there… how is this even possible? The kid was drunk, he wasd driving, he crashed the car, it was completely his fault. And now _he’s_ suing the Girardis for “emotional damages”? If anything, it should be the other way around. Did Will and the lawyer discuss that at all? Or is it going to be one of those frustrating TV plot points that are completely implausible? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/27 "2004-09-27T12:47:29Z")
> [@Genghis Bob](#): > > I didn’t catch the whole episode - what was the West Wing reference? Helen and the priest in the cafe. Suddenly, the lighting goes darkish with heavy back-lighting from the window where they’re sitting. Helen: Why are you repeating everything I say? Camera pans West Wing style to the priest. Priest: Too many West Wing re-runs. Camera pans back to Helen, who does a CJ-ish head-tilt. Truly a brilliant throwaway bit. > [@](#): > > Loved the “it’s not you, it’s me, I’m not the girl for you” scene - classic breaking-up-is-hard-to-do stuff. Just exactly what you would expect to hear from a girl Joan’s age trying to break it off with God! Yeah, that was great! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/28 "2004-09-27T13:13:29Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > I missed a few bits here and there… how is this even possible? > The kid was drunk, he wasd driving, he crashed the car, it was completely his fault. > And now _he’s_ suing the Girardis for “emotional damages”? If anything, it should be the other way around. That’s what makes it so infuriating for the family. Will made the point that they didn’t sue the kid because they didn’t want to make him and his family suffer further. In a truly brilliant piece of production design, Helen came to Will’s office in which everything was gray, except for her with her bright red coat and bright blue blouse. She had come to tell him she was going back to the church, and that’s when he dropped the bomb. It was a magnificent scene as he gave his bleak monologue about how everything is random, the universe is cruel, and there is no God. It was an amazing pathos, this defeatist soliloquy fading into the sea of gray, as the only spot of color in the scene stood before him. Marvelous detail. > [@](#): > > Did Will and the lawyer discuss that at all? > > Or is it going to be one of those frustrating TV plot points that are completely implausible? Of course not. Not on _this_ show. Will did talk to his lawyer. The Bakers’ approach is that since Kevin called home before leaving and told Will that Andy was drunk, Will should have known there was going to be trouble. Here’s my transcription of that scene… Will: Andy Baker was drunk, veered into oncoming traffic, flipped the car, walked away without a scratch. After Kevin’s diagnosis, lawyers approached. Helen said no, we’re not going to punish a kid for being stupid. Hell, we coulda used the money. All the medical bills. Almost three years later, they’re claiming emotional damages? I know they can’t win, but it’s just the idea… Lawyer: [looking away] Will, um… Kevin called you on the phone before he left the party that night? Will: Yeah, he always checked in. Lawyer: And he told you that his friend Andy was drunk? Will: [becoming incredulous] Drinking… Lawyer: Kevin was not drunk, but he let Andy drive anyway? Will: Well, he tried to take Andy’s keys away… [realizing the implication] Hey! Hey, my son was paralyzed. They’re gonna talk to me about emotional damages? They really want to take me on about that? Their son walked away without a scratch. What kind of people act like this? Lawyer: [pausing] Money’s a powerful force. Will: [almost questioningly] Well, there’s no way that they can win… Lawyer: We’ll give it everything we got. Meanwhile, I want you and Helen to write down everything you can remember about the history of their friendship, and that night in particular. Will: Tom, I cannot take this to my wife. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/29 "2004-09-27T15:45:41Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Of course not. Not on _this_ show. Will did talk to his lawyer. The Bakers’ approach is that since Kevin called home before leaving and told Will that Andy was drunk, Will should have known there was going to be trouble. Here’s my transcription of that scene… I saw that part. I guess that makes sense, but to my way of thinking (which counts for nothing, of course 😉 ), he should be suing Kevin, rather than Will and Helen. After all, Kevin “let” him drive drunk. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/30 "2004-09-27T16:25:24Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Agreed. Fantastic season premiere. The show hasn’t slipped even a notch; in fact, if anything, it is better than ever. Wonderful throwaway tidbits, like the scene with Helen and the priest in the cafe, when he made a _West Wing_ reference, and immediately the camera did a _West Wing_ style cut and pan. 😃 This was all the more poignant to me when the weekend _West Wing_ reruns were the one where Mrs. Landingham (who is now an avatar of God) is killed by a drunk driver and the one with her funeral, in which President Bartlett has the Secret Service close off the National Cathedral for him so he can cuss out the Almighty in Latin. Tons of parallels between these shows. