Did anyone catch the new show on CBS friday night(Joan of Arcadia) Do you like it?

-- Andrew m Tillcock (drewmeister7@earthlink.net), September 27, 2003

Answers

Andrew, does it have to do with Catholicism?
JFG

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), September 27, 2003.

Actually I would like to know also if anyone saw this show and what they thought about it. As my children get older it is harder and harder to find wholesome programming on TV for them to watch. Tonight we are watching "Remember the Titans" and while that is not Catholic, I do believe it is a good movie with good values and lessons.

In reviewing the forum rules, I don't think that the topics like this necessarily have to be about Catholicism does it? Topics like this don't increase our knowledge of Catholicism, but they can help increase our faith, or help us to know what we should avoid to hurt our faith. I remember awhile back that we discussed movies and tv shows that had good values, didn't we?

In reference to this particular show, I am curious about the name, and in particular is this to be some kind of modern day Joan of Arc, and does this show speak negatively of Catholics or even Christians in general, or is it positive (like "Touched by an Angel"? I would like to know more about the show before I let my children watch it.

Thanks

Carolyn

-- Carolyn (ck_sunshine@hotmail.com), September 27, 2003.

From the trailers I saw, it seems like it is to be a replacement for Touched by an Angel, they're both on CBS, although Joan seems to be aimed at a much younger audience. When I first saw the trailers I thought it belonged on the WB with 7th Heaven (that show was pretty good, but it is starting to verge on soap opera this season). The look of the show was very similar.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), September 27, 2003.

response to: J. F. Gecik,did you watch the show?the parents of this teenage daughter(who are Catholics)but have not been to church in a while.Have a daughter is contacted by god and asked to do a few tasks for him,meanwhile learning lessons.Sorry if i broke any rules but saw this show and thought it was one of the good new shows out there with some good things to say,I seem to remember a few weeks back us all discussing (The Passion)Mel gibson movie.

-- Andrew m Tillcock (drewmeister7@earthlink.net), September 27, 2003.

Also God appears to her in many different forms and asks many different things for her to do all the while she is wondering why but God won't tell her.Her brother in a wheelchair has not been bothering to look for a job and has all but given up on life. So with God's help,God asks joan to get a job,And she doesn't understand why? Well in getting this job she learns at the end that by listening to what God had to say she helped her wheelchair bound brother regain faith in himself,And help to capture a suspect in a major crimes that had been occuring in arcadia.All in all i must say it was a very fresh show to see,And it does have Catholic overtones in it. That's what i think,good show.

-- Andrew m Tillcock (drewmeister7@earthlink.net), September 27, 2003.

Whoa! Take it easy, folks. You read into my message something that I didn't intend. My question was an innocent one.

Andrew, what you have described sounds pretty decent. I haven't seen this show yet.
Cheers.
JFG

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), September 28, 2003.

I saw a few scenes and thought it had too much "New Age" overtones. I then spent a few minutes explaining to my 4 year old daughter that the guy on the t.v. was not God.

"Yes, I know, but it is just t.v. and he really isn't God.....nobody knows what God looks like......yes, I know he said that he is God......no.....yes, I know....no he isn't....no.....I know, but he isn't God......he is pretending to be God.....I don't know why he is pretending to be God......no, he isn't God......."(and on and on).

rod..

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.commm), September 28, 2003.

J. F. Gecik sorry bud didn't mean to fly off the handle but think it deserves a look.

-- Andrew m Tillcock (drewmeister7@earthlink.net), September 28, 2003.

