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ealgyldenSo, Joan of Arcadia. I had to watch it, thanks to the Joan of Arc connection, however tenuous that was. And I liked it. I'm surprised by how much I liked it.
It wasn't Touched by an Angel-y, which was my fear, so with any luck it won't devolve into that in the future. The use of "One of Us" for the theme song was a no-brainer, I suppose. Pity they couldn't have used Joan Osborne's original version instead of a cover- it's one of her weakest songs, but I still like her voice in it.
The acting was good across the board, even if some of the writing was clunky. Joan's parents seemed to be saddled with the greatest number of sketchy lines, but both of them had enough good moments to carry them past it. Joe Mantegna's police chief plotline was the weakest part of the show, I thought. It wasn't bad, really, just average, and considering the number of cop shows on the air these days, average isn't quite enough anymore. Erik Palladino as his very competent sidekick was a plus- I hated him on ER (didn't everyone?), but so far I'm liking him as a police lieutenant (whose name I missed entirely). But Mantegna's dad-trying-to-cope-and-failing plotline was pretty good, though less effective with paralyzed son Kevin than with possibly crazy Joan. I think that was a writing problem, though. Mantegna and Steenburgen's "what do we do about Kevin?" conversation in bed was muy lacking in subtlety, but his scene at the end where Joan clings to him, sobbing, while he promises never to leave her and that he'd make it okay because "it's [his] job," that worked for me. I teared up, I admit.
Mary Steenburgen had less to do as Joan's mom, but she got some nicely sharp lines ("I miss the 50's") and some really sappy ones. Her rant at the poor priest in the parking lot jumped from corny to affecting and back again, but again, I lay a lot of blame on the writing. There are still kinks and issues of balance to work out.
I liked both of Joan's brothers. Luke was played by Jack O'Neill's teen clone, which was neat. He's pretty flat so far, standard-issue geek full of technobabble, but he also got in some good lines, and he had nicely siblingesque chemistry with Amber Tamblyn. Jason Ritter, as wheelchair-bound Kevin, was mostly very good. He had a few afterschool special moments, like everyone else, but he also had, of everyone, the best chemistry with Amber. The scene where Kevin and Joan talk about whether she's going nuts was very well done, especially his "I felt that... gotcha!" moment. There were a couple of times where he really reminded me of his father, too, with his mannerisms and expressions. sniff.
God, hm. I dunno. I think it will vary, depending on the actor. S/he's sort of a vague god so far. I liked Cafeteria Lady!God, calling everyone "honey" and "sweetie". Teen!God, well, Joan and I obviously have different ideas of "hot". He was squinty and annoying, and reminded me a little of Jess from Gilmore Girls (bad thing, very bad). He was also much with the creepy. But actually, I appreciated the creepy part, because it would be a creepy, uncomfortable thing to have a seemingly all-knowing dude calling himself God show up in your life. So the hottie part was a miss, but the creep factor was a hit.
Joan herself, I loved. Amber Tamblyn hits all the right moments of fear, confusion, excitement, annoyance, even just general teenager-ness... whatever false notes there might have been in this pilot, they didn't come from her. Her looking at the Joan of Arc book in the bookstore could have been anvilly, but her expression, as it moved slowly from interest and curiosity to "that won't be me," saved it. Yeah, we already had made the connection with historical Joan, but since she hadn't gotten past the "it's not real"/"well, maybe it is real" point yet, she hadn't. And I liked seeing her make that connection. Plus, I liked her highlighted hair. Cute stripes. And she's a wonderful crier, an Alyson Hannigan-quality crier. Very nice.
What else... I liked that it was demonstrated right off the bat that trusting strangers because you think they might be God is pretty dangerous (my mom, being a mom, commented on that immediately). I wasn't, like, cheering for Joan to be placed in danger or anything, but if they'd ignored that potentiality, I would have been unhappy. I liked the underscore (the pop songs, not so much). I liked the open ending. I liked that just because Luke's a science geek, doesn't mean he's a skeptic. I liked Teen!God's emotional blackmail moment where he offered to forget the promises Joan made in exchange for Kevin's life right after his accident- she looked really wounded by the reminder (poor Joan!), and it was a nice bit of divine tooth-bearing after all the happy, fluffy, "I've known you since before you were born" stuff. I liked the idea that God appeared to Joan in the form s/he did because that was what she would understand (human, young, attractive, American, vaguely Judeo-Christian, etc.)- the Torah is written in the language of man and all that. I wasn't thrilled by Bookstore Guy, but the bookstore itself, I liked. I really liked Amber. A lot.
So it wasn't perfect, but it was very promising. If they can keep the preachiness out, keep the uneasiness in, and not have it turn into "God uses Joan to solve crimes for her dad," I think it could be a very welcome addition to my TV schedule.
I really want a Joan of Arc icon of some sort, but I like all my current ones too much to switch them out. More icons soonly please, LJ! Assuming you can work correctly for two days in a row, that is.
It wasn't Touched by an Angel-y, which was my fear, so with any luck it won't devolve into that in the future. The use of "One of Us" for the theme song was a no-brainer, I suppose. Pity they couldn't have used Joan Osborne's original version instead of a cover- it's one of her weakest songs, but I still like her voice in it.
