Think back to a decade ago, when "The X-Files" drew on the occult, the metaphysical, the just plain weird as it proclaimed the truth to be "out there." Before long, a wave of me-too dramas were also tapping into our unease with our world. Then, three seasons ago, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" spurred a backlash against extraterrestrial truth.
On "CSI," down-to-earth answers can be gleaned from material evidence close at hand. Truth reveals itself in rational terms. Embraced by viewers for its clinical detachment from death and doubt (particularly welcome after the tragic events of 9/11), "CSI" has spawned a wave of "forensics procedurals" - crime dramas like "Without a Trace," "CSI: Miami" and this fall's new "Cold Case" and "Navy NCIS."
But this trend, like every TV trend, could fast fall victim to oversaturation and viewer burnout.
So what will be the next big thing? The brashly offbeat premise for "Joan of Arcadia," and its sizeable audience in its first few weeks, suggest a swing back to the sacred for TV's truth-seekers.
Airing Fridays at 8 p.m. EDT, "Joan of Arcadia" introduces us to an ordinary 16-year-old girl with a penchant for running into folks who reveal themselves to her as God, then give her chores to do.
"I give suggestions, not assignments," says God, at that moment facing Joan as a sanitation worker. "Free will is one of my better innovations."
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The reassuring message of the show: Divine intervention, and the answers it might lead to, can conceivably occur with any personal encounter.
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