Friday night is pretty much SciFi night at our place. The SciFi Network always seems to have a good night of fun scheduled with various shows to keep our evening interesting.

They recently started showing Joan of Arcadia. It was a show that I had heard about, and everyone I knew who had seen it loved it. I just never got around to watching it when it was on network television because I was tied up with something else. I am not sure what ... another show, work, who can remember.

I am not sure why it is on the SciFi Network, though, because there are no science fiction or fantasy elements to it. The show centers around a high school girl in Arcadia. You guessed it ... her name is Joan. Her dad is the new chief of police in town, and her mom works in the school's principal's office. Her younger brother is a techie, and her older brother lost the use of his legs when he was in a bad accident about a year before.

What makes this show unique is that she is a modern version of Jeanne d'Arc, better known by Anglophiles as Joan of Arc. She was a saint in France who heard messages from God that gave her missions. In her case, the messages were meant primarily to reinstall the King of France to the throne and full control over the country.

Our modern Joan is getting visitations from God in the guises of all sorts of everyday people from old ladies to a hot stud her own age. Each week, he gives her an assignment like get a job at a certain bookstore or join the chess club. It seems like duties that would serve no purpose except to be of no interest to her, but each time, they bring about important results. Sometimes, they help solve a case her dad is working on or help people around her. Usually, though, the assignments and their effects also bring about some internal growth in her.

The show is pretty well done. It is usually heart warming. The interactions between the family members are always pretty awesome. It is a different sort of family for TV right now. They are just average kind of folks that are just doing what they can to make the best out of life.

I am pretty glad that we are getting a chance to see the show. I am not really sure why it ended, though.