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/31 "2004-09-27T17:17:39Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > I saw that part. I guess that makes sense, but to my way of thinking (which counts for nothing, of course 😉 ), he should be suing Kevin, rather than Will and Helen. After all, Kevin “let” him drive drunk. Yeah, but that’s the whole point. The absurdity of being sued for emotional distress by someone who crippled your son is exactly the sort of hair-pulling weirdness that comes up in life. It makes people question God and themselves. Drop into the Pit sometime and read the OPs. (Not the political “meme of the day” ones, but the “my roommate stole my guitar, electrocuted himself, and then got pissed off at me for it” ones.) ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/32 "2004-09-27T17:20:11Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > This was all the more poignant to me when the weekend _West Wing_ reruns were the one where Mrs. Landingham (who is now an avatar of God) is killed by a drunk driver and the one with her funeral, in which President Bartlett has the Secret Service close off the National Cathedral for him so he can cuss out the Almighty in Latin. Tons of parallels between these shows. That was _Two Cathedrals_, my second favorite episode after _In Excelsis Deo_. (Toby arranged a military funeral for a homeless Marine.) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/33 "2004-09-27T17:21:51Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > I saw that part. I guess that makes sense, but to my way of thinking (which counts for nothing, of course 😉 ), he should be suing Kevin, rather than Will and Helen. After all, Kevin “let” him drive drunk. It just dawned on me what you meant. Sorry, Bib. Kevin was a minor when the accident occurred. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/34 "2004-09-27T17:28:02Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > It just dawned on me what you meant. Sorry, Bib. Kevin was a minor when the accident occurred. Oh, I didn’t even think about that. :smack: Sorry, I’m plagued with allergies and a nasty headache today. Talk to me like I’m five, don’t use any big words and I’ll get it eventually. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/35 "2004-09-27T23:56:53Z")
Not to rush you or anything but when can I expect the tape, **viva**? Are you going to wait until the ENT premiere? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/36 "2004-09-28T02:33:53Z")
I can mail it Saturday. Gotta fill it with more stuff first, but there is no ER this week. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/37 "2004-09-28T02:51:37Z")
What else is on the tape? Have you been taping Joey? And again… no rush. I’m just curious. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/38 "2004-09-28T07:38:44Z")
The show makes me cry . . . in a good way. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/39 "2004-09-28T18:20:37Z")
I could cry, myself. You see, while I was off celebrating at Gettysdope this June, my VCR was killed by a freak power surge, so I can’t tape _Joan of Arcadia_. I’ve also been seeing quite a bit of a certain engineer, so my Friday nights have been a bit occupied. This past Friday, I’d been told quite late in the afternoon that yesterday was to be my last day, so even if I didn’t already have plans with that engineer and another good friend, they were both going to make sure I was doing something, if only to take my mind of my now ex-boss. In other words, this addict needs a fix, but can’t get one!!! It does sound like the writing and characterization are up to last season’s standards, though. As for the audacity of the kid who was drunk, last year, I watched a man veer across the center line of a road and into an on-coming minivan. I don’t know if he was hurt – when I saw him, he was sitting some distance from the accident looking dazed – but he did have a rather high blood alcohol content and traces of cocaine in his system. I learned this when I got a call from a lawyer who needed my testimony because he said the minivan crossed the line into him. I haven’t heard more, so I assume my testimony coupled with the testimony of people in two other cars which weren’t in the accident may have convinced him to give up on that tactic. It could be a form of denial on the kid’s part, allowing him to portray himself as the poor, innocent victim who simply can’t help all the bad things which happen to him. It still sounds like a lot of chutzpah! Folks, please, please, please keep me posted! At least until I can borrow that engineer’s VCR or replace mine! CJ ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856/40 "2004-09-28T21:35:06Z")
**Siege** , I think that when you said “chutzpah,” you might have meant “some nerve.” Chutzpah usually has more positive connotations, as in “guts,” “courage,” “brass,” etc. **Aes** : I TOLD you already 😃 , I taped Joey last week and will tape it again this Thur. You’re just too excited. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joan-of-arcadia-9-24-or-joan-is-screening-her-calls/265856.md?page=3)