History Series / JoanOfArcadia

* CondescendingCompassion: This is Kevin's BerserkButton--he ''hates'' the idea that anyone might give him special treatment just because he's paralyzed. A few episodes have him deal with new coworkers, strangers, and even his own family being overly nice and in turn treating him like an infant. It becomes [[JustifiedTrope justified]] when it's revealed that his paralysis was his own fault, as he got in a car with a drunk driver rather than appear uncool in front of his friends.

'''God:''' You have 12 dollars in your pocket which you were going to buy a muffin and a frappucino with while you ditched history class, which you really shouldn't do, by the way.

* BrotherChuck: Kevin's boss that he romances throughout season one completely vanishes without any mention in season 2. In fact he acts like his girlfriend in the second season was the first he had since his accident.

** A Season Two episode guest-starring Cloris Leachman as an elderly eccentric relative goes into the same territory. After she suffers a stroke, she can't lead the active life she used to, and so interprets all of Helen's genuinely good-naturted attempts to care for her (such as cutting up her food before eating it) as being treated like a helpless baby. Kevin, realizing they're [[NotSoDifferentRemark not that different]], offers her some wisdom.

** A better example might be the guidance counselor, who basically acts like a teenager despite being in his thirties

* TwoLinesNoWaiting

** Aaron Himelstein (Friedman) appeared in 33 of the series' 45 episodes, more than any other guest star. In the second season alone, he appeared in 19 out of 22 episodes. If the series had gotten a third season, he'd probably have become a regular character. They might even have revealed his first name!

* HollywoodNerd: Luke.

* AdultFear: "The Uncertainty Principle" has God assign Joan to take out bully Ramsey to the local dance. She spends the whole night trying to keep him from doing something stupid, from bringing whiskey to the dance to waving around a gun. Will and Adam hunt them down and threaten to shoot Ramsey, as Joan begs both of them to stop. It ends with Ramsey getting arrested, and Joan feeling like she failed. [[spoiler:God then revealed that if Joan hadn't taken Ramsey out to the dance, he would have shot everyone there with his gun, and Joan's kindness led to the lesser of two evils]].

* AxesAtSchool: When it's revealed that a student had brought a gun to school, ''major'' changes in the school's security went up for the rest of the series.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Was likely meant to be this for ''Touched by an Angel'', as it premiered months after that show's series finale on the same network, and centered upon similar themes of God sending someone to help others. [[spoiler: The series finale even featured {{God}} appearing as a human, which would become the central plot of ''Joan of Arcadia''.]]

* AuthorOnBoard

** A Season Two episode guest-starring Cloris Leachman as an elderly eccentric relative goes into the same territory. After she suffers a stroke, she can't lead the active life she used to, and so interprets all of Helen's genuinely good-naturted attempts to care for her (such as cutting up her food before eating it) as being treated like a helpless baby. Kevin, realizing they're NotSoDifferent, offers her some wisdom.

* NotSoDifferent: Despite Luke's assertion that all they have in common is DNA, Joan seems to have inherited her communications with God from her mother, while Kevin (reporter) and Luke (scientist) seem to have inherited their investigative abilities from Will (detective).
-->'''Judith''': A cop and an artist. An avenger and a visionary. What kind of kid did you think they'd have?

* AdultFear: "The Uncertainty Principle" has God assign Joan to take out bully Ramsey to the local dance. She spends the whole night trying to keep him from doing something stupid, from bringing whiskey to the dance to waving around a gun. Will and Adam hunt them down and threatens to shoot Ramsey, as Joan begs both of them to stop. It ends with Ramsey getting arrested, and Joan feeling like she failed. [[spoiler:God then revealed that if Joan hadn't taken Ramsey out to the dance, he would have shot everyone there with his gun, and Joan's kindness led to the lesser of two evils]].

* DivineRaceLift: Several of the show's incarnations of God were BIPOC. Examples include a cafeteria worker, a janitor, a doctor, and a street performer--all Black--and a pregnant woman at a bus stop and Goth student, both Latine.

* StrawmanPolitical: Grace is a ConspiracyTheorist who very frequently mouths off about how things were "fascist."

* TotallyRadical: The science teacher. Who tries ''way'' too hard to look cool.

* VerySpecialEpisode: Several, including character death, sexual assault, school shootings... plus Kevin's disabled state. Very few "right" answers were ever given, however.

* DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in "The Devil Made Me Do It." Kevin goes to a music store and inadvertently takes a CD when it falls into his chair (he can't feel the disc because of the lack of sensation). When he goes to return it, the clerk shows CondescendingCompassion and allows him to take even more CDs, obviously fearful of coming across as insensitive. Kevin milks this for a while by stealing other items from a hobby shop, but Luke catches on and takes that clerk (who treats Kevin with the same pity) to task.

