Joan of Arcadia

Season 1 Episode 1

Pilot

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2
9.0
out of 10
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111 votes
5

EPISODE REVIEWS
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Episode Summary

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Pilot
AIRED:
Sixteen year old Joan Girardi is approached by someone claiming to be God. He gives her a mission, get a job. Will Girardi, Joan's dad and new chief of police for Arcadia, is trying to solve the case of a serial killer.
FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (5)

SUBMIT REVIEW

  • Joan of Arcadia is the stupidest show in the world.

    1.0
    By 360skater, Oct 02, 2011
    Joan of Arcadia is a really retarded show. they make god turn into differant people and that's such a stupid idea because god is not even a person. I also think the acting was really bad. When I first saw this episode, I wished that I never saw it. I'm really glad that Joan of Arcadia is now cancelled. I hate all of the characters in that show. (Except Grace because she's cool). My least favorite characters are Joan, Friedman and the little girl god. After I watched the next few episodes of Joan of Arcadia, I sat outside and wished a pon a star that the show will be cancelled next year. My wish came true! :)moreless

  • So, I don't know what write in this window. My summary ? I have not ! Why ? I write my review after the viewing of the episode. I don't organized my review but it is coherent.moreless

    6.5
    By Rougon, Jan 01, 2011
    I expected better, especially after having heard good reviews. It is sympathetic nerve, but not good. I saw there a little \"propaganda\" towards the religion and God, especially in the scene of the mother with the priest on the carpark. Nevertheless, I like the fact that God can take any possible appearance, as well male as female. The police intrigue is completely weak, especially the end when the killer is brought to the office. I hope that the continuation is better than this first episode because it is really badly started! Nevertheless, I find that the actress who play Joan\'s character is good and very prettymoreless

  • It was a great Pilot

    9.6
    By krazy4crack, Oct 30, 2006
    This episode Joan hears voices calling her... and guess who it is? God. Well when she wakes upfro the first day of school she sees a person in the yard... she gets scared and tells her family that there is a pervert in the yard... her family thinks she is bluffing because there is no one there. On Joan's way to school she sees a boy... the boy claims to be God. Joan then thinks that the boy is just creepy but in some way she believes him because the boy knows all about her. This episode is really great and a nice way to kick off the series.moreless

  • An example of what made Joan of Arcadia so darn good.

    9.2
    By Titan_Larry_, Aug 21, 2006
    This epuisode, above all others in Joan of Arcadia, I hold as best. All the cast do a great job of introducing there characters, particularly Kris Lemche who obviously has the mammoth task of making God into a character (I mean come one how do you play God?) Amber Tamblyn forced me to immediately warm to Joan and I laughed out loud quite a few times. (Luke :\"So you shoot these photons at a piece of Paper... Joan: \"There\'s a pervert in the yard!\" Luke:\" And a pervert appears in the yard\") Pure genius and got me hooked on the show.moreless

  • A very interesting and intriguing pilot that shows us how easy it is to doubt faith and destiny and how much harder it is to accept it.

    8.2
    By film_maniac2500, Mar 14, 2006
    This episode does exactly what a pilot should do. It introduces us to the characters and the plot but also gives us something to look forward to in the form of the next episode. It was daring and unique which was alot better than most of the pilots released during this year.



    Hopefully, this show will not fail where many of it's kind does which is trying to find an audience.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

Joe Mantegna

Joe Mantegna

Will Girardi
Michael Welch

Michael Welch

Luke Girardi
Mary Steenburgen

Mary Steenburgen

Helen Girardi
Amber Tamblyn

Amber Tamblyn

Joan Girardi
Jason Ritter

Jason Ritter

Kevin Girardi
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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

Patrick Breen

Patrick Breen

Sammy

Guest Star

Ivonne Coll

Ivonne Coll

Marlene

Guest Star

Deborah Theaker

Deborah Theaker

Mrs. Marx

Guest Star

Kris Lemche

Kris Lemche

Cute Boy God

Recurring Role

David Burke

David Burke

Father Ken Mallory

Recurring Role

Morocco Omari

Morocco Omari

Prinicipal Chadwick

Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • TRIVIA (4)

    • Trivia: The fictional town of Arcadia is set in the state of Maryland.

    • In the same scene with Joan and Kevin, the tattoo on Amber's leg is clearly visible when Kevin pulls Joan off the sofa.

    • After Joan throws a glass of water in the face of Kevin, she holds the glass in her right hand. Kevin start tickling her and then the camera shot is made from behind Joan. At that point she does not have the glass in her hand any more. Then the camera shot is changed again from behind Kevin and Joan has the glass in her hand again.

    • Given we later find out in "Just Say No" that Helen was raped by someone crawling in to her window (in college), both she and Will seem awfully calm about Joan seeing a pervert outside her window here.

  • QUOTES (17)

    • Luke: 'Cause you know, everything is energy and energy can manifest itself into any form depending on its rate of vibration.
      Joan: So, God could like vibrate himself into the form of a really hot guy about my age.

    • Joan: Are you being snippy with me? God is snippy.
      Cute Boy God: Let me explain something to you, Joan. It goes like this. I don't look like this. I don't look like anything you'd recognize. You can't see me. I don't sound like this. I don't sound like anything you'd recognize. You see, I'm beyond your experience. I take this form because you're comfortable with it. It makes sense to you and if I'm snippy, it's because you understand snippy. You get it?
      Joan: Sort of.
      Cute Boy God: Good. Cause I'm really not snippy. I've got a great personality. You'd like me.

