A lament for Joan
The cancellation of Joan of Arcadia wasn't unexpected; the ratings had been going down for some time. But it's still bad news.
Ok. The series about a teenager who has daily conversations with God- not merely in prayer, but with the Almighty in the form of a classmate, a janitor, a lady on the bus, or practically any form He chooses to take- wasn't theologically perfect. Christians could not help but miss, especially in a show whose theme song was, after all, What if God Was One of Us?, any recognition of the fact that He actually is; given cultural sensitivities in America, that, of course, was never in the cards.
Joan's deity is remarkably generic in other ways, too; her own Catholicism, the Judaism of her brother's girlfriend, and the Protestantism of some of her classmates seem to have no apparent ramifications at all for "God's" dealings with them through Joan. Again, the American religious culture would not have allowed it to be otherwise. And the notion of God personally speaking to people and giving direct, detailed person-to-person instructions on the living of life isn't probably the most healthy idea to encourage in a culture whose religious element is heavily into Enthusiasm.
But this show was head-and-shoulders over Touched by an Angel, Highway to Heaven, and the other attempts TV has made over the years to deal with the subject of God. Rather than being trite and sentimental, Joan was a show with hard edges that wasn't afraid to portray a God whose ways were past understanding-certainly by Joan, and also by us. He had a strange habit of working by contraries, this "God" of Joan's, and through suffering; at times there were even hints of something very much like a theology of the cross at work. Joan's older brother was bound to a wheelchair by a tragic automobile accident; her mother struggled with the memory of a savage rape while she was in college; her father- a police detective whose own faith was in tatters- struggled to come to terms with the tragedy and brutality he saw every day on the job.
In the midst of all this, though- and sometimes though it- Joan's "God" was at work in their lives. He wasn't there to give easy answers. He demanded faith- and, if he was patient with the desire of Joan and her family to make sense of things, that didn't mean he always gave them the answers they wanted.
He was a benign version of the Almighty, but one clearly not at Joan's beck and call. He was patient, but not indulgent. All in all, especially given the inherent limitations of the project, Joan's vision of God was by far the soundest, healthiest, and, yes, most biblical of any attempt I know of in the history of network television.
The decision to cancel this worthwhile television show is, as I said, a disappointment, even if it wasn't unexpected. Still, networks have been known to change their minds. If you agree that Joan deserves another chance, the CBS feedback form is here. Drop them a line. Let them know that you, too, would like to see one of the most worthwhile television series in decades saved.
If enough of us let them know how we feel, perhaps they'll listen.
Miracles happen.
Ok. The series about a teenager who has daily conversations with God- not merely in prayer, but with the Almighty in the form of a classmate, a janitor, a lady on the bus, or practically any form He chooses to take- wasn't theologically perfect. Christians could not help but miss, especially in a show whose theme song was, after all, What if God Was One of Us?, any recognition of the fact that He actually is; given cultural sensitivities in America, that, of course, was never in the cards.
Joan's deity is remarkably generic in other ways, too; her own Catholicism, the Judaism of her brother's girlfriend, and the Protestantism of some of her classmates seem to have no apparent ramifications at all for "God's" dealings with them through Joan. Again, the American religious culture would not have allowed it to be otherwise. And the notion of God personally speaking to people and giving direct, detailed person-to-person instructions on the living of life isn't probably the most healthy idea to encourage in a culture whose religious element is heavily into Enthusiasm.
But this show was head-and-shoulders over Touched by an Angel, Highway to Heaven, and the other attempts TV has made over the years to deal with the subject of God. Rather than being trite and sentimental, Joan was a show with hard edges that wasn't afraid to portray a God whose ways were past understanding-certainly by Joan, and also by us. He had a strange habit of working by contraries, this "God" of Joan's, and through suffering; at times there were even hints of something very much like a theology of the cross at work. Joan's older brother was bound to a wheelchair by a tragic automobile accident; her mother struggled with the memory of a savage rape while she was in college; her father- a police detective whose own faith was in tatters- struggled to come to terms with the tragedy and brutality he saw every day on the job.
In the midst of all this, though- and sometimes though it- Joan's "God" was at work in their lives. He wasn't there to give easy answers. He demanded faith- and, if he was patient with the desire of Joan and her family to make sense of things, that didn't mean he always gave them the answers they wanted.
He was a benign version of the Almighty, but one clearly not at Joan's beck and call. He was patient, but not indulgent. All in all, especially given the inherent limitations of the project, Joan's vision of God was by far the soundest, healthiest, and, yes, most biblical of any attempt I know of in the history of network television.
The decision to cancel this worthwhile television show is, as I said, a disappointment, even if it wasn't unexpected. Still, networks have been known to change their minds. If you agree that Joan deserves another chance, the CBS feedback form is here. Drop them a line. Let them know that you, too, would like to see one of the most worthwhile television series in decades saved.
If enough of us let them know how we feel, perhaps they'll listen.
Miracles happen.
Comments