"Joan of Arcadia" has developed a faithful following since its debut last fall. It won last year's People's Choice Award for new dramatic series and made the American Film Institute's Top 10 TV Programs for 2003.
Despite the reference to Joan of Arc, however, the show presents a spirituality grounded in no particular religion. Jesus, for example, is never mentioned. Doctrine is nowhere to be found. But God is present, with a plan.
Iris Saltus, a seventh-grader from Hampden Township, Pa., says she likes the show for portraying "the modern stories and situations you have to deal with now. ... God helps you in a lot of ways. You just have to figure out how he does," she says.
"I'm a big fan," says Jaclyn Biancolli, a senior religion major at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. She says she's drawn to the show's ready acceptance of belief in God and its refusal to identify God with one tradition. "It's very open to everyone," she says.