Hi All, I work as in Family/Youth ministries at my church. I taped Joan of Arcadia to a)watch myself to see what this was about. b) When I found that I did like it and found some interesting parts, I asked my husband to watch it with me - we both liked it. I haven't shown it to my 13 year old son yet, but I would watch it with him and do some follow-up discussions. I strongly recommended the first episode to my 19 year old in college. I plan on showing the 1st episode to our high school youth ministry group and follow it with some points from the book "Did Adam & Eve Have Belly Buttons?" by Matthew J. Pinto (published byAscension Press, 1998)especially as it uses Scripture, philosophy, the Catechism of the Catholic Church in short clear answers to answer real teen's questions. I plan on using the following follow-up questions: Is there really a God?, and Other than the Bible how do we know God exists (p. 15-16), What is the Nature of God? (p. 16-17), What made God so great? (p.17, What does God look like? (p. 17-18, Why does God make us suffer from abuse and diseases like cancer? (p.23-24, What is the meaning of life? (p. 25-26). These questions come up in the show asked by Joan and other family members. I liked that they did consider religion with respect. I liked that people were looking at how to integrate their faith with the realities of their lives. I was especially touched by how this family was shaken to the core by the oldest brother's accident and how each person was struggling to find meaning and realized the fragilness of life (something similar happened in my own family a few years ago). Please adults, tape and watch new shows yourselves before showing them to children so a) you can tell beforehand if it is appropriate, and b) know how to introduce it, integrate it into family discussions, debrief. Let me know what you think.

-- Mary Moll (mmoll@stpatrickschool.carlisle.pa.us), October 02, 2003.

I WAS SO PLEASED WITH THE SHOW AND ALREADY FIND MYSELF HAVING A HARD TIME WAITING TILL THE NEXT WEEKS SHOW! MY THANKS TO YOU FOR SUCH A BREATH OF FRESH AIR THIS SHOW BRINGS.AND I THINK ANY CHILD AND ADULT WILL FIND ENJOYMENT WATCHING YOUR SHOW THANKYOU AGAIN.

-- LINDA DORREGO (MSSCARLETT1988@AOL.COM), October 12, 2003.

My wife and I watched the last episode. On the plus side, there was a scene where God brought her a book to read, on chess playing. He later asked her if she read it, and she said "some of it" (IOW "no"). He then said since you didn't read the book, you have to go down to the school basement (without telling her why). She goes into a room in the basement of the school chess club, populated by (of course) a bunch of nerds she wouldn't want to be seen with. The moral being if you don't do what you're supposed to the first time, the "make-up" will be harder. There was also a segment where God was saying "there are consequences to your actions", which is also good.

There was also a pretty good segment (I thought) involving a psychic that was supposed to help the police, but her input was junk, although people *wanted* to believe in a magical solution to their problem.

On the negative, one of the themes in the show was the heroine's friends trying to get her to see if some girl was a lesbian or not! My wife and I found this very shocking -- I don't think in high school I really even had an understanding of what a homosexual WAS, let alone having to deal with this concept in some fashion. There was also a big speech by the girl on how "my sexual preference is my choice" or something like that which is really a p.c. American invention, and not IMO a Biblical one. Too bad God didn't suggest that Joan get her into a treatment group or something, but then what do you expect from Hollywood? Sinful sexual practices are sort of the Holy Grail of Hollywood, and I guess I don't really expect anything different from them.

Anyway, I'd give it a one-thumb up as it's better for people to watch that than some other things on TV.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), October 12, 2003.

I saw the same scene as described above. If this citcom is going to take that angle of acting out Scriptures, I guess the show is ok. I do get an uneasy feeling about God being portrayed in human forms mingling in a light-hearted conversation with confused people. I guess I'm still stuck in my old "fear of God" condition. I didn't like the message that was implied about homosexuality/lesbian. The message was more about tolerance rather than conforming to God's will, but that's showbiz, or is that New Age Religion? I thought the scene with the priest may have been a sterotype of pinning down a priest for an answer. The scene redeemed itself with the eventual answer--hind sight usually reveals a miracle.

These shows--remember--are designed for "ratings", not for accurate theology, of course. So, there will always be that fear of crossing the finish line and telling the truth. Surely, they will might lose their well-learned audiences, but the casual passerby will enjoy those short visits with "God" between commercials, of course. Uh, "Touched By An Angel" was entertaining, too. But, I have yet to see any t.v. show cross the finish line.

ro

-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 12, 2003.

There you go, exactly!

rod..

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 18, 2003.

Did anyone happen to tape the second episode called The Fire & the Wood. This is the only one i have missed and i would be more that happy to pay someone for a copy of it.

Thanx Jerry

-- Jerry Nelson (cubsindian@aol.com), November 07, 2003.

Did any of you guys catch the episode that was on last Friday? If so e-mail me the details cause I was in Minneapolis.

Grant

-- Grant Michael Preszler (gpreszler@hotmail.com), November 26, 2003.