The acting was good across the board, even if some of the writing was clunky. Joan's parents seemed to be saddled with the greatest number of sketchy lines, but both of them had enough good moments to carry them past it. Joe Mantegna's police chief plotline was the weakest part of the show, I thought. It wasn't bad, really, just average, and considering the number of cop shows on the air these days, average isn't quite enough anymore. Erik Palladino as his very competent sidekick was a plus- I hated him on ER (didn't everyone?), but so far I'm liking him as a police lieutenant (whose name I missed entirely). But Mantegna's dad-trying-to-cope-and-failing plotline was pretty good, though less effective with paralyzed son Kevin than with possibly crazy Joan. I think that was a writing problem, though. Mantegna and Steenburgen's "what do we do about Kevin?" conversation in bed was muy lacking in subtlety, but his scene at the end where Joan clings to him, sobbing, while he promises never to leave her and that he'd make it okay because "it's [his] job," that worked for me. I teared up, I admit.
Mary Steenburgen had less to do as Joan's mom, but she got some nicely sharp lines ("I miss the 50's") and some really sappy ones. Her rant at the poor priest in the parking lot jumped from corny to affecting and back again, but again, I lay a lot of blame on the writing. There are still kinks and issues of balance to work out.
I liked both of Joan's brothers. Luke was played by Jack O'Neill's teen clone, which was neat. He's pretty flat so far, standard-issue geek full of technobabble, but he also got in some good lines, and he had nicely siblingesque chemistry with Amber Tamblyn. Jason Ritter, as wheelchair-bound Kevin, was mostly very good. He had a few afterschool special moments, like everyone else, but he also had, of everyone, the best chemistry with Amber. The scene where Kevin and Joan talk about whether she's going nuts was very well done, especially his "I felt that... gotcha!" moment. There were a couple of times where he really reminded me of his father, too, with his mannerisms and expressions. sniff.
God, hm. I dunno. I think it will vary, depending on the actor. S/he's sort of a vague god so far. I liked Cafeteria Lady!God, calling everyone "honey" and "sweetie". Teen!God, well, Joan and I obviously have different ideas of "hot". He was squinty and annoying, and reminded me a little of Jess from Gilmore Girls (bad thing, very bad). He was also much with the creepy. But actually, I appreciated the creepy part, because it would be a creepy, uncomfortable thing to have a seemingly all-knowing dude calling himself God show up in your life. So the hottie part was a miss, but the creep factor was a hit.
Joan herself, I loved. Amber Tamblyn hits all the right moments of fear, confusion, excitement, annoyance, even just general teenager-ness... whatever false notes there might have been in this pilot, they didn't come from her. Her looking at the Joan of Arc book in the bookstore could have been anvilly, but her expression, as it moved slowly from interest and curiosity to "that won't be me," saved it. Yeah, we already had made the connection with historical Joan, but since she hadn't gotten past the "it's not real"/"well, maybe it is real" point yet, she hadn't. And I liked seeing her make that connection. Plus, I liked her highlighted hair. Cute stripes. And she's a wonderful crier, an Alyson Hannigan-quality crier. Very nice.
What else... I liked that it was demonstrated right off the bat that trusting strangers because you think they might be God is pretty dangerous (my mom, being a mom, commented on that immediately). I wasn't, like, cheering for Joan to be placed in danger or anything, but if they'd ignored that potentiality, I would have been unhappy. I liked the underscore (the pop songs, not so much). I liked the open ending. I liked that just because Luke's a science geek, doesn't mean he's a skeptic. I liked Teen!God's emotional blackmail moment where he offered to forget the promises Joan made in exchange for Kevin's life right after his accident- she looked really wounded by the reminder (poor Joan!), and it was a nice bit of divine tooth-bearing after all the happy, fluffy, "I've known you since before you were born" stuff. I liked the idea that God appeared to Joan in the form s/he did because that was what she would understand (human, young, attractive, American, vaguely Judeo-Christian, etc.)- the Torah is written in the language of man and all that. I wasn't thrilled by Bookstore Guy, but the bookstore itself, I liked. I really liked Amber. A lot.
So it wasn't perfect, but it was very promising. If they can keep the preachiness out, keep the uneasiness in, and not have it turn into "God uses Joan to solve crimes for her dad," I think it could be a very welcome addition to my TV schedule.
I really want a Joan of Arc icon of some sort, but I like all my current ones too much to switch them out. More icons soonly please, LJ! Assuming you can work correctly for two days in a row, that is.
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-27 08:44 am (UTC)Speaking of Gilmore Girls... the bookstore guy: was that Christopher?
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-27 07:45 pm (UTC)"My fandom has stalkers"?
Hee! Seriously. Teen!God was pretty creepy.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-28 05:18 am (UTC)Yes, more icons, please. Want.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-29 01:01 am (UTC)And you know, it was kinda weird typing "Joan" over and over again? I suppose I'll get used to it, but still. Weird.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-29 05:20 am (UTC)Hee! That would be odd. Not surprisingly, I almost never have to worry about characters sharing my name :)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-30 10:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-01 09:12 pm (UTC)Ok, so it's the only example I know. Oh well :)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-02 12:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-04 07:13 pm (UTC)Now I want to go watch that movie again.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-28 10:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-29 01:05 am (UTC)And I agree, I thought Teen!God was funny. I just didn't think he was cute. Not my type, I guess.