    • Cute Boy God: How about you believe me if I agree to overlook that promise you didn't keep?
      Joan: What promise?
      Cute Boy God: Let's see, that you'd study hard, stop talking back, clean your room and even go to church, if I recall, if I let your brother live.
      Joan: How did you know about that?
      Cut Boy God: Omniscience. Look it up.
      Joan: So you let my brother live, and now you're here to collect?
      Cute Boy God: No. I don't bargain. That would be cruel.

    • Joan: There's a pervert in the yard!!
      Luke: ..and a pervert appears in the yard.

    • Joan: Who are you?
      Cute Boy God: I've known you since before you were born, Joan.
      Joan: I'm going to ask you one more time.
      Cute Boy God: I'm God.
      Joan: You're what?
      Cute Boy God: God.
      Joan: Don't ever...talk to me again.

    • Joan: What about my hair?
      Luke: It's on your head.

    • Luke: As the great physicist Faraday once said, 'Nothing is too wonderful to be true.'

    • Luke: So, what you do is that you shoot these photons at this piece of paper... (he's interrupted by Joan) and a pervert appears in the yard.

    • Sammy: (on the phone) Is it moving? Is it breathing? If it's moving and breathing it's not dead. Dammit, Heidi, if it's hopping it's really not dead.

    • Will: Did you happen to see his shoes?
      Joan: Oh, yeah. I think they were Gucci.

    • Helen: Let's sit down to a normal family breakfast.
      Luke: Yeah, let's try something new.

    • Joan: Let's see a miracle.
      Cute Boy God: How about that?
      Joan: It's a tree.
      Cute Boy God: Let's see you make one.

    • God: I'm omniscient, Joan - it comes with the job.

    • Will: Helen, Canada's where people go when they can't really afford to go on a vacation.

    • Joan: So you're a science geek, right?
      Luke: I prefer 'man of science'.

    • Sammy: You don't happen to have any references on you.
      Joan: No, but I was sent by God...
      (He looks at her like she's crazy)
      Joan: She said! Revealing her acerbic wit!

    • Kevin: Ever get the strange feeling you're being discussed?
      Luke: I never get that.
      Kevin: Because you're too boring.

  • NOTES (11)

    • In the writers draft version of the pilot script, the Girardi family was called the Delaney family.

    • This is the only episode of the entire series in which neither Chris Marquette (Adam Rove) nor Becky Wahlstrom (Grace Polk) appear.

    • David Burke (Father Ken Mallory) is the only actor, besides the regulars, to appear in both this episode and the finale, "Something Wicked This Way Comes".

    • Show creator Barbara Hall wrote a list of guidelines for the writers, which she called "The Ten Commandments of Joan of Arcadia". These "commandments" are:
      * 1. God cannot directly intervene.
      * 2. Good and evil exist.
      * 3. God can never identify one religion as being right.
      * 4. The job of every human being is to fulfill his or her true nature.
      * 5. Everyone is allowed to say "no" to God, including Joan.
      * 6. God is not bound by time. This is a human concept.
      * 7. God is not a person and does not possess a human personality.
      * 8. God talks to everyone all the time in different ways.
      * 9. God's plan is what is good for us, not what is good for him.
      * 10. God's purpose for talking to Joan, and everyone, is to get her (us) to recognize the interconnectedness of all things - i.e., you cannot hurt a person without hurting yourself; all of your actions have consequences; God can be found in the smallest actions; God expects us to learn and grow from all our experiences. However, the exact nature of God is a mystery, and the mystery can never be solved.

    • (According to the Pilot script) Joan is 16 years old at the beginning of the series.

    • (According to the Pilot script) Cute Boy God says that Will Girardi was born Sept. 4th, 1957 in Chicago and joined the police force in 1980.

    • The pilot was reshot. When God reveals himself to Joan they're in the school hallway but in the previews this scene took place outside in front of the school steps. As a matter of fact the school they ended up using is completely different than the one shown in the previews. Also, Kris Lemche's hair is a lot shorter than it was in the previews.

    • The unaired version of the pilot was quite a lot different. First of all it was about 15 minutes shorter, there were fewer scenes and nearly all of the scenes were reshot with various changes in dialogue and setting.

    • Music featured in the episode includes:
      "Overdrive" by Katy Rose
      "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down
      "Kryie & Gloria" by Amy Fairchild
      "There's A Love" by Morphic Field
      "Bizarre" by Melissa Ritter
      "Run" by David Loring
      "I Don't Know What It Is" by Kit Hain
      "Concerto for Clarinet" (Instrumental)
      "Tomorrow" by Avril Lavigne
      "I Believe In You" by Sinead O'Connor

    • Coincidentally or not, Kris Lemche (Cute Boy God) appeared in the 1999 TV movie Joan of Arc.

    • First appearance of Cute Boy God and Cafeteria Woman God. That is also the first appearance of God in general on the series.

  • ALLUSIONS (0)

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Forums: Joan of Arcadia

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Season 1 Episodes

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Ep 23
Silence
Ep 22
The Gift
Ep 21
Vanity, Thy Name Is Human
Ep 20
Anonymous
Ep 19
Do the Math
Ep 18
Requiem for a Third Gra...
Ep 17
No Bad Guy
Ep 16
Double Dutch
Ep 15
Night Without Stars
Ep 14
State of Grace
Ep 13
Recreation
Ep 12
Jump
Ep 11
The Uncertainty Principle
Ep 10
Drive, He Said
Ep 9
St. Joan
Ep 8
The Devil Made Me Do It
Ep 7
Death Be Not Whatever
Ep 6
Bringeth It On
Ep 5
Just Say No
Ep 4
The Boat
Ep 3
Touch Move
Ep 2
The Fire and the Wood
Ep 1
Pilot

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