* BombThrowingAnarchists: In "Friday Night", Luke goes to a meeting of these types, looking for Grace. He realizes that literally every girl there looks exactly like Grace. And then they burn his shoes (they were made by underage Central American sweatshop workers, after all).

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: In "Double Dutch", God poses as a pizza delivery boy to communicate with Joan. After the usual banter, he asks about his tip. Joan declares he was late and thus doesn't get one, ''slams the door in his face'', and walks off pleased she just won an argument with God.
%%* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: God as a street performer in "Double Dutch."
%%* DivineRaceLift: Many of the representations of God.

* HeadphonesEqualIsolation: Joan wears the headphones when she's alone during the pilot. When she takes them off at the end, it shows she's willing to listen to God.

* IncrediblyInconvenientDeity: The title character had to, among other things, destroy works of art and re-take a test she had aced.
* InformedJudaism: Grace, season 1 at least (season 2 she has her Bat Mitzvah, then promptly goes back to never mentioning her Judaism)

** God can sometimes shift into this, mostly because (she always refuses to explain why (s)he wants Joan to do what (s)he wants her to do, and often the task results in someone getting hurt.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Comes up in "Just Say No." God tasks Joan with holding a yard sale, and while she's searching through the attic for merchandise, she discovers dark, disturbing art that Helen painted. Helen refuses to talk about it, which makes Joan mad; the viewers discover that Helen created the paintings after a man broke into her dorm room in the middle of the night and raped her. When God (in the form of a businessman) urges Joan to consider the pain that might have motivated the work, she slowly realizes that it's something related to the trauma of sexual assault, and asks, "Was it bad?" God Himself replies: "It was evil. And I don't throw that word around."

* SingleMindedTwins: Literal; God briefly appears to Joan as a pair of twin girls.

* SpiritAdvisor: Others ''can'' see God; (s)he just doesn't let them know who (s)he is.

* UniverseBible: No, not the literal Bible.

* CuckooNest

* DeusExMachina: Pointedly averted.

* DivineRaceLift: Many of the representations of God.

* ThemeTuneCameo: God as a street performer in "Double Dutch."

* CosmicPlaything: When God randomly pops into Joan's life, gives her a mission that causes problems or at least inconviences, then pops out again, it can seem like this. Especially when He has unexplained reasons or vague goals.

* NeverTrustATrailer: Promos for the show during the first season got a lot of mileage out of showing Joan telling God "is it weird that I [[DivineDate have a crush on you]]?" In the actual show this line is spoken during the first episode, because God first appears to Joan on a bus as a boy she doesn't know but thinks is cute; at no point does any sort of romantic infatuation come into play. God Himself lampshades this when He replies "I don't think that'll be a problem", and then when appearing to Joan later as a middle-aged black cafeteria worker he gives the IronicEcho "told you that crush wouldn't be a problem."

* NeverTrustATrailer: Promos for the show during the first season got a lot of mileage out of showing Joan telling God "is it weird that I [[DivineDate have a crush on you]]?" In the actual show this line is spoken during the first episode, because God first appears to Joan on a bus as a boy she doesn't know but thinks is cute; at no point does any sort of romantic infatuation come into play. God Himself lampshades this when He replies "I don't think that'll be a problem", and then when appearing to Joan later as a middle-aged black cafeteria working gives the IronicEcho "told you that crush wouldn't be a problem."

* BombThrowingAnarchists: In "Friday Night", Luke goes to a meeting of these types, looking for Grace. A SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} ensues when he realizes that literally every girl there looks exactly like Grace. And then they burn his shoes (they were made by underage Central American sweatshop workers, after all).

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: In one episode God poses as a pizza delivery boy to communicate with Joan. After the usual banter, he asks about his tip. Joan declares he was late and thus doesn't get one, ''slams the door in his face'', and walks off pleased she just won an argument with God.

* GodTest: Joan asks the teenage boy claiming to be God to prove his divinity. He gestures behind himself to show... a tree.
-->'''Joan:''' "...that's a tree."
-->'''God:''' "I'd like to see ''you'' make one."

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: In one episode God poses as a pizza delivery boy to communicate with God. After the usual banter, he asks about his tip. Joan declares he was late and thus doesn't get one, ''slams the door in his face'', and walks off pleased she just won an argument with God.

-->'''Joan:''' "Are you — Are you being snippy with me? God is snippy?"
-->'''God:''' (exasperated) "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 [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith because you're comfortable with it]], it makes sense to you. And if I'm ''"snippy"'', it's because you understand snippy."

* SheCleansUpNicely: Glynis briefly gets a make over to look more feminine and pretty, after getting tired of her boyfriend treating her more like a lab partner than a girl who wants to get a compliment on her appearance now and then rather than her brain.

* AwesomeButImpractical: The AP Chemistry teacher is fun and cool, but the way she teaches and discusses is more than a little too distracting to properly get anything fixed into the student's minds beyond "hey our teacher is cool!"