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I just rediscovered the JoA recaps by Deborah at TWOP that I had saved before that site went off to the bit bucket. Deborah was the best at capturing the sound and sense of the episodes. Just reading them recalls to memory visual images of scenes I haven't watched in years.

In ways that any show about the family dynamic is similar. From Ozzie & Harriet to Wonder Years to Joan of Arcadia to Young Sheldon they all mine the multiple relationships, just with a POV that reflects their times. And they succeed when they're truthful. It will be a while before Sheldon meets his Winnie Cooper in this incarnation.

TENTHIRTEEN "I made this." Then I wrecked this. Where did the suspense building go. Where did the creepiness go?

Missy makes me laugh harder than I have in years. The lines and delivery are perfect.

In a several ways YS is like The Wonder Years. Both are retrospectives from the primary character's point of view. Both use a present day narrator for context. Both are about family dynamics. Time and place and themes are different, but the stories resonate in similar ways. I hope they use the TWY wrap-up method with the narrator telling what happened after the final scene, both the good and the bad. It leaves it up to the audience to imagine details and sends the series off into semi-mythical, nostalgic, bittersweet territory that will stick with fans.

I have distinct visual memories of having my tonsils out at around 30 months so it's possible. Recipes, not so much.

Clearly, a "worst" character was police lieutenant, Lucy (a/k/a Lucyfer) Preston. Good acting by Annie Potts made us all despise her conniving ways. She's now portraying similar behavior as Meemaw in Young Sheldon, but here it's endearing. It takes talent to make nasty both unattractive and humorous. Of course, the character's motivations are crucial. Lucy was predatory; Meemaw is unhappy with her situation.

Well, this Kevin is a pale recapitulation of Kevin Girardi, only dopier ... and ambulatory, of course. The show lacks the subtle qualities that made Joan of Arcadia so different and compelling. The premise obviously is trying to recapture the JoA spirit but it hasn't any sense of the transcendent. Instead it's a cartoon without a clue. Please, writers, if you really want to make a show worth watching, study the JoA S1 episodes and emulate.

TGOK looks to be awful, judging by the trailer. Simplistic. Trite. Obvious. My Name is Earl meets Touched by an Angel. Ugh! It desperately needs a Barbara Hall sensibility and sense of wonder. But I don't think even she could rescue it at this point. To paraphrase Moonves, idiocy skews better than intelligence. So it probably will run longer than JoA did. Sigh.

S1-E18 - Requiem For A Third Grade Ashtray Joan - So after you do this mitzvah thing, that's it, you're all grown up? Mr. Polanski - In theory, you know, but in practice, becoming an adult is more a series of steps and missteps. Don't you think? ---------- Joan - Ok, can I get something off my chest here? What's with god the sexist? Yeah, I said it. How come the girl in the family always has to do all the cooking and running around? How old-school is that? God - Ok, Joan, check my record. I think you'll find when I call one of you to action, it doesn't matter which chromosome I gave you. ---------- Will - You didn't get my message? Helen - Of course not. It hasn't been a good day. Will - Sorry. Helen - I hope yours was better. Will - Well, I was stuck in an elevator with an embezzler and a woman who gave birth to a baby girl. Helen - That must have been fun.

The Pilot set a high standard for following episodes. The sub-plot of Joan getting a job (her interaction with Sammy was so well done) and the menace of the predator enriched the main theme of her meeting and accepting God as real ("I'm not crazy!). Most shows struggle with a simple plot at the start, this one wove the threads beautifully. Even the wrap-up of the predator's capture was handled subtly by neither ignoring it nor over-doing the interrogation. And the final scene between Kevin and Joan sets up the long and winding arc of his conquering his injury. Credit Barbara Hall with a clear vision and James Hayman with the skill to bring it all together.

S1-E17 No Bad Guy God - Vengeance is mine. Joan - Ok. To be fair, you never went to high school. ------------------- Luke - Hey, guess what? Copernicus called, said the world doesn't revolve around you. Joan - Ohh! What a coincidence, because the dork police called, and they said they want their leader back. Kevin - It's official, I don't miss high school anymore. ------------------- Joan - Why are you punishing me? I haven't even done anything yet. God - Yet. Joan - Oh, wow. So thoughts really do count. God - Thoughts are things, Joan. And I don't punish people; you punish yourselves. Hmm. You're so good at it, I can almost retire. ------------------- Friedman - You mess with scientists, my friend, you're gonna get science.

