Joan of Arcadia - series premiere on CBS

Wow. A TWOP review that wasn’t really snarky. I think that’s a first that I’ve seen!

I liked it for the most part. I didn’t much care for the mother’s breakdown scene. And I while I liked how her working at the bookstore, and having an encounter with the creepy guy led indirectly to him being brought in, I thought the end part about her brother getting a job because she had was a bit trite. Still, I’ll continue to watch it on and off for a while.

I had been looking forward to it, to see how they handled the religious angle. It wasn’t too bad, so far.

One of my bigger complaints was the portrayal of the preist. Come on, a preist who isn’t prepared to answer “Why does God allow suffering?” I’m pretty sure that they touch on that topic in seminary. I hope, if they show more clergy in future episodes, that they are a little more competent.

I love Amber Tamblyn… I wonder if she’s related to Russ Tamblyn (checks IMDB)… a ha! His daughter! I loved Russ on Twin Peaks

I’ll be TiVo-ing Joan for at least the next few weeks, to see how it holds up. I could see myself getting hooked as long as they keep from dissing the church.

Whilst in Vegas, I happened by TV City and they were doing audience response testing on various shows. I decided to kill an hour in air conditioning and it so happens the show I saw was Joan of Arcadia. It wasn’t the premiere episode, but more like a 2nd or 3rd episode I think. It will be the one when Ritter’s character is being picked up by the girl working at a drive through window.

Obviously, we rated as we watched and filled in a survey so I will be interested to see if anything changes. I liked the show in general although I tend not to watch hour long dramas much so I doubt I am the best judge in this situation.

I liked Joe Mantegna and it was kind of fun to picture him as Fat Tony. The only poor marks I gave were to the mom and the wheelchair bound son. She was terminally sappy and overly dramatice while he was bordering on irritating when it came to feeling sorry for himself. I understand the situation of the character, but the character is bordering on one trick pony scene killer.

More time was spent on the daughter’s school life and friends in the episode I saw. Dr. Dave/Fat Tony’s job had a little more focus in the episode also.