You remind me that I need to rewatch the videos. Favorites from S1 are "The Fire and the Wood" because it's the first episode to bring the sub-defectives together (and I have an AT-autographed copy of the script), "Jump" for the final scene when Helen reads the letter to Adam, and "Silence" for the crisis of faith. Many fans thought S2 dragged, but I liked the multi-episode Judith-arc. The Duffisodes were lame, but it picked up after those with the building tension in "Trial and Error." And "Queen of the Zombies" was just a hoot.

LOST was weirdly interesting. This show isn't interesting ... or funny.

No polar bears yet.

Certainly a better way to transition a character out of a show than to kill him off.

S1-E16 Double Dutch Casper - You need skills to jump with this crew. Joan - Oh, I got skills. I got mad skills. Well, not mad. More like loopy, loopy. ------------------ Joan - Remember before how I said I hit bottom? Grace - Yeah. Joan - There was further to go. Grace - Cool. ------------------ Joan - Dad has to take a kid to work. Kevin's got a job. I have a life. You're option "C." ------------------ Grace - Look at my butt, Friedman, one more time. I dare you. Friedman - You wish, Marge. ------------------ Helen - What happened? Will - I can't really say. Joan - Oh! How come he can get away with that? Helen - Because he's confused. You're lying. ------------------ Helen - You should've talked to us, honey. We're on your side most of the time. Joan - Well, you're also a teacher and you're a cop. My life would be a lot easier if you were just ... normal loser parents. ------------------ Joan - She's my friend. I want to know what's gonna happen to her. God - I know you do. But sometimes it's enough to plant the seed, walk away, and let the flower grow on its own.

BH spoke to a college class in 2008 about her ideas and the show. Google "Barbara Hall Arcadia" and watch the seven part YouTube video. At the six minute point of part 5 she briefly talks about a Season 3. Joan had matured to the point of recognizing that true evil exists and it was going to battle with her through an adversary. Barbara says with a somewhat sad and wistful look, "we're going to have a whole season of her just fighting evil, but we never got there."

Barbara Hall reimagined many of the JoA themes in 2013 novel, Charisma. But it seems she's moved on if you read something into one of the quotes she uses as a preface. It's from a poem (The Song of the Happy Shepherd) by W.B. Yeats. "The woods of Arcady are dead, And over is their antique joy; Of old the world on dreaming fed; Grey Truth is now her painted toy." I too hope she will change her mind.

Twenty minutes in I'm not liking the writing on this one at all. Where's the brooding darkness? What happened to the cynical sarcasm? Stop this unfunny sitcom, please. Well, okay, now that it's over, but you could have warned me it would be better in the end. Still, this run needs more grounding before going satirical.

Not seeing any of the suspense building that characterized the original show. Except for the weirdness, it doesn't look much different than the first half of a Law & Order episode.

Joan of Arcadia needs to be on tv. http://www.vulture.com/2015/10/joan-of-arcadia-tv-still-needs-it.html# And Amber agreed on her FB page.

The Rove character works if you accept the premise of his mother's suicide as life-defining. The Adam/Joan relationship can be explained by their respective lonliness and naivete. But I can see how some would object to it all being too contrived. Kevin annoyed me the first time around, but on rewatching I realized he showed the most personal growth over the show's run. It was the Grace/Luke relationship that seemed the most unrealistic, but worth it for the humorous elements. And crazy camp could have supplied half a season of interesting episodes with a new set of characters. Doreen with the trichotilomania and the introduction of Judith come to mind.

It's been ten years since the last episode - Something Wicked This Way Comes - aired on 4.21.2005. We were all hoping for S3 until Moonves replaced Jo-Jo with that execrable Ghost Muttering thing a few weeks later. For anybody who might wander by this lost outpost of Girardi-land, a question: how important has JoA remained in your television experience? For me, nothing has come close to it.

I watched all the Unusuals episodes and Amber Tamblyn's character was beginning to develop a good relationships with that of Jeremy Renner when the plug was pulled. The problem was it was just another dysfunctional cop show when the trend was going zombies. And having Harold Perrineau still somewhat fresh from LOST in the cast was a little strange for me. I kept expecting Walt to show up. Amber was excellent as Martha Masters in her arc on House, a show I never watched otherwise. I especially liked the episode with Chris Marquette as the homeless man for its echoes of Joan and Adam. I found it amusing that they covered her final scene with a Rolling Stones tune similar to the way JoA ended. Juliet Goglia played a pre-teen in one episode of Veronica Mars and Corinne Borror (Rocky's mom) played VM's mom. Patrick Fabian palyed a college professor in VM and also a bad guy (of course) in the Mentalist. There was an exchange between him and Simon Baker about his name - Jane - that I though was a sly reference to the JoA Jane/